FIRMS - Marine Resource fact sheets - Northern Prawn

Northern Prawn - Flemish Cap

Marine Resource Fact Sheet

Stocks management recommendations 2014

Northern Prawn - Flemish Cap

Northern Shrimp in Div. 3M

Owned by

Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) – More

Related observations

Locate in inventory

Species:

Pandalus borealis

FAO Names: en - Northern prawn, fr - Crevette nordique, es - Camarón norteño, ru - Креветка северная

Geographic extent of Northern Prawn - Flemish Cap

Map legend

Area Details

Main Descriptors
Considered a single stock: Yes Spatial Scale: Regional Management unit: Yes Reference year: 2013

Table of Contents

Habitat and Biology - Geographical Distribution - Water Area Overview - Management - Biological State and Trend - Assessment - Exploitation - Source of information

Biological State and Trend

State & Trend Descriptors
	Partner	FIRMS
Exploitation rate	None-Low Fishing Mortality (fishing mortality may not be the main driver of biomass for Flemish Cap shrimp)	No or low fishing mortality	ⓘ
Abundance level	Depleted Stock Size	Depleted	ⓘ

Following several years of low recruitment, the spawning stock has declined, and has remained below B_lim since 2011. Due to continued poor recruitment there are concerns that the stock will remain at low levels.

Habitat and Biology

Climatic zone: Temperate. Bottom type: Unspecified. Depth zone: Slope - Deepslope (500 m - 1000 m). Horizontal distribution: Oceanic. Vertical distribution: Demersal/Benthic.

Geographical Distribution

Jurisdictional distribution: High Seas Purely

Water Area Overview

Spatial Scale: Regional

Geo References

Resource Structure

Considered a single stock: Yes

Exploitation

This fishery is effort-regulated. The effort allocations were reduced by 50% in 2010 and a moratorium was imposed in 2011. Catches are expected to be close to zero in 2013.

Recent catches were as follows:

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
NIPAG	21 000	13 000	5 000	2 000	0	0	0	0¹
STATLANT 21	17642	13431	5374	1976	0	0		0
Effort (Agreed Days)	10555	10555	10555	5227	0	0	0	0

1 To September 2014

Effects of the fishery on the ecosystem

No fishery.

Assessment

Overall Assessment Results

Reference Point

Scientific Council considers that a female survey biomass index of 15% of its maximum observed level (2564) provides a proxy for B_lim (SCS Doc. 04/12).

Projection

Quantitative assessment of risk at various catch options is not possible for this stock at this time.

Assessment Model

Analytical assessment

Results

No analytical assessment is available. Evaluation of stock status is based upon fishery and research survey data.

This stock is typically assessed annually. The next full assessment is currently scheduled for 2015. Scientific Council suggests this stock be moved to biennial assessments.

Human impact

Low fishery related mortality due to moratorium and low bycatch in other fisheries. Other sources (e.g. pollution, shipping, oil-industry) are considered minor.

Biological and environmental interactions

The drastic decline of shrimp biomass since 2007 correlates with the increase of the cod stock in Div. 3M. It is uncertain whether this represents a causal relationship and/or the result of an environmental factor.

Results of modelling suggest that, in unexploited conditions, cod would be expected to be a highly dominant component of the system, and high shrimp stock sizes, like the ones observed in the 1998 – 2007 period, would not be a stable feature in the Flemish Cap.

Fishing Mortality

Recruitment

Biomass

Scientific Advice

Special comments

None

Management

Management unit: Yes

Management Advice

Recommendation for 2015

No directed fishery.

Management Objectives

No explicit management plan or management objectives defined by Fisheries Commission. General convention objectives (GC Doc. 08-03) are applied. Advice is based on qualitative evaluation of biomass indices in relation to historic levels, and provided in the context of the precautionary approach framework (FC Doc. 04/18).

Stock definition for management purposes

The Northern Shrimp stock on Flemish Cap is considered to be a separate population.

Source of information

SCR Doc. 14/49, 50

http://www.nafo.int/publications/frames/sci-docs.html

Report of the Meeting, 10-17 September, 2014 - SCS Doc. 14/19

http://www.nafo.int/publications/frames/sci-reports.html

GC Doc. 08/3

http://archive.nafo.int/open/gc/2008/gcdoc08-03.pdf

FC Doc. 04/18

http://archive.nafo.int/open/fc/2004/fcdoc04-18.pdf

Fisheries and Resources Monitoring System