There are a few posters on here that are likely familiar with how salmon are managed and incorrectly assume that YE are managed the same. That is incorrect.
Salmon - as we know - often are managed pre-season by a pre-season forecast for the larger watersheds (good luck wrt the smaller watersheds). The TAC allocated to different user groups is a % of that TAC (as individual numbers of salmon). The US-Canada Salmon Treaty influences how that rolls out.
In-season - that TAC is updated and the allocation to different users groups is simultaneously updated.
That's not how YE bycatch is managed.
Every year DFO does both trawl and long-line test fisheries - alternating between northern and southern portions of the Coast for the hook and line surveys - yearly for the trawl surveys.
From that a YE biomass is estimated, and applied broad-scale (all sub-areas) to the coast for the next year. By-catch is applied as a conservative portion of that biomass by subareas that likely do not reflect current subarea biomass since the test fisheries are generally sparse and can miss some central and North-Coast subareas where YE is caught - as an example. Catches of Yelloweye Rockfish tend to be largest in central QCS and along the shelf off the west coast of southern Vancouver Island.
Groundfish bottom trawl surveys often miss YE since preferred YE rocky bottom habitat is more difficult to trawl without damaging gear. The most recent stock assessments for each of the Yelloweye Rockfish DU’s show population trends only up to 2010 for the inside and up to 2014 for the outside areas.
Since, YE by-catch for most subareas is very limited - some FN commercial boats (that have cameras, and 3rd party monitors) dual-fish - delivering overages as FSC fish under the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations or Treaty Harvest Agreements. In both cases, allocations are specified, and the fisheries are licensed and conducted under the authority of the Minister.
FNs have a right for FSC catch within their traditional territories. If they use YE bycatch for FSC - I'm not seeing the outrage displayed by a few posters on this forum. Not defending wasting fish - just not seeing the outrage over using YE for FSC.
From the available info on YE rockfish total mortality:
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ResDocs-DocRech/2019/2019_014-eng.pdf
"The estimate of total mortality for the inside population of Yelloweye ranges from 0.036 to 0.057, while total mortality estimates for the outside population range from 0.027 to 0.045 depending on models used (Yamanaka et al. 2006; Yamanaka et al. 2012)."
" ...the recreational fisheries have accounted for variable proportions of all catch, with equivalent or greater removals than the commercial hook and line fisheries for inside Yelloweye Rockfish in recent years "
Salmon - as we know - often are managed pre-season by a pre-season forecast for the larger watersheds (good luck wrt the smaller watersheds). The TAC allocated to different user groups is a % of that TAC (as individual numbers of salmon). The US-Canada Salmon Treaty influences how that rolls out.
In-season - that TAC is updated and the allocation to different users groups is simultaneously updated.
That's not how YE bycatch is managed.
Every year DFO does both trawl and long-line test fisheries - alternating between northern and southern portions of the Coast for the hook and line surveys - yearly for the trawl surveys.
From that a YE biomass is estimated, and applied broad-scale (all sub-areas) to the coast for the next year. By-catch is applied as a conservative portion of that biomass by subareas that likely do not reflect current subarea biomass since the test fisheries are generally sparse and can miss some central and North-Coast subareas where YE is caught - as an example. Catches of Yelloweye Rockfish tend to be largest in central QCS and along the shelf off the west coast of southern Vancouver Island.
Groundfish bottom trawl surveys often miss YE since preferred YE rocky bottom habitat is more difficult to trawl without damaging gear. The most recent stock assessments for each of the Yelloweye Rockfish DU’s show population trends only up to 2010 for the inside and up to 2014 for the outside areas.
Since, YE by-catch for most subareas is very limited - some FN commercial boats (that have cameras, and 3rd party monitors) dual-fish - delivering overages as FSC fish under the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations or Treaty Harvest Agreements. In both cases, allocations are specified, and the fisheries are licensed and conducted under the authority of the Minister.
FNs have a right for FSC catch within their traditional territories. If they use YE bycatch for FSC - I'm not seeing the outrage displayed by a few posters on this forum. Not defending wasting fish - just not seeing the outrage over using YE for FSC.
From the available info on YE rockfish total mortality:
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ResDocs-DocRech/2019/2019_014-eng.pdf
"The estimate of total mortality for the inside population of Yelloweye ranges from 0.036 to 0.057, while total mortality estimates for the outside population range from 0.027 to 0.045 depending on models used (Yamanaka et al. 2006; Yamanaka et al. 2012)."
" ...the recreational fisheries have accounted for variable proportions of all catch, with equivalent or greater removals than the commercial hook and line fisheries for inside Yelloweye Rockfish in recent years "
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