Research Document - 2001/046

Assessment of the Margaree River gaspereau fishery, 1997 to 2000

By G. Chaput, P. LeBlanc, R. Crawford

Abstract

The Margaree River (NS) gaspereau fishery is prosecuted along a 20 km stretch of river between the estuary and the main spawning area in Lake Ainslie. Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) are the dominant component of the harvests. There are no quotas but exploitation is controlled by weekly close times staggered between two fishing zones in the river. There have been large annual variations in landings since 1950 with annual landings during 1996 to 2000 averaging just over 200 t and among the lowest of record. Between 1983 and 2000, less than 500 thousand to as many as 6.7 million alewife were harvested in the Margaree River fishery. In 1997, the alewife catch was dominated (96%) by new recruitment. The proportions of previous spawners in 1998 to 2000 are among the highest observed in the time series and reflect reduced exploitation on the 1994 and 1995 year classes. Fishing rate (F) reference points ranging between 0.4 and 0.5 equate to an annual loss of 33% to 39% of the alewife spawning stock migrating to Lake Ainslie. The management plan of 1996 to 2000 was effective in reducing the exploitation rates from those of the previous years and closer to the reference level for this stock. However, abundance of gaspereau and spawning escapement in 2000 remained low. If exploitation rates continue to be low relative to historical levels, more older and larger fish should be available to the fishery and for spawning.

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