Seasonal cycle in weight and physiological condition of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) influenced productivity and economic impacts of the cod fishery in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. Condition indices (Fulton's K condition factor and hepatosomatic index e HSI) were lowest during the spawning season (spring) and increased rapidly during the postspawning period, reaching maximum values by fall (K and HSI increased on average 24% and 82% between spring and fall, respectively). Somatic weight and condition indices varied seasonally. Condition indices were correlated with an industry index of product yield. Historically, cod fisheries have been prosecuted during all seasons, but simulations of 1997e1999 fisheries indicate that a fall fishery (period of peak physiological condition) resulted in a 8e17% decrease in the number of cod removed from the stock while maintaining the same weight-based quotas, and profiting from maximum yield and better product quality. Spring and summer fisheries resulted in lower yield (6%) and quality (5e26%) of fish products by weight. Seasonal biological cycles could be used as templates for management strategies that promote fisheries conservation and economic benefits by harvesting fish during periods when biological impacts are minimal and economic returns maximal.
In April 1995, a spawning aggregation of “northern” Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) (10 000 t) appeared in Smith Sound, Newfoundland, growing to 26 000 t by year 2000. The origin of the founder year classes (primarily the 1990 and 1992 year classes) and potential for expansion remains controversial, with genetic isolation used to justify reopenings of coastal fisheries. We investigated the origin using historical, demographic, and genetic data. History provided no evidence of large aggregations before 1995. Demographics in the early 1990s suggested few spawners in Smith Sound, but many in the adjacent Bonavista Corridor. The strong 1990 year class was not evident until 1995 and the strong 1992 year class until 1997 (both age 5 and first maturity). Genetic study of six microsatellite loci from 791 cod from overwintering aggregations in Smith Sound and offshore regions indicated little to no differentiation (FST) among southern groups (Smith Sound, Bonavista Corridor, Halibut Channel). These results provide a perspective that these groups comprise a metapopulation and that the Smith Sound aggregation arose not from self-recruitment but immigration. By 2009, the aggregation had dispersed, with large concurrent increases in the Bonavista Corridor.
Geostatistical methods were used to (i) quantify fish aggregation patterns over a range of scales (100 m to 67 km) using both simulated and acoustic density data of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and (ii) examine how changes in aggregation patterns influenced the precision of geostatistical density indices. Variogram parameters (range, sill, and nugget) reflected changes in distribution patterns. Variograms of dispersed and low-density aggregations had large range and small sill and nugget values. In contrast, when fish were aggregated in a small portion of the study area, the range was low and the sill and nugget large. The precision of density indices (coefficient of variation) was below 20% in all cases but at a maximum during summer when cod were broadly distributed in small, moderate to dense aggregations. Geostatistical modeling allowed us to describe and quantify distribution patterns of fish density over different scales of observation, comparisons of spatiotemporal changes in density distribution, and estimations of the precision of density indices while accounting for the effects of heterogeneous distributions, outliers and the typically large number of zero and low-density observations. Geostatistical methods have particular applicability to fishes exhibiting gregarious behaviour and seasonally variable distributions, which include many temperate and high-latitude fish species.
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