Pacific Cod (Gadus Macrocephalus) in Puget Sound and Adjacent Waters: Biology and Stock Assessment

Home , Gadus

State of Washington Department of Fisheries

PACIFIC COD (GADUS MACROCEPHALUS) IN PUGET SOUND AND ADJACENT WATERS: BIOLOGY AND STOCK ASSESSMENT

WAYNE A. PALSSON FISH BIOLOGIST

DECEMBER 1990

Technical Report Number: 112 State of Washington DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES

TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 112

Pacific Cod (Gadus macrocephalus) in Puget Sound and Adjacent Waters: Biology and Stock Assessment

by Wayne A. Palsson Fish Biologist

Booth Gardner Governor

December 1990 ABSTRACT A stock assessment of Pacific cod was undertaken for Puget Sound. The biology of Pacific cod was reviewed to provide insights into stock structure and population dynamics. Tagging data for Puget Sound revealed that three stocks exist: a stock in the Gulf-Bellingham and San Juan Island Regions, a stock in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Port Townsend Bay, and a stock south of Admiralty Inlet. Catch data showed that periods of high catches alternate with periods of low catches. Six of these cycles were observed since 1942 with a peak catch of 3.5 million pounds in 1980. Catches in recent years have been below the last ten-year average of 2.5 million pounds per year. Catch patterns differed among regions. The Gulf-Bellingham Management Region typically produced over half of the catch of Pacific cod during a year. Catch rates from trawl and recreational fisheries were used as an index of abundance to assess stock condition. Catch rates in most regions and fisheries were lower in the 1980s than in the 1970s, but catch rates have been stable until 1990 in the Gulf Bellingham Region. Catch rates for fisheries in the eastern portion of the western stock have declined, especially for the Port Townsend area. Recreational catch rates for the southern stock were higher during some years in the late 1970s and early 1980s than during recent years. The causes of the decreased catch rates are not clear. Lower catch rates corresponded to a change in oceanographic conditions but also follow a period of increased fishing effort and harvest and increased marine mammal abundance. TECHNICAL REPORTS

The Technical Reports present results of completed or ongoing investigations carried out by the Department of Fisheries that are deemed of sufficient timely interest to be made available to the scientific community and the public.

The contents of these reports may be reprinted, and reference to the source will be appreciated.

STATE OF WASHINGTON Booth Gardner, Governor

DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES Joseph R. Blum, Director

MARINE FISH PROGRAM Mark Pedersen, Assistant Director

115 General Administration Building Olympia, WA 98504 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES...... iii LIST OF TABLES...... v LIST OF APPENDIX FIGURES ...... vii I NTRODUCT I ON...... 1 REVIEW OF BIOLOGy...... 4 Distribution and adult ecology...... 4 Reproductive biology and growth ...... 8 Stock Del ineation...... 15 Recruitment...... 17 MATERIALS AND METHODS...... 18 Catch and Effort...... 18 Commercial...... 18 Recreational...... 21 Stock Delineation...... 21 Stock Assessment...... 23 Catch rates...... 23 Length data...... 27 Mortality rates...... 27 RESULTS...... 28 Stock Deli neat ion...... 28 Fi shery Hi story...... 33 Commerc i a 1 ...... 33 Recreational...... 38 Catch Patterns...... 43 PMFC Area 4A...... 43 Page Eastern North Pacific...... 48 Regional Catches in Puget Sound...... 51 Northern stock...... 54 Western stock...... 59 Southern stock...... 66 Stock Assessment...... 71 Northern stock...... 71 Western stock ...... 78 Southern stock ...... 88 DISCUSSION ...... 93 Stock Deli neat ion...... 93 Catch and Effort...... 94 Stock Assessment...... 98 Stock status...... 98 Assessment methods ...... 100 Recruitment...... 102 Causes of Stock Decline ...... 103 Environmental ...... •...... 103 Fisheries effects ...... 107 Further Research and Recommendations...... 110 SUMMARY...... III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... 113 LITERATURE CITED...... 114 APPENDIX FIGURES...... 123

; ; LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Pacific Marine Fisheries Commission (PMFC) statistical areas along the British Columbia and Washington coasts...... 2 2. Marine fish management regions of Puget Sound (PMFC Area 4A)...... 3 3. Minor statistical areas of the inside waters of British Columbia (after Westrheim 1987)...... 7 4. Marine fish catch reporting areas of Puget Sound ...... 20 5. Salmon Catch Record Areas (SCRAs) of Washington State .. 22 6. Historical Pacific cod catches in Puget Sound by trawl, set net, other commercial, and recreational gears...... 44 7. Annual Pacific cod trawl catches along the U.S. coast and southern Vancouver Island (V.I.) and British Columbia waters north of Vancouver Island, 1956-1988 ...... 50 8. Pacific cod trawl catches by PMFC area: (A) Coastal areas; (B) Inside areas ...... 52 9. Annual Puget Sound Pacific cod catches by management region, 1955-1987...... 55 10. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the Gulf-Bellingham Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987 ...... 56 11. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the San Juan Islands Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987 ...... 57 12. Average monthly trawl catches (1978-1987) in each Puget Sound Management Region ...... 58 13. Average monthly recreational catches (1978-1987) in each Puget Sound Management Region ...... 60 14. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the Juan de Fuca Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987 ...... 62

iii Figure 15. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the West Juan de Fuca Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987 ...... •...... 63 16. Annual catches of Pacific cod in Port Townsend Bay (WOF Area 250 and Admiralty Inlet (WOF Area 25B) by trawls and set nets, 1970-1987 ...•..•...... 64 17. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the Central Puget Sound Management Region south of Admiralty Inlet by trawl, set net, and sport gears, 1970-1987 ...... 67 18. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the South Puget Sound Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987 ...... •...... 68 19. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the Hood Canal Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987 ...... 69 20. Trawl and recreational catch rates for the northern cod stock: (A) Trawl; (B) Recreational ...... 74 21. Annual mean lengths (by fishery years) for Pacific cod trawl samples, 1970-1988: (A) Northern Puget Sound; (B) Southern Puget Sound ...... •....•... 80 22. Trawl and recreational catch rates for the western cod stock: (A) Trawl; (B) Recreational ...... 82 23. Annual mean lengths (by fishery years) for Pacific cod set net samples by management region, 1970-1988 ...... 86 24. Annual mean lengths (by fishery years) for Pacific cod recreational samples, 1970-1988: (A) Northern Puget Sound; (B) Southern Puget Sound...... 87 25. Trawl and recreational catch rates for the southern cod stock: (A) Trawl; (B) Recreational-central SCRAs; (C) Recreational-southern SCRAs .....•...... 89 26. Puget Sound climate index, based upon snowfall and sea surface temperatures (after Ebbesmeyer et ale 1988) .... 105

iv LIST OF TABLES

1. Growth parameters estimated from Pacific cod stocks .... 12 2. Total and natural mortality rates for Pacific cod ...... 13 3. Significant fishery months for recreational and trawl fisheries...... 25 4. Modified results of Pacific cod tagging studies: Percent recoveries escaping fishery during tagging ..... 30 5. Frequency of parabranchial lesions on Pacific cod in Washington State ...... 32 6. Annual trawl hours in each Puget Sound Management Region and the Port Townsend area, 1970-1988 ...... 37 7. Annual set net landings in each Puget Sound Management Region and the Port Townsend area, 1970-1988 ...... 39 8. Annual number of angler trips made by all anglers in each Puget Sound Management Region, 1970-1987 ...... 41 9. Annual number of angler trips made by bottomfish anglers in each Puget Sound Management Region, 1970-1987...... 42 10. Average catch characteristics in each management region and Port Townsend between 1978 and 1987 ...... 46 11. Eastern North Pacific Ocean catches of Pacific cod (in millions of lbs) by all commercial fishing gears ... 49 12. Spearman-rank correlation matrix of annual trawl catches in southern PMFC areas ...... 53 13. Percent of Pacific cod caught by bottomfish anglers in each region, 1970-1987 ...... 61 14. Standardized results from Agate Passage fishery monitoring for Pacific cod ...... 72 15. Annual trawl catch rates (lbs/hr) for each region during significant fishery months, 1970-1990 ...... 73 16. Significant Spearman-rank correlations among annual trawl catch rates for each management region and the Port Townsend area ...... 75

v 17. Effective recreational catch rates and 95% confidence limits during significant fishery months for the boat-based fishery in each SCRA ...... 76 18. Significant Tukey multiple-range test results for annual differences in recreational catch rates for each SCRA: high-value years versus low-value years...... 77 19. Significant Spearman-rank correlations among annual trawl and recreational catch rates ...... •...... 79 20. Length-based total mortality rates for Pacific cod stocks in Puget Sound...... 81 21. Significant Spearman-rank correlations for recreational catch rates among SCRAs ...... 84 22. Summary of stock and regional catch and catch rate trends for Pacific cod ...... 96

