The Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture has allotted $50,000 in funding toward a cod stock identification project. According to the press release of the department the project will be led by Dr George Rose of the Marine Institute’s Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research (CFER). The funding will be provided through the Cod Recovery Strategy. The project is said to have a multi-phase study of the chemical composition of ear bones of cod (otoliths), which provide indicators of the spawning origin and migration history of individual fish in the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador.
Dr Rose informed that the first phase will use an existing otolith collection to test the effects of fish size, growth, age and year of birth on chemical composition of otoliths, in various sites from Labrador to the south coast of the island. The testing of specific stock structure variables in the second phase such as migration, on local cod groups in areas such as Smith Sound in Trinity Bay.
He also said that the third phase will involve the study of samples collected during the winter trips of the Celtic Explorer and by commercial fishing vessels on the Flemish Cap. He told that climate change largely affects the stock structures of cod in their waters to be more fluid than previously thought. Dr Rose explained that sock structure forms the very basis of management, it is essential that we get a better handle on these issues. As part of this project, there will be collaboration with scientists at Dalhousie University who are interested in stock structure and otolith structure.
