The fisheries of the sea around Saint-Pierre and Miquelon: from cod to sea cucumber ...

• Main Authors: Palomares, Maria-Lourdes D., Pauly, Daniel
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Cybium 2022
• Subjects: Catch reconstruction, Stock-status plots, Fishing down, Stock assessments, CMSY, Biomass left; atlantic cod; Gadus morhua; North Atlantic; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.26028/cybium/2022-464-002; https://sfi-cybium.fr/fr/fisheries-sea-around-saint-pierre-and-miquelon-cod-sea-cucumber

A description of Western North Atlantic fisheries is provided in the form of catch time series covering the years from 1950 to 2019 and two derived indicators: 1) stock status plots; and 2) the mean trophic level of the catch. These are shown at three different geographic scales, all of which exhibit the same patterns of decline. Maps are presented which illustrate the decadal decline in an indicator of aggregate biomass from 1950 to 2019 based on an application of the CMSY stock assessment method to 35 important fish and invertebrate stock exploited by Northwest Atlantic fisheries. These assessments suggest that Saint-Pierre and Miquelon was no exception in the regional trends of overfishing and biomass decline, as confirmed by the scale invariance of the trends presented in this contribution. Some emphasis is given to the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) of Eastern Canadian waters, whose exploitation by European fishing fleets dates at least to 1508, but whose major biomass collapse began in the 1960s, when ...