1998 

 OUR LIVING OCEANS 



Spawning stock 



biomass 



(X 1,000 t) 



20 - 

 15 - 

 10 - 

 5 - 

 - 



25 



20 

 15 

 10 

 5 

 



Explottalion 



Winter flounder 

 I . I I I I I I 



Biomass 

 j__i I L. 



90 



E-ploilation 



Yellowtail flounder 

 I I I I I I I I I i_ 



Exploitation 

 rate 



- 08 

 06 



02 

 00 



- 10 



- 08 



- 06 

 -04 

 -02 



- 00 



J 1_ 



Figure 10 



Spawning stock biomass (' 

 1,000 1) and exploitation rate 

 (U) for two southern New 

 England groundfish stocks, 

 1973-98. 



85 

 Year 



1980's and early 1990s. 



Projections oF stock recovery incliiJed in re- 

 cent groundfish fishery management plan amend- 

 ments indicate that under exploitation rates such 

 as those observed currently tor Georges Bank 

 stocks, recovery times of about a decade were re- 

 quired tor most species, with some stocks rebuild- 

 ing sooner (yellowtail flounder) and some later 

 (haddock). This process has clearly begun on 

 Georges Bank and in Southern New England, but 

 additional conservation measures are required tor 

 many Gulf of Maine stocks. Managers are currently 

 evaluating specific proposals for additional closed 

 areas, effort reductions, and other measures to meet 

 these goals. 



Passage of the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1 996 

 has placed stringent new requirements for conser- 

 vation and management of all fishery resources, 

 including New England groundfish. Fhe new stat- 



ute requires that overfished popul.itions be rebuilt 

 to levels that would prodtice iiiaximuni sustain- 

 able yields over the long term. Current rebuilding 

 target exploitation rates for New England ground- 

 fish will, in many cases, also be the long-term 

 management goals required under the new law. 



Management measures enacted since 1994 

 have had significant positive benefits for many of 

 the resources, reflected in reduced exploitation 

 rates, increased spawning stock sizes, and more bal- 

 anced population age and size structures. One fac- 

 tor implicated in the decline of many groundfish 

 stocks was the increased reliance on first-time 

 spawners, a consequence of high and increasing 

 exploitation rates. Reduced effort on some stocks 

 has resulted in greater proportions of fish spawn- 

 ing two or more times before capture. A more bal- 

 anced age structure is an important element re- 

 building stocks (and fisheries) that can sustain 

 normal year-to-year variations in recruitment, 

 which may be extreme. Likewise, closed areas have 

 been beneficial in promoting the recovery of the 

 western Georges Bank spawning components of 

 cod and haddock, which were fished to very low 

 levels prior to 1995. 



The New England groundfish resource has 

 shown remarkable resiliency to changes in fleet size, 

 target species shifts, and technological change over 

 the past century. However, in some cases, stocks 

 sensitive to overfishing (halibut, redfish) were 

 "written-off" in favor of more productive re- 

 sources. New fishery management legislation (i.e. 

 the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1 996) requires that 

 depleted resources be restored, and currently pro- 

 ductive resources remain so. Fishing at sustainable 

 exploitation rates will eventually result in much 

 higher yields with less year-to-year variation in 

 landings, more diverse catches (flounders, cod, 

 haddock, redfish, pollock, etc.), and more stable 

 catch rates in the fishery. 



80 



