Recruitment Patterns in Northwest Atlantic Fish Stocks

1984 ◽  
Vol 41 (12) ◽  
pp. 1722-1729 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Anthony Koslow

By analysing recruitment time series for 14 stocks of northwest Atlantic fish, I have found consistent positive correlations in recruitment among stocks within such species as cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and herring (Clupea harengus). Significant positive correlations are also often found in recruitment among demersal, offshore-spawning species (cod, haddock, and redfish (Sebastes spp.)), and recruitment in these groups tends to be negatively correlated with that of pelagic species, which spawn inshore (herring) or in restricted waters (mackerel (Scomber scombrus)). These patterns emerge as well from a principal component (PC) analysis of the recruitment data. Three dominant patterns (PC 1–3) explain 78% of the variance of the data set. I suggest that the spatial extent of these patterns, which span the region from west Greenland to Georges Bank, indicates that large-scale physical forcing, rather than local biological interactions, predominantly regulates recruitment to northwest Atlantic fisheries.


1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Anthony Koslow ◽  
Keith R. Thompson ◽  
William Silvert

Year-class success of both Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) stocks in the northwest Atlantic exhibits large-scale coherence and low-frequency variability with apparent periodicities of 10–20 yr. Several physical and biological variables in the region exhibit similar large-scale coherence and apparent periodicity. Multiple regression analysis indicates that year-class success in northwest Atlantic cod stocks tends to be associated with large-scale meteorological patterns and offshore winds. Recruitment to most haddock stocks from the Scotian Shelf to Georges Bank is negatively associated with abundance of 0-group mackerel, which may be due to predation over winter and/or to a combination of environmental features including sea-surface temperature, large-scale atmospheric pressure systems, and freshwater outflows. Statistical analyses often did not define a unique set of variables that best predicted fishery recruitment due to widespread intercorrelations among environmental processes and the likelihood that not all relevant processes entered directly into the analyses. There is little evidence that stock reproductive output during the study period was significantly related to year-class success.



1991 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1003-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward B. Cohen ◽  
David G. Mountain ◽  
Robert O'Boyle

Recent analyses of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) stocks in the northwest Atlantic have indicated that large-scale factors (several hundred to thousands of kilometres) dominate over effects operating on more local scales (10 to a few hundred kilometres} in determining recruitment patterns for these stocks. Adding additional years and additional stocks to the data set, the recruitment time series for cod and haddock have been reexamined. A first differencing technique was used to remove trends in the data. The results indicate that while large-scale effects probably do affect recruitment, the dominant factors are operating on more local scales and correlations are strongest for neighboring stocks.



1981 ◽  
Vol 38 (11) ◽  
pp. 1393-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Agnello ◽  
L. G. Anderson

Production equations are estimated for five major species of fish harvested in the Northwest Atlantic including Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), flounder (Pleuronectiformes), redfish (Sebastes marinus), and herring (Clupea harengus) using data collected by the International Commission for the Northeast Atlantic Fisheries from 1960 to 1974. A log-linear regression specification is used in which the relationship between catch of a vessel and several factors including days fished and vessel characteristics is estimated simultaneously. Vessel characteristics are represented as (0, 1) categorical variables, and include a variable indicating the target species designated by the caption. Various settings for the target species variables allow the estimated equation to represent either a by-catch or target catch equation. The production parameters estimated by the regressions are used to analyze the effects of current quotas set by the New England Fisheries Management Council. For some fleets we find a likelihood of idle capacity given the current quotas.Key words: fisheries economics, multi-species harvesting, Northwest Atlantic fisheries



Parasitology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. MACKENZIE ◽  
W. HEMMINGSEN

