AMERICAN PLAICE
QUOTAS, SEASONS, LICENSES
Canadian quota for American Plaice was set at
2500tonnes, inshore fishing,
65', MG was 2005. Season is from May
19 to October 31. Licenses were divided
in 3 divisions for St. Georges Bay, division 1
had 43 licenses, division 2 had 99
licenses, and division 3 had 83 licenses.
STOCK STATUS
For management purposes American plaice in the
Canadian sector of the
Northwest Atlantic consists of six stocks.
Additionally, there is a stock in
the New England, Georges Bank area. A fish stock
is usually roughly defined
as a discrete group of fish of the particular
species occupying an area. The
stock idea implies that any fishing activity on
one stock (of a particular species)
would have little or no effect on any other
stock. For example, fishing the Grand
Banks plaice very heavily would have no effect
on the size of the population
on St. Pierre Bank or on the northeast
Newfoundland Shelf.
Although the limits of all the stocks have not
been completely defined, it is fairly
certain that the small stock of Plaice on the
Flemish Cap is distinct from that
on the Grand Banks, and because of their
geographic separation, stocks on the
Scotian Shelf and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
are almost certainly discrete.
The stock status units have been used to manage
plaice and indeed almost all
fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic are based on
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries
Organization (NAFO) subarea or divisional
boundaries. To determine the size
of the fish populations, it is necessary to have
knowledge of the quantities of
the fish caught for a number of years, and
catches have been recorded by
various statistical agencies and reported by
NAFO divisions.
Stocks are assessed each year to determine the
appropriate removal level by
the fishery. To arrive at this level, certain
biological and statistical data are
required. These include, for each stock,
the number of fish caught each year,
an accurate estimate of the amount of fishing
effort, the number of new young
fish that may be taken by the fishery, and some
estimate of the rate at which the
fish die from natural causes such as predation
and disease. The number of fish
caught at each age is determined from samples of
otoliths and length and weight
measurements of individual fish taken throughout
the fishing season by
commercial landings. By knowing the average
weight of the individual fish
caught, it is possible to calculate the total
number caught from the total weight
landed. These total numbers can be broken down
into the numbers by the age
proportions of different groups in the samples.
From this data the total number
of fish in the stock can be estimated using the
appropriate mathematical models.
TIMEFRAME OF THE FISHERY
There is no fishery from January to April
because of the ice conditions. In spring,
mobile fleet(otter trawlers and Danish seiners)
begin their fishery. This fishery is
very seasonal, vessels follow the migration of
groundfish into the Gulf and again
out of the Gulf in Autumn. The 4T fishery is
carried out mainly in two areas;
between the Magdalen Islands, PEI and Cape
Breton(known as Eastern Gulf)
and in western portion of 4T is off the Gaspe
coast, Miscou and Bay of Chaleaur.
The catches of groundfish (in eastern Gulf) peak
in May, June and October as
groundfish congregate off Cape Breton for their
migration to the Scotian Shelf.
Catches in the western area peak in July and
October. There is normally a decline
in August and September when groundfish are more
dispersed. The fishery
pattern is the same for the Danish seiners and
otter trawlers. The fixed gear
fishery is prosecuted mainly in the summer
months when cod stocks come closer
to shore. Catches by this gear sector normally
peak in June, July, August and
also in November.