Analysis of the by-catch of the moratorium stocks in the NRA

In 2017 the Commission approved the Action Plan for the Management and Minimization of by-catch and discards. The Action Plan cited the NAFO Secretariat to conduct the annual mapping of by-catch in NAFO from 2016 onwards using HbH data. The Secretariat presented the results of by-catch analysis of the haul by haul reports of 2016-2019. This analysis was carried out based on the interactions of directed fisheries (non-moratorium stocks) – by-catch stock (moratorium stock). The present document presents an analysis based on the moratoria species/stocks. For each of the species/stocks in moratorium, the main fisheries that catch it as by-catch are identified and analyzed to observe if there are temporal/spatial patterns of the by-catch of stocks in moratorium. These two analyses: moratorium species/fishery, together with the analysis carried out by the Secretariat, fishery/moratorium species, are complementary and will allow a better response to the Action Plan task 3.2: "Areas where there is a risk of causing serious harm to by-catch species. Identify areas, times and fisheries where bycatch and discards, notably of moratoria species, that have a higher rate of occurrence”. One of the objectives of this document is to search, for the different stocks in moratorium, spatio-temporal patterns of the by-catches carried out by the different fisheries. The seasonal/space catch analysis based on the HbH data will be restricted to: American plaice Div. 3M, American plaice Div. 3LNO and cod Div. 3NO, since they are the stocks in moratorium that have some level of catches and are not mainly distributed within national waters. The conclusions on the last two stocks are partial since the data analyzed only cover part of their distribution (NRA). The general conclusion of this analysis is that there are no remarkable spatial differences between the hauls with and without by-catch of the moratoria stocks of the different directed fisheries. It can be observed that the directed fisheries that have a higher frequency of by-catch of these species/stocks in moratorium are those that are carried out less than 200 meters deep: yellowtail flounder Div. 3LNO, skates Div. 3LNO and cod Div. 3M in the shallowest part of the Flemish Cap. In some fisheries, it is possible to observe variations in the frequencies of sets with moratoria species by-catch by quarter, this temporal pattern is related to the displacement of the directed fishery to different areas.

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