BOSTON — September 24, 2013 –- In late August, The New England Fishery Management Council’s (NEFMC) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) met to develop acceptable biological catch (ABC) and overfishing level (OFL) recommendations for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder for fishing year 2014. However, this task proved to be especially difficult, due to the Committee’s lack of confidence in the accuracy of the Georges Bank yellowtail stock assessment model.
While the SSC reviewed the Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee’s (TRAC) 2013 Georges Bank yellowtail flounder assessment, as well as the Groundfish Plan Development Team’s (PDT) report on OFL and ABC alternatives for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder for fishing years 2014-2016, neither reports were able to provide specific ABC and OFL recommendations because of the high degree of uncertainty in the stock assessment.
Listen to Dr. Christopher Legault, of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, offer his rationale as to why the TRAC offered a range, rather than a specific value, as catch advice for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder.
Listen to Dr. Christopher Legault discuss how high levels of variability and inconsistency in the Georges Bank yellowtail flounder data have made it difficult to use a stock assessment model other than the current virtual population analysis (VPA).
Listen to Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss the SSC’s inability to reach a formal consensus due in large part to SSC member Dr. Steve Cadrin’s submission of a written statement asserting that the Georges Bank yellowtail assessment should not be used for catch advice. Dr. Cadrin was absent from the meeting. Mr. Minkiewicz also voices concern for basing catch advice on a model that has already been corrected twice and has shown a retrospective pattern year after year.
Listen to SSC Chair, Dr. Jacob Kritzer, highlight the key points of SSC member Dr. Steve Cadrin’s written statement to the SSC. Dr. Cadrin, who is also a professor in the Department of Fisheries and Oceanography in the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, stresses that the 2013 TRAC assessment of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder is not a reliable basis for fishery management decisions.
Listen to SSC members Dr. Daniel Georgianna, Jean-Jacques Maguire, and John Hoenig discuss their apprehension in basing Georges Bank yellowtail catch advice on an inconsistent model.
Listen to Drew Minkiewicz, of the Fisheries Survival Fund, discuss the importance of addressing issues fundamental to the SSC’s deliberative process, and examine Georges Bank yellowtail flounder’s role in the scallop fishery.
Listen to Vito Giacalone, of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, discuss the effects of the SSC’s catch recommendations on the groundfish industry.
Listen to SSC Chair, Dr. Jacob Kritzer, accept piecemeal suggestions from SSC members to be included in the Committee’s final recommendations regarding catch advice for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder.