Yellowtail flounder, Limanda ferruginea, stock status 1988 : a revision of southern New England and Georges Bank assessments

• Main Author: McBride, Margaret M.
• Other Authors: Horton, Howard F., Overholtz, William, Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University. Graduate School
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English; unknown
• Published: Oregon State University
• Subjects: Fish populations > Georges Bank; Fish populations > Atlantic Coast (U.S.); Limanda ferruginea; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/9w032741j

The 1988 status of yellowtail flounder stocks off the U.S. coast of the Northwest Atlantic is assessed using U.S. and distant water fleet commercial fishery statistics and Northeast Fisheries Center bottom trawl survey data. Assessments of Southern New England and Georges Bank stocks are revised using virtual population analysis of 1970-1986 and 1969-1986 time series, respectively. Methods developed for the preparation of catch-at-age matrices are presented for each component: U.S. commercial landings, U.S. discard, U.S. industrial catch, and foreign catch. Input design and results of yield per recruit analyses and catch and stock size projections through the beginning of 1990 are presented for Southern New England and Georges Bank stocks. Assessment results indicate dramatic increases in fishing mortality for Southern New England and Georges Bank stocks during the 1980's; stock biomass and spawning stock biomass levels have been severely reduced. Yield per recruit analyses indicate that 1986 levels of fishing mortality far exceeded F[subscript max] levels for both stocks. Catch and stock size projections for both stocks indicate continued reductions in stock biomass and spawning stock biomass; prospects for stock recovery will depend on improved recruitment and reductions in fishing mortality.