A Survey-based Assessment of Cod in Division 3M

Abstract

The cod stock in NAFO Division 3M is in moratorium since 1999. The low catches collected since then make it difficult to apply a VPA based assessment to evaluate the current stock status. Therefore, a survey-based assessment method was used to evaluate the present status in a stochastic way; a method that takes into account uncertainties in survey sampling as well as in catchability estimates. The results show that the spawning stock biomass is at very low level in comparison to the time series levels and all survey stochastic estimates are under Blim. Although abundance at age 1 in the survey is the highest observed since 1993, the current abundances at age of pre-mature year-classes are at very historic low levels and, consequently, a recovery of the stock is not expected in a sort or medium term.