Peer Review Group Approves Pacific Hake Stock Assessment
SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by Susan Chambers - February 29, 2016
The Joint U.S.-Canada Scientific Review Group, a peer review collaboration of scientists and seafood industry representatives, last week approved the findings of the 2016 Pacific hake stock assessment and at the same time rejected a recent claim that Pacific hake landings have been underreported for years.
The median female spawning biomass at the beginning of 2016 was 1.828 million mt, according to the base model of the stock assessment. It represents a 10 percent increase from 2015, due to the model estimates showing strong recruitment in 2014 and 2012. It's an increase of 300,000 mt over 2015 and the highest figure seen in a decade.
Under the U.S.-Canada Treaty, harvest levels default to an F40 percent level, a level of fishing effort that would leave 40 percent of the spawning biomass in the water, which could mean almost double the amount of harvest...
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