Canada redfish (Unit 1 & 2) - trawl

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Overview

Fishery Improvement Projects provide an opportunity to improve and document information and management of fisheries not yet eligible to receive sustainability certifications.

The  Atlantic Groundfish Council (AGC) is an organization that represents the  >100’ groundfish license holders in Atlantic Canada. The membership of AGC holds almost 80% of the quotas for each of the two management units.  As the fishery recovers from historic lows, the importance of a sustainable economic development of this expanding resource has never been higher. This FIP is a forum to plan for any sustainability issues to be resolved prior to assessment against the performance indicators of the MSC assessment framework.  

FIP Description 

Fishery Improvement Projects provide an opportunity to improve and document information and management of fisheries not yet eligible to receive sustainability certifications.

FIP Objective(s) 

The overall objective for this FIP is successful MSC certification of the fishery - individual FIP objectives were identified in April 2018, some have been completed, with the remainder expected to be achieved by December 2027:

  • Confirm on-going changes to stock status (on-going).

  • Develop stock projection capability for both species in both units, confirm stock rebuilding timeframes (completed).

  • Develop/ implement a formal harvest strategy for stocks and species (on-going).

  • Develop harvest control rules that are robust to main uncertainties (on-going).

  • Implement commercial sampling program to collect and identify species mix in catch (completed).

  • Update existing or select new assessment model which considers main uncertainties and is capable of evaluating harvest strategy and harvest control rule options (completed, to be revised).

  • Produce a fishery footprint relative to both sensitive and less sensitive benthic habitat (completed). 

  • Develop an integrated fishery management plan (IFMP) for the Unit 1 and 2 redfish fisheries, addressing all elements for which PIs exist (to be completed). 

  • Develop fishery-specific objectives and incorporate them into IFMP (on-going)

FIP Type 
Comprehensive
FIP Stage 
Stage 4: Improvements in Fishing Practices or Fishery Management
Start and Projected End Dates
April 2018
December 2027
Update 
As a result of Covid-19 disruptions, the Redfish Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting originally scheduled for spring of 2020 was cancelled. To date, DFO have not announced when the RAC meeting will take place. That management process is a key part of the consultation for development and adoption of harvest strategy, harvest control rules and setting of fishery specific objectives. Given on-going challenges with Covid-19 and DFO workloads, the timeline for this FIP has now been extended to five years, to provide sufficient time to develop, implement necessary management measures for the fishery and open the commercial fishery in Unit 1. UPDATE - MARCH 2023 - As of end of March, there has been no Ministerial decision on proposed changes to the current TAC or management measures for the existing experimental and index fisheries in Unit 1 nor to the current Unit 2 commercial fishery structure. Current expectation is that there will be decisions made in 2023 in advance of a commercial fishery opening (in Unit 1) in 2024. On behalf of the FIP, AGC will continue to participate in all planned Science and Resource Management Processes to revise the harvest strategy, fishery-specific objectives and develop an HCR reflective of the revised stock status and necessary to sustainably manage a commercial fishery in Unit 1. The FIP timeline for this action has been amended to 2024 to address this delay. UPDATE September 2024 - AGC, on behalf of Canada Unit 1 & 2 Redfish FIP - Trawl participants, is extending the FIP completion deadline until December 2027. This is warranted in part by two causes. Firstly, DFO have indicted there is currently no formal harvest strategy or HCR for Unit 1. Last year, based on the stock assessment update at the Redfish Advisory Committee (RAC), DFO presented scenarios that outlined a step-by-step harvest approach, considering the stock's decline due to high natural mortality (see DFO, 2024), rather than using an index-based rule. Since the commercial fishery is still developing, the fishery objectives and tentative harvest strategy will be reviewed each year as stock projections are updated, until more consistent fishing patterns and greater certainty about the stock's trajectory emerge. Given the uncertainty caused by current population dynamics and the developing fishery, re-evaluating the harvest strategy for the Unit 1 stock on an annual basis is seen as prudent. Secondly, although AGC members have funded and conducted an industry-led collaborative biennial redfish trawl survey in Unit 2 for several years, there has not been a comparative survey with a DFO Research Vessel until this summer which has prevented linkage to the past time-series and completion of an updated stock assessment of the Unit 2 portion of the stock. The completion of a comparative survey with the DFO vessel in early September will hopefully allow completion of an update stock status over the next two years.
Next Progress Report Due 
Monday, March 31, 2025
Species 
Common Name 
Acadian Redfish
Scientific Name
Sebastes fasciatus
Buying Guide Link Image 
Acadian Redfish
Buying Guide
Common Name 
Deepwater Redfish
Scientific Name
Sebastes mentella
Gear Type 
Bottom Trawl
Midwater Trawl
Location
FAO Major Fishing Area
Area 21 (Atlantic, Northwest)
Exclusive Economic Zones
Country 
Canada
Geographic Scope 
Fishery occurs in Unit 1 & 2, including the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Laurentian Fan and Eastern Scotian Shelf.
Country 
France
Geographic Scope 
3.6% Allocation in Unit 2
Landings
Estimated Total FIP Landings 
3,000 metric tons
Estimated Total Fishery Landings 
4,802 metric tons
Landings Date 
December 2023
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FIP at a Glance

View current status
April 01, 2018
7% 29% 64%
Progress Rating (A) Advanced Progress

Reserved for comprehensive FIPs that have achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result within the past 12 months.

(B) Good Progress

A basic FIP that has achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result within 12 months.

(C) Some Recent Progress
  • A FIP that has achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result in more than 12 (but less than 24) months AND has reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.
  • A FIP younger than 12 months that has never achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result but has reported a Stage 3 activity within the first 12 months.
(D) Some Past Progress
  • A FIP that has achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result in more than 12 (but less than 24) months BUT has not reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.
  • A FIP for which the most recent Stage 4 or 5 result is more than 24 (but less than 36) months old AND a Stage 3 activity has been reported within six months.
  • A FIP 12-36 months old that has never reported a Stage 4 or 5 result AND has reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.
(E) Negligible Progress
  • A FIP for which the most recent Stage 4 or 5 result is more than 24 (but less than 36) months old, with no Stage 3 activity reported in the last six months.
  • A FIP younger than 12 months with no Stage 3 activity reported within 12 months.
  • A FIP 12-36 months old that has never reported a Stage 4 or 5 result AND has not reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.

The ratings are currently derived by SFP from publicly available data on FIP websites, including FisheryProgress.org, and are determined using the following methodology: View PDF
A Advanced Progress
Actions Complete

This pie chart represents completed environmental actions. Non-completed environmental actions may contain completed sub-tasks that are not illustrated here. For more information on environmental action progress visit the Actions Progress tab.
  • Complete
  • Incomplete
Next Update Due FisheryProgress requires a FIP to provide update reports every six months, and two missed reports will render the FIP inactive. If a report is overdue, this date will appear red.
Mar 2025
Target End Date
Dec 2027

FIP Leads

Organization Name 
Atlantic Groundfish Council
Organization Type 
NGO
Primary Contact 
Steve Devitt
Email 
sdevitt@atlanticgroundfish.ca
Phone 
(902) 497-4586
Website Name 
Atlantic Groundfish Council
FIP Identification Number The FIP Identification Number is automatically generated by FisheryProgress when a FIP profile is created. While the number itself is not meaningful, they are used by NGOs, academia, and industry to refer to FIPs in a consistent way.
7511