SUMMARYStudies of the use of parasites as biological tags for stock identification and to follow migrations of marine fish, mammals and invertebrates in European Atlantic waters are critically reviewed and evaluated. The region covered includes the North, Baltic, Barents and White Seas plus Icelandic waters, but excludes the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Each fish species or ecological group of species is treated separately. More parasite tag studies have been carried out on Atlantic herring Clupea harengus than on any other species, while cod Gadus morhua have also been the subject of many studies. Other species that have been the subjects of more than one study are: blue whiting Micromesistius poutassou, whiting Merlangius merlangus, haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus, Norway pout Trisopterus esmarkii, horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus and mackerel Scomber scombrus. Other species are dealt with under the general headings redfishes, flatfish, tunas, anadromous fish, elasmobranchs, marine mammals and invertebrates. A final section highlights how parasites can be, and have been, misused as biological tags, and how this can be avoided. It also reviews recent developments in methodology and parasite genetics, considers the potential effects of climate change on the distributions of both hosts and parasites, and suggests host-parasite systems that should reward further research.



2020 ◽  
Vol 656 ◽  
pp. 75-87
Author(s):  
KM Depot ◽  
LC Scopel ◽  
SW Kress ◽  
P Shannon ◽  
AW Diamond ◽  
...  

Ecosystem-based fisheries management, which considers the interactions between fisheries, target species, and the physical and biological components of ecosystems, is necessary to ensure that directed fisheries avoid adverse impacts to ecosystems over the long term. The successful implementation of ecosystem-based fisheries management requires an understanding of predator-prey relationships and ways to operationalize such relationships to inform fisheries management. Here, we investigated if the diet of a generalist predator, Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica, can be used as an indicator of the abundance of 2 commercially exploited prey species (haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus and Acadian redfish Sebastes fasciatus) in the Gulf of Maine. Because haddock and redfish eaten by puffins are juveniles (age 0), there is potential to use their proportions and lengths in puffin diet to better understand the processes influencing haddock and redfish recruitment. By using principal component analysis to develop measures of diet across multiple puffin colonies, we show both spatial variation and large-scale patterns in the proportions and lengths of haddock and redfish in puffin diet. Spawning stock biomass was a strong predictor of haddock proportion in puffin diet and a moderate predictor of redfish proportion; however, proportions in puffin diet did not predict age-1 recruitment, suggesting that variation in recruitment is caused by processes that occur after the puffin breeding season and which affect the survival of older juveniles. Haddock length on one colony was a moderate predictor of age-1 recruitment. We conclude that puffin diet can be used as an indicator of haddock and redfish abundance.



1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (11) ◽  
pp. 1890-1897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Cabilio ◽  
David L. DeWolfe ◽  
Graham R. Daborn

Selected long-term fisheries catch data from the New England – Fundy area and the Grand Banks were examined for concordance between changes in fish catches and the 18.6-yr nodal cycle of the tides using a nonlinear regression model. Significant positive correlations were found for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus harengus), and scallop (Placopecten magellanicus), with lag times that are biologically appropriate for the time from hatching to recruitment into the fishery. A significant negative correlation with the nodal cycle was evident for Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), for which this area constitutes the most northerly part of its range. Cod catches on the Grand Banks showed no correlation with the nodal cycle. It is suggested that the correlations between the nodal cycle and the changes in fish catches are caused by correlated changes either in sea surface temperature or in productivity resulting from changes in the degree of vertical mixing.



2000 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 1321-1325 ◽  
Author(s):  
D P Swain ◽  
A F Sinclair

Like most other stocks of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in the Northwest Atlantic, cod in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence declined to low abundance in the early 1990s. Recovery has been slow in contrast with the rapid recovery from similar levels of abundance in the mid-1970s. This difference reflects remarkably high prerecruit survival of cod in the earlier period of low abundance rather than unusually poor survival in the 1990s. The period of high prerecruit survival of cod coincided with the collapse of herring (Clupea harengus) and mackerel (Scomber scombrus) stocks resulting from overfishing. These pelagic fishes are potential predators or competitors of the early life history stages of cod. We report a strong negative relationship between the biomass of these pelagic fishes and recruitment rate of southern Gulf cod. This is consistent with the recent suggestion that the success of large predatory fishes may depend on "cultivation" effects in which the adults crop down forage fishes that are predators or competitors of their young. Our results also point to the possibility of a triangular food web involving cod, seals, and pelagic fishes, making it difficult to predict the effect of a proposed cull of seals on the recovery of cod.



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