INACTIVE Canada redfish (Unit 3) - trawl

Redfish were designated threatened in 2010 but the stock is currently healthy after a decade of management within biological reference points. The fishery is managed with an integrated management plan for groundfish fisheries and overall is a near match to the MSC standard.  However, the fishery needs further improvement in its impacts on pollock, haddock, and other commercially fished species as well as benthic (seafloor dwelling) and endangered or threatened species caught in the bottom trawl gear. Fishery impacts on habitat and the ecosystem could also be better understood and mitigated.

The average size of redfish in the fishery catch-at-length has been increasing since 2011, and the percentage of immature fish (≤ 22 cm FL) in the catch-at-length has remained less than the 15% tolerance since 2014. The DFO Summer RV Survey results indicate that the total and mature Unit 3 Redfish biomass has remained relatively stable since 2018 at levels comparable to the 1990s. The mature biomass index has never fallen below the LRP, and the stock has been above the USR since 2004, indicating the stock is in the Heathy Zone (DFO 2021).

Since 2000 it has had a total allowable catch of 9000 tonnes. Total landings have generally been less than half this amount over the past 18 years (DFO 2019). The status of Unit 3 Redfish is determined solely by the mature biomass index generated from the annual DFO Summer RV Survey with complete coverage of the Unit 3 stock area (except in 2018). The fishery is managed by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) under the latest version (2017) of the Groundfish Integrated Fishery Management Plan for the Maritimes Region.