Last year, scientists did not predict good things for cod stocks in Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) area 3Ps and this year things are looking the same or even worse.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) recently stated that the latest stock assessment of cod in the south coast fishing area is showing no sign of recovery and is well within the critical zone of the precautionary approach framework.
The stock has been in the critical zone since 2000 and is currently at 40 per cent of the limit reference point (LRP).
DFO said that the latest assessment shows that the stock’s growth is slower than it anticipated and the size of the stock is smaller than previously thought. Also, cod in 3Ps are smaller than they used to be and fewer young fish are entering into the stock.
DFO also noted that the ecosystem in 3Ps is changing and as the ocean continues to become warmer, cod productivity is expected to be negatively impacted.
“We are seeing a shift in the fish community in 3Ps, meaning warmer water species are more abundant than they have been in the past. Harvesters have also reported changes to cod movement patterns. Cod productivity is expected to be negatively impacted in 3Ps as warming continues,” the assessment stated.
DFO also reported that it was seeing cod closer to shore during its spring survey.
“Small increases in cod in inshore survey areas have been coupled with large decreases in the offshore survey area. From the late-1990s through 2020, the amount of cod in the inshore area of the survey accounted for 10 per cent or less of the biomass. This increased to roughly 40 per cent in the last three surveys.”
The union representing fish harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador said that the loss of cod from the offshore confirm the longstanding concerns of its members.
“During the brief period that the 3Ps cod stock was Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified, FFAW-Unifor objected to that certification on the grounds that the assessment of the stock was overly optimistic. The union repeatedly raised concerns about offshore draggers fishing on vulnerable winter aggregations and spawning fish, which accelerated the loss of offshore components now clearly evident in the data. These concerns are documented in our objection to the 2015 certification of 3Ps cod.”
“The technical briefing released today showed that cod have largely disappeared from the offshore portions of the DFO research vessel survey, including the Halibut Channel — areas that once supported significant fishing activity. In 2016, the last year that DFO provided maps of fishing locations in the assessment, the heat maps of offshore dragging show a contraction of the fishery and a concentration in the Halibut Channel. The patterns seen in 3Ps, with increased concentration of offshore dragging, echoes patterns seen in the lead-up to the Northern cod collapse,” the union stated in a press release.
“Sound familiar?” asked FFAW President Dwan Street. “We’ve seen this before. When Northern cod collapsed, the same thing happened — offshore effort was concentrated on remaining cod aggregations while inshore harvesters struggled to fill their quotas. We need to learn from those mistakes, not repeat them.”
The FFAW added that the assessment results make clear that the 3Ps cod stock is in trouble and that the collapse of offshore components occurred during years when science and management underestimated the risks.
“It’s important to remember that there was a major revision to our understanding of the stock,” explained Erin Carruthers, FFAW fisheries scientist.
“In 2019, DFO led a major reassessment of 3Ps cod which resulted in the current assessment model, which shows that this stock was below the Limit Reference Point for over 20 years, which means that loss of offshore components was underway during the period when stock status was overestimated.”
“We can’t fix the past, but we can take responsibility for how we manage the future. This means revisiting the rebuilding plan, it means listening to the people on the water and it means tracking — and importantly reviewing changes in the distribution of fish and fleets within a stock area.”
