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Great Slave Lake Stock Assessment Approach for Sustainable Fisheries Development

Regional Peer Review –Central and Arctic Region

April 25-26, 2013
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Chairperson: K. Hedges

Context

Great Slave Lake (GSL) is a large freshwater ecosystem in Canada’s sub-polar ecoregion. Managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) with input from the Great Slave Lake Advisory Committee (GSLAC), Lake Whitefish in GSL support the largest freshwater commercial and subsistence fisheries in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Given the magnitude and significance of the fisheries to the ecoregion, the communities and the Northwest Territories, there is a need to assess Lake Whitefish population productivity and establish sustainable harvest level recommendations. Until now, there has been no appropriate information on population sizes of either target or by-catch fish species.

A series of emerging cumulative anthropogenic activities have prompted the adoption of an integrated decision-making framework which incorporates the precautionary approach (PA) and ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) into ongoing fisheries protection provision (FPP). To address these challenges, two science advisory meetings were planned. The first meeting, held in January 2011, reviewed information available for this fishery from 1972 to 2004 to better understand the population dynamics on temporal and spatial scales. This second meeting is intended to review and discuss quantitative approaches to determining sustainable harvest levels and to update the stock assessment plans incorporating ongoing multispecies research.

Objectives

During this regional peer review, we will 1) review a lake-wide sampling protocol for a multispecies fishery-independent survey; 2) develop a quantitative framework for assessing populations (stocks) productivity, describing relationships between fish community diversity and environmental parameters, as well as describing ecosystem-based trophic dynamics; and 3) identify any additional work required to support determination of GSL sustainable harvest levels and development of comprehensive stock assessment approaches.

Expected Publications

Participation

Notice

Participation to CSAS peer review meetings is by invitation only.

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