Science Advisory Report 2012/045
Assessment of Buffalo River Inconnu (Stenodus eucichthys) Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, 1945-2009
Summary
- Inconnu are caught primarily as bycatch in the Lake Whitefish fishery in Great Slave Lake (GSL), which has operated since 1945.
- Harvest targeting Inconnu has occurred at the mouth of the Buffalo River in some years, especially in the late 1970s.
- Annual harvest has varied from a high in 1948-1949 of 163,000 kg per year to current levels of approximately 13,000 kg.
- The south-shore of management Area IE is an important zone for Buffalo River Inconnu.
- After harvest targeted Inconnu in the late 1970s, harvests decreased dramatically, biological parameters showed significant signs of negative impacts and Catch-Per-Unit-Effort (CPUE) dropped. Since then there have been periodic signs of improvement when harvests were lowest.
- The stock is currently in the Critical Zone of the Precautionary Approach model framework based on CPUE of mature female Inconnu as an index of spawning stock biomass (SSB).
- Biomass removal of >10,000 kg while the stock is below the limit reference point is expected to result in a high risk that the stock will remain in the Critical Zone.
- Fishing closures have been implemented in GSL west basin resulting in reduced Inconnu harvest in specific areas but not in the total harvest from the west basin.
- Further recommendations for closure zones based on risk to the Inconnu stock are presented.
This Science Advisory Report is from the March 30-31, 2010 Buffalo River Inconnu Stock Assessment. Additional publications from this process will be posted as they become available on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Science Advisory Schedule.
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