Science Advisory Report  2012/079

The Saguenay Fjord winter recreational groundfish fishery, 2011-2012

Summary

• The 2011 and 2012 fishing seasons were shortened following the recommendation from Science to reduce fishing effort. They opened on the third week of January and ended the first week of March. These fishing seasons were the shortest since the launching of the monitoring program in 1995.
• The reduction of the fishing season resulted in a decrease of the total groundfish fishing effort in the Saguenay as a whole. Values for 2011 and 2012 are below the series average.
• Redfish represented 92% of groundfish catches in the 2011 and 2012 recreational fishery. The number of catches per unit of effort (NUE) from the fishery and from the scientific survey shows a continuous downward trend from 1996 to 2010, followed by a slight increase since. Size structures suggest that the 1980 Sebastes mentella redfish cohort has mainly been exploited.
• Atlantic and Greenland cod represented 7% of groundfish catches in the 2011 and 2012 recreational fishery. Atlantic cod NUE in the fishery and scientific survey increased between 2005 and 2010 and have stabilized since. Greenland cod NUE remains at a very low level.
• Greenland halibut (turbot) represented 1% of groundfish catches in the 2011 and 2012 recreational fishery. The NUE of the fishery shows no trend and the science mission shows a stepwise increase between 2000-2004 and 2005-2012.
• Saguenay redfish remain at a very low level. Groundfish recruitment to the Saguenay relies on the arrival of juveniles from the Estuary. Therefore, exploitation does not affect the recruitment of redfish or of other groundfish to the Saguenay, but determines the speed at which these stocks decline and can impact the integrity of the ecosystem. Consequently, it is recommended to maintain the current management measures.

This Science Advisory Report is from the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat regional advisory meeting of November 22, 2012 on assessment of the Saguenay Fjord Winter Sport Fishery held at the Maurice Lamontagne Institute in Mont-Joli, QC. 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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