October 2, 2020
To Stakeholders:
The Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (FRCC) will hold public consultations to gather information on Scotian Shelf and Bay of Fundy groundfish stocks to assist the FRCC in making recommendations to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans for 1998 conservation requirements for these groundfish stocks.
Consultations will take place at 1PM Tuesday, October 21, Mira Road Fire Hall in Sydney, and 10AM Wednesday, October 22 , Rodd Grand Hotel, Shelburne Room in Yarmouth and Thursday, October 23 at the Holiday Inn Express in Bedford. Discussion will center around the following stocks:
| COD | (4Vn,4X) | ATLANTIC HALIBUT | (3NOPs,4VWX,5Zc) | ||
| HADDOCK | (4TVW,4X) | POLLOCK | (4VWX,5Zc) | ||
| SKATE | (4VsW) | ARGENTINE | (4VWX) | ||
| WOLFFISH | (4VWX) | FLATFISHES | (4VWX) | ||
| WHITE HAKE | (4VWX) | SlLVER HAKE | (4VWX) | ||
| CUSK | (4VWX) | MONKFISH | (4VWX) |
Stakeholders with an interest in Redfish are invited to a separate FRCC consultation on Redfish in Units 1,2,3 & 3-0 at 10AM on Friday, October 24 at the Holiday Inn Express in Bedford.
Please note that the FRCC will provide separate advice to the Minister on cod stocks in 2J3KL, 3Ps, 4TVn, 4RS,3Pn, and 4VsW in March 1998. DFO Science will be conducting a full zonal assessment of these cod stocks in January 1998. This assessment will include the results of sentinel fisheries and fall and winter research surveys. The FRCC will give stakeholders an opportunity to comment on 4VsW cod prior to the Council forming its advice.
Stakeholders are invited to make public presentations by way of oral presentation or by providing a written brief: FRCC, P.O. Box 2001, Station D, Ottawa, ON K1P 5W3, phone (613) 998-0433, fax (613) 998-1146, internet www.ncr.dfo.ca/frcc.
The challenge for groundfish conservation and sustainability is great for all species. The Council bases its advice on sound conservation principles, and advocates a precautionary approach. The success of these consultations is of interest to all stakeholders. Your views are important and we hope you will participate fully.
Fred Woodman
Chairman
The FRCC is committed to the continued rebuilding of groundfish stocks in order to attain a maximum sustainable yield (msy), closer to the long-term average. To help focus the discussion at consultation, the FRCC has produced the following questions:
Based on your traditional knowledge of groundfish, are we at a comfortable level of biomass for key stocks and what rebuilding threshold should we be seeking to reach?
How can we best enhance rebuilding of the stocks, e.g. fish at (FO.1) or less, ensuring more spawners and larger fish are left to produce adequate recruitment, etc.?
With respect to the proper mix between cod and haddock, were last years FRCC recommendations appropriate to allow a clean fishery without discards and dumping, and what should "the mix" be this year?
Has there been a concentration of fishing effort to the Bay of Fundy in 4X, if so, what effect has this had on fishing grounds and what could this shift mean in relation to stock abundance.
What has your fishing experience been for pollock in the last year? Where is most of the effort concentrated? Have you any comments to make with respect to geographical distribution of the resource and fish size?
Recruitment is a problem in most Atlantic groundfish fisheries. Have you seen an increase with respect to juvenile fish?
In your opinion, are the flatfish stocks in decline?
There have been reports that Atlantic halibut abundance is increasing. Have you seen this in your area? What size of Atlantic halibut have you been catching?