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Research Document - 2001/146

Preliminary Comparative Analysis of Herring Biosamples from an Alternative Harvest Method

By Osborne, J., Brown, G., and D. Hall

Abstract

Since the inception of roe herring fisheries in 1975, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has conducted an extensive test fishing program using commercial seine boats to provide critical information for the management of Pacific herring stocks. To examine whether herring biosample data could also be collected by an alternative method to charter vessels, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) initiated the "Alternative Herring Biosampling Program" in 1995 for the West Coast of Vancouver Island. We describe the three different sampling methods (pre-fishery, fishery, and hand purse seine) and compare the population characteristics of the herring sampled by each method. We conclude that data collected by the hand purse seine are no less variable than data collected by the other two methods, but that the hand purse seine captures more mature fish and more males due to the timing of its use during spawning. The hand purse seine is relatively inexpensive and simple to operate compared to commercial herring vessels, and can be used to collect herring biosample data; however, further refinement of the analyses is required to determine if this method has potential as supplemental sampling in appropriate circumstances (e.g., minor stock areas, major stock areas in years without commercial herring fisheries, or areas that test vessels have difficult operating in). We also found that differences exist between data collected far in advance of the fishery (prior to March 1st) and data collected near or during the fishery, which may have implications for post-season assessment that relies on data that is representative of catch. This should be further investigated.

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