Temporal Evolution of Critical Traits and their Relationship to Cod Stock Collapse and Recovery

This is the accepted manuscript version of the following article: Dr. Brian Petrie, Dr. Kenneth T. Frank, and Dr. William C Leggett. Temporal evolution of critical traits and their relationship to cod stock collapse and recovery, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, which is available...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Main Authors: Petrie, Brian, Frank, Kenneth T, Leggett, William C
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2022
Subjects:
Flemish Cap
Cod
Fishing moratorium
Cod stock collapse
Phenotypic plasticity
Gadus morhua
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1974/30281
https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2022-0028
Description
Summary:This is the accepted manuscript version of the following article: Dr. Brian Petrie, Dr. Kenneth T. Frank, and Dr. William C Leggett. Temporal evolution of critical traits and their relationship to cod stock collapse and recovery, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, which is available in final form at Canadian Science Publishing via https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2022-0028, 2022. The North Atlantic Fisheries Organization response to a precipitous decline of the Flemish Cap cod (Gadus morhua) stock during the 1990s was the imposition of an 11-y moratorium on directed fishing for cod; recovery followed. Over the three decades that encompassed the pre-collapse, collapse and recovery stages, we found that the cod stock status was characterized by four traits: spawning stock biomass, maturity- and weight-at age, and recruitment. The temporal evolution of these traits was consistent with a density dependent conceptual model suggesting phenotypic plasticity was at play during the rebuilding of the stock. The temporal progression of the broader fish community paralleled that of cod, underlying its key ecosystem position. The same demographic variables defined the state of the adjacent Northern Cod stock which underwent a similar pattern of decline, an intermittent moratorium but only partial recovery. This partial recovery is possibly related, in part, to declines of prey species brought about by excessive harvesting after the cod collapse and an apparent collapse of capelin, a major dietary component.

Similar Items