Fisheries stock assessment and management models for British Columbia’s multispecies integrated groundfish fishery

Large-scale commercial fisheries are an important part of Canada’s resource economy; however, resource managers are increasingly challenged to improve conservation and biodiversity outcomes by eliminating over-fishing, reducing bycatch and wastage, and protecting sensitive habitats from the impacts of fishing gear. Integrated management of multispecies fisheries attempts to improve on these outcomes by mandating and enforcing strict accountability for all retained and discarded catch of every species encountered. However, integrated management creates unrealistic scientific information requirements because it requires detailed biomass estimates for all quota species. Furthermore, strict quota accountability for multispecies quotas creates economic pinch-points where low quota availability severely constrains harvester access to more productive species. In this proposal, we address these challenges by investigating (1) the effectiveness of new stock assessment and management models designed to overcome data limitations for spatially structured flatfish and rockfish species, and (2) the ability of machine learning algorithms to predict the presence and catch rates of pinch-point species, which would allow harvesters to redirect effort and reduce profitability constraints. Stock assessment research in this proposal is urgently needed to help fisheries meet government policies for sustainable fishing, as well as consumer-oriented fishery sustainability certification.

Faculty Supervisor:

Sean Cox

Student:

Partner:

Wild Canadian Sablefish Ltd;Canadian Groundfish Research and Conservation Society;Pacific Halibut Management Association of British Columbia

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program: