NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — August 13, 2013 — Georges Bank cod and yellowtail flounder in the transboundary region with Canada are still struggling to recover, NOAA scientists told a gathering at the city's main library on Monday.
New stock assessments showed haddock as fully recovered, but that only raised questions about why only 5 percent of U.S. quota was caught last year.
The survey concluded that to reduce mortality, cod landings should be no more than a low 600 metric tons per year.
Chris Legault of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole said catch of yellowtail last year fell below 1,000 metric tons for the first time since 1940. Everything but haddock points to continued restrictions while scientists attempt to learn what is happening.
They conceded that not much is known about rising temperatures or the effect on cod populations by thousands of migrating and spawning seals in the fishery just when the fish are spawning.
The stock assessments will be used by the Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee (TRAC) to set annual quotas.
But the assessments themselves came under sharp questioning from the 30 or so in attendance, and even a presenter. Seafood industry consultant James Kendall wondered whether adding monitors to Canadian boats has distorted the data because they changed fishermen's behavior.
Others wanted to know why, if sector groundfish boat bycatch is 2 percent to 5 percent, the official estimate of bycatch for yellowtail is 30 percent. Adding in the scallopers, which also take yellowtail bycatch, still doesn't explain the disparity because scallopers have become good at avoiding yellowtail, they said.
Steve Cadrin of the UMass School for Marine Science and Technology presented an overview of stock assessments around the world and concluded that this region's assessments cannot be reliably used as a guide to making decisions.
Government scientists need a whole new model that explains what is happening and makes accurate predictions, Cadrin said. Meanwhile, only actual bycatch should be used in calculations, he said.
Legault said an alternative was attempted last year but it came to the same conclusions. He said scientists are looking at many alternatives but none so far is suitable.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times