vi LIST OF APPENDIX FIGURES Figure Page AI. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in Gulf-Bellingham trawl fisheries, 1970-1988 ...... 124 A2. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in Juan de Fuca trawl fisheries, 1970-1988 •.•...••..•...... 127 A3. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in the Port Townsend area trawl fisheries, 1970-1982 ...... 129 A4. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in the Port Townsend area set net fisheries, 1970-1986 .....•.. 131 A5. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in Juan de Fuca recreational fisheries, 1970-1987 ...... 133 A6. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in Central Puget Sound recreational fisheries, 1970-1988 ...... 135 A7. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in South Puget Sound recreational fisheries, 1970-1985 ...... 137

vii

INTRODUCTION

Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) occur throughout Puget Sound and the adjacent Georgia and Juan de Fuca Straits (Miller and Borton 1980) and are an important component of the recreational and commercial catch of bottomfish. Although only accounting for 0.6% of the northeastern Pacific harvest of Pacific cod, commercial fisheries in Washington's inside waters harvest nearly 2 million pounds (lbs) of cod in an average year. Pacific cod have been the second-most numerous species caught by anglers (Palsson 1988), and anglers have harvested over 100,000 cod annually in the inside marine waters of Washington. Commercial trawlers target on Pacific cod especially in areas around Port Townsend and in the Strait of

Georg i a. Trawl catches in recent years have averaged over 1. 2 million lbs in the Strait of Georgia and 163,000 lbs in areas surrounding Port Townsend. Overall, nearly 2.5 million lbs of cod have been caught annually in Pac ifi c Mari ne Fi sheri es Commi ss ion (PMFC) Area 4A (Puget Sound, Figure 1). Annual catches have not been constant in many areas within PMFC Area 4A and have precipitously declined in the Port Townsend area and in Agate Passage (Figure 2). These declines have prompted concern that some stocks may be overexploited. Unfortunately, 1 i ttl e is known about the stock structure, bi 01 ogy, and fi shery dynamics of Pacific cod in the region. Some specific studies have been conducted in Port Townsend Bay (Karp 1982) and Agate Passage (Bargmann 1980, Wildermuth 1986), and a series of tagging studies 2

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Figure 1. Pacific Marine Fisheries Commission (PMFC) statistical areas along the British Columbia and Washington coasts. 3

Legend 1 Gulf - Bellingham 2 San Juan Islands 3 Strait of Juan de Fuca 4 Hood Canal 5 Central Puget Sound Southern Puget Sound 1 West Juan de Fuca • J

Figure 2. Marine fish management regions of Puget Sound (PMFC Area 4A) . 4 have been analyzed by Gosho (1976). Catch, effort, and biological data for cod have regularly been collected during recreational and commercial sampling but most of these data have never been analyzed. The biology of Pacific cod has been summarized, in part, by Matthews (l987) who reviewed reproductive biology, habitat associations, movement patterns, and food habits of the species with respect to Puget Sound. A specific stock assessment of Pacific cod has not been attempted for PMFC Area 4A, but two groundfish management plans have revi ewed catches and establ i shed acceptabl e harvest 1eve 1s based upon average fishery performance (Pedersen and Didonato 1982, Pedersen and Bargmann 1986). This report will comprehensively review the biology of Pacific cod with respect to Puget Sound and it adjacent waters (PMFC Area <4A) and will use this information, along with catch rate and biological data, to delineate and assess stocks. This report will also document the development of the Pacific cod fishery and examine catch patterns during the last half century. Annual catches for PMFC Area 4A will be related to catches in adjacent PMFC areas, and a detailed analysis of regional catch patterns of Puget Sound and its adjacent waters will be undertaken.

REVIEW OF BIOLOGY Distribution and Adult Ecology Pacific cod are distributed circumboreally in the North Pacific Ocean ranging from the Manchurian coast in the Yellow Sea north along the Asiatic coast to the Gulf of Anadyr in the western 5 Bering Sea, east to Norton Sound and south along the North American coast to southern California (Allen and Smith 1988). Cod inhabit the continental shelf most commonly at depths less than 300 m, but may occur in nearshore waters to continental slope waters as deep as 875 m. Although ranging southward to 34°N along the North American coast, cod are not of regular commercial importance south of the Columbia River. Pacific cod are found throughout Washington's inside marine waters (Miller and Borton 1980) but are more abundant in the Strait of Georgia, the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca and in central Puget Sound (Gosho 1976). As adults, Pacific cod live near the bottom over soft sediments. They feed on small fishes and shrimps that live on the bottom or just off the bottom in the water column. Cod feed at night (Allen and Smith 1988), during which off-bottom migrations occur to feed in the water column. In Puget Sound, adult cod also occur over mixed-coarse and mixed-sand habitats. Prey items have not been studied in detail in Puget Sound, but cod in Port Townsend Bay eat shrimp and fish (Karp and Miller 1977). In British Columbian and Alaskan waters, cod eat fishes such as sand lance, Pacific herring, walleye pollock, eel pouts, sculpins, flatfishes, and pricklebacks and invertebrates including euphausids, crabs, and shrimp (Albers and Anderson 1985, Jewett 1978, Blackburn 1986, and Westrheim and Harling 1983). During the year, cod migrate between winter spawning areas and areas in which they feed during the remainder of the year (Ketchen 1961). The major determinant of where cod spawn or feed ;s water 6 temperature. Cod seek cool water between 6°C and 7°C. Off the coast of Washington and southwest Vancouver Island, spawning cod occur in cool shallow waters during their winter spawning season (Westrheim and Tagart 1986). During the other seasons when cod feed, they move to deeper, cooler waters as the shallow waters warm. In Puget Sound and its adjacent waters, cod follow the same pattern. Spawning cod concentrate in shallow embayments such as Port Townsend Bay and Agate Passage during the winter but then disperse to deeper waters during the remainder of the year (Walters 1984, Bargmann 1980). The shallow waters are coldest during the winter (Collias 1974) but subsequently warm and are probably unfavorable to cod. In northern British Columbia the pattern is different; cod spawn in deep waters where water temperatures are cool during the winter (Ketchen 1961) but move to shallow waters during other times of the year. Other factors may affect the distribution of cod such as the presence of abundant food. Between 1975 and 1984, large concentrations of cod appeared during the late summer and autumn in Canadian Minor Statistical Area (MSA) 19 (Figure 3) and off the Cape Flattery Spit of Washington (PMFC Area 3C) which were not present before or after (Westrheim and Pedersen 1986). Tagging studies demonstrated that cod in these areas moved offshore during the spring but moved eastward to MSA 19 during the fall and winter when they were vulnerable to commercial trawl fisheries. Stomach content analysis demonstrated that Pacific herring were the main prey item eaten while the cod were in MSA 19. Herring surveys also revealed 7

123·

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Figure 3. Minor statistical areas of the inside waters of British Columbia (after Westrheim 1987). 8 unusual concentrations of herring aggregated in MSA 19, and that herring were unusually abundant during the same period of enhanced cod catches. Based upon available evidence, Westrheim and Pedersen (1986) concluded that the large concentrations of herring in Juan de Fuca Strait attracted cod from offshore grounds.

Reproductive Biology and Growth Despite knowing the locations of spawning cod populations in U.S. and Canadian waters, scientists have been unable to locate cod eggs in nature until recently. Presumed spawning locations were based upon the wintertime aggregations of cod in spawning condition in specific locations such as near Bonilla Island in the eastern Hecate Strait (Tyler and Westrheim 1986), on Amphitrite Bank off southwest Vancouver Island (Ware and McFarlane 1986), in Nanoose Bay (Ketchen 1961), in Port Townsend Bay (Karp 1982), and in Agate Passage (Bargmann 1980). Other probable spawning locations within PMFC Area 4A are in Dalco Pass near Tacoma and near Eliza Island off Bell ingham. Spawning habitat has been confirmed by direct sampling. Using a benthic sled, Phillips and Mason (1986) found the demersal eggs of cod on coarse sand and cobble bottoms in Baynes Sound on eastern Vancouver Island. Si nce the other wi nter concentrat i on areas consist of coarse sand and cobble, it is inferred that they also are spawning areas. Thomson (1963) described the demersal quality of cod eggs, and Forrester (1964) reported the eggs were slightly adherent during 9 some port i on of the i ncubat i on phase. The 1aboratory study of Alderdice and Forrester (1971) found cod eggs survived well in a wide variety of salt and oxygen concentrations, