Tagging Results from the 2000-2004 Federal Experimental Fishery for Atlantic Halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) in the Eastern Gulf of Maine

Abstract

Tagging results from five years of a federal experimental Atlantic halibut fishery in the eastern Gulf of Maine are presented in this paper. These data show both localized movements within the study area and long-distance emigrations of juveniles. Twenty-eight percent of the recoveries from this study were made in Canadian waters, demonstrating an interchange between fish in the Gulf of Maine and those considered part of the Scotian Shelf/Southern Grand Banks stock unit. The predominance of long-distance, northeastward movement of juveniles poses the question of compensatory emigration in response to the predicted southwestward drift of eggs and larvae.

Continental shelf residency by adult Atlantic halibut electronic tagged in the Gulf of Maine

“…2). These results corroborate findings from previous studies in which a majority of Atlantic halibut appear to demonstrate limited movements (Jensen and Wise 1961;Kohler 1964;Stobo et al 1988;Kanwit 2007;Col and Legault 2009;den Heyer et al 2012). These limited movements may result in a lack of intermingling of Atlantic halibut from Canadian and U.S. waters on spawning grounds, potentially limiting gene flow among these areas and resulting in the existence of different stocks of fish in geographically proximate areas.…”

“…The Atlantic halibut tagged in this study were captured on longline gear at 65 stations along random grid transects of Maine's near-shore waters in 2007, 2008 and Table 1). All of the tagged fish were weighed and measured, tagged quickly without anesthetic, and gently released head-first back into the ocean.…”

“…First, recent research has documented large differences in abundances of juvenile Atlantic halibut from U.S. and Canadian waters , despite there not being any detectible shortage of suitable rearing habitat in either area (Shackell et al 2016). Second, while Atlantic halibut have been shown to make extensive migrations >3000 km, the majority of fish are thought to remain near (<50 km) their respective release sites (Kanwit 2007;den Heyer et al 2012). This observation indicates that relatively long movements of a minority of fish, which tend to attract researchers' attention, masks the overall tendency for individual Atlantic halibut to reside in relatively small areas.…”

“…The species is iteroparous and is assumed to spawn annually upon reaching maturity (Neilson et al 1993). Atlantic halibut are generally thought to follow the distribution patterns of their congeners Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis), spending summer months in relatively shallow, near-shore waters to feed and, in the winter, moving into deeper water on the continental slope, where spawning is presumed to occur (Stobo et al 1988;Sigourney et al 2006, Kanwit 2007Armsworthy et al 2014). As group-synchronous batch spawners, Atlantic halibut from several summer feeding areas are thought to gather in large spawning aggregations at discrete deep water locations (Bowering 1986;Haug 1990).…”

Age determination, bomb-radiocarbon validation and growth of Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) from the Northwest Atlantic

“…In the second half of the 20th century, Atlantic halibut abundance declined markedly in some areas, including U.S. waters in the Gulf of Maine (Kanwit 2007) and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (DFO 2009), presumably due to over-fishing. Since 1998, the relative abundance of the halibut stock on the Scotian Shelf and southern Grand Banks off of eastern Canada (NAFO Divisions 3NOPs4VWX5Zc; Fig.…”