Assessment of the west coast of Newfoundland (NAFO Division 4R) Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) stocks in 2021 / Kim Émond, Hélène Dionne, Manuelle Beaudry-Sylvestre, Frédéric Paquet, Shani Rousseau,...: Fs70-5/2024-004E-PDF

"This document details the data and analyses used to assess the status of the west coast of Newfoundland (NAFO Division 4R) spring- and fall-spawning herring stocks. The present stock assessment took place on March 1-2, 2022 and provides advice for the 2022-2023 fishing seasons. The data and knowledge available are insufficient to quantitatively assess the status of the resource. However, the main results of this assessment indicate that maintaining the TAC at status quo should not pose any significant risk to the two herring spawning stocks in Division 4R in the short term. Maximum exploitation rates in 2020-2021, estimated as the ratio of the TAC over the highest biomass index estimated in the acoustic survey, were low (<15%). The abundance of young fish observed in the 2020-2021 acoustic surveys and commercial catches for both spring and fall spawners is an encouraging sign for the future of these stocks. Landings have been trending downward since 2017, and the recent decrease of 81% since 2019 can be explained by the high incidence of fish under the legal size that prevented harvesters from landing their quotas. After a period of low stock status in the 2000s and 2010s, there are signs of increase for the spring-spawning stock since 2019. This conclusion will need to be reconsidered following the review of the assessment framework in 2024-2025"--Abstract, page xi.

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