Atlantic Redfishes

Sebastes spp.

There are three redfish species in the Northwest Atlantic, S.fasciatus (Acadian redfish), S.mentella (deepwater redfish), and S.marinus (golden redfish). Catches are usually reported by genus only (Sebastes spp.). In its regulations, NAFO also does not differentiate between species; it manages redfish stocks in 3LN, 3M, 3O, as well as Subarea 2 and Divisions 1F+3K.

*The following information is a stock assessment provided by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization:
www.nafo.ca/fisheries/frames/fishery.html

Fishery Status 2009: Moratorium on 3LN stocks (no directed fishery). Total Allowable Catch (TAC) is set to 8,500 metric tons for Div. 3M stocks and 20,000 metric tons for Div. 3O stocks. Stocks in SA2 and Div. 1F and 3K straddle with the Northeast Atlantic and are shared with NEAFC. The NAFO portion of the TAC was set at 12516 metric tonnes for 2009.

Recent Assessment (2007 and 2008): Stocks in Subarea 1 and Divisions 3L and 3N are possibly increasing. For Division 3LN, Scientific Council recommended that a precautionary approach be used and catches not exceed 3500 metric tons. By-catches of other species should be kept to the lowest possible level.

For Division 3M stocks NAFO Scientific Council concluded that the stock biomass and spawning biomass are increasing. Nonetheless the total stock and spawning stock are still at a low level. For Division 3O it was noted that catches have averaged about 13 000 metric tons over the long term. Scientific Council was unable to advise on an appropriate TAC for this stock.