Brussels, Belgium – A world-class, offshore acoustic tracking project will soon see an array of acoustic receivers deployed in waters off Eastern Canada, and acoustic tags will be placed on Northern Cod soon after, thanks to work taking place in the Northern Cod Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) led by two industry associations. The movement of cod from different spawning stock components of this major stock complex will then be monitored by the array of acoustic receivers, with data to be retrieved from these receivers by autonomous ocean gliders.
Industry stakeholders reported on the progress yesterday in their 3rd Annual FIP Working Group meeting in Brussels.
The information obtained from this multi-year, multi-million dollar project, once analyzed, will contribute to understanding Northern Cod stock components and their movement along the slope of the continental shelf, as well as their inshore/offshore migration patterns. This in turn will enable more effective stock assessment modeling and management measures to control fishing mortality.
“This is crucial work, and an important piece in addressing longstanding scientific questions around the Northern cod resource,” said Derek Butler, Executive Director of the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP), and FIP Co-Chair along with Bruce Chapman, President of the Groundfish Enterprise Allocation Council (GEAC).
The design of this research program included a scientific workshop involving government scientists, academia from Memorial University, Dalhousie University, the Ocean Tracking Network, the Ocean Frontier Institute, and industry representatives including Icewater Seafoods and Ocean Choice International of Canada, and Davigel Inc. of France (supported by Marks and Spencer and Highliner Foods). The merits and challenges of different design options were debated leading to the establishment of a final deployment plan. Over the coming months, final preparation for deployment of the acoustic tags and receiver array will be undertaken, further informed by cutting edge genetic work also funded by the ASP-GEAC FIP.
“This industry-led FIP and its world-class acoustic research project demonstrates the tangible benefits of industry, academics and government working together to improve science, and in turn, management of marine resources,” said Jim Cannon, President of Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP).
The group also discussed the recent stall in the recovery trajectory of the Northern Cod spawning stock biomass (SSB). Scientists affirmed that the resource decline over the past year was due to natural mortality. Notwithstanding this, industry representatives re-affirmed their support for a meaningful reduction in catch by the Stewardship and recreational fisheries, in order to promote rebuilding once conditions imposed by Mother Nature improve.
The 3rd annual FIP Working Group meeting was held in Brussels on the eve of the Brussels Seafood Show, arranged by ASP and GEAC, with participants from the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), seafood companies in Europe and Canada, the Government of Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada’s Department of Fisheries & Oceans, and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
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