Atlantic Canada has suffered socially and economically since the demise of the Northern Cod fisheries and its subsequent closure in the 1990s. The cod moratorium left fishers seeking alternative fish stocks - including redfish, a deep-dwelling, long-lived groundfish. Rarely is there good news in the world of commercial fisheries, but recent booms in the Gulf of St. Lawrence’s two redfish species - Sebastes fasciatus and Sebastes mentella - are encouraging, supposedly able to provide large catches for at least the next 20 years. However, until recently it was unclear how to manage this stock long-term, especially given its sporatic population dynamics.
Working with scientists from UBC and DFO, I helped develop and summarize a management strategy evaluation to aid DFO decision-makers in setting harvest rules for the fishery. Through ongoing meetings with fishery stakeholders, a management strategy evaluation was built and assessed with Bayesian decision tools to determine how to best manage the redfish stock in the face of considerable uncertainty. This ongoing project seeks to answer three questions: