The nascent recovery of the Georges Bank haddock stock

The nascent recovery of the Georges Bank haddock stock

World-wide many fish stocks have been depleted by overfishing. In this study, we describe the nascent recovery of the Georges Bank haddock stock. This mainstay of the New England groundfish fishery was overfished for decades prior to mid-1990s and experienced long-term declines in spawning biomass a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Fisheries research Vol. 94; no. 2; pp. 123 - 132
Main Authors: Brodziak, Jon, Traver, Michele L., Col, Laurel A.
Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-11-2008
Elsevier
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Exploitation and management of natural biological resources (hunting, fishing and exploited populations survey, etc.)
Fishery management
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Georges Bank
Growth
Haddock
Marine
Overfishing
Recovery
Recruitment
Stock assessment
USA, New England
ANW, Atlantic, Georges Bank
Growth
Overfishing
Georges Bank
Fishery management
Haddock
Stock assessment
Recovery
Recruitment
Fishery
Restoration
Overexploitation
Stock
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Summary:World-wide many fish stocks have been depleted by overfishing. In this study, we describe the nascent recovery of the Georges Bank haddock stock. This mainstay of the New England groundfish fishery was overfished for decades prior to mid-1990s and experienced long-term declines in spawning biomass and recruitment. The stock was considered to have collapsed in the early-1990s when a lawsuit by the Conservation Law Foundation led the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to take actions to cease overfishing and to recover Georges Bank haddock and other groundfish stocks. Under restrictive management measures, stock size increased 10-fold from 1995 to 2005. In 2003, an exceptionally abundant year class (YC) was produced. Although this YC may rebuild the haddock stock to pre-1930s abundance if properly fished, monitoring changes in life history parameters and recruitment will be important for sustaining stock recovery. Mean weights and sizes at age of adult haddock have decreased in recent years, and compensatory responses of haddock growth and recruitment to changes in stock density are assessed. We discuss some remaining challenges to managing this recovering transboundary resource in a dynamic multispecies fishery.
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ISSN:0165-7836
1872-6763
DOI:10.1016/j.fishres.2008.03.009