FFAW/CAW President Earle McCurdy took DFO groundfish scientists to task Monday for missing an opportunity to bridge the difference of opinion between scientists and fish harvesters as to the state of the northern cod stock. McCurdy told that the media briefing by DFO scientists on Friday “obscured a dramatic increase” in their estimate of the offshore trawlable biomass of cod in the area known as 2J3KL.
It is informed that the previous stock assessment reports said the offshore biomass index from the DFO research vessel (RV) surveys from 2003-05 averaged about 20,000 metric tonnes. But the current estimate of 148,000 m.t. was nowhere to be found in the released list. McCurdy also said that there was absolutely nothing in the statement to indicate that kind of increase had occurred in that index.
He told that the scientists appeared more concerned about managing expectations than they were in getting the facts on the table. He also states that the RV survey results reflect the encouraging signs in the inshore sentinel and index fisheries. He noted that an offshore acoustic survey similarly showed a significant increase in the biomass index from just a few years ago.
According to McCurdy the recommendation from DFO’s Zonal Assessment Process for “no directed fishing and measures to reduce cod bycatch in other fisheries” ignores the appreciable growth that occurred in the face of a very limited fishery in 2008, and does absolutely nothing to encourage buy-in from harvesters in a stock rebuilding strategy based on genuine shared stewardship.
In the report the scientists commented that “the impacts of fishing at specific TAC levels could not be quantified,” yet they recommended a 10,000 m.t. limit even though it is not normal practice for them to recommend TAC levels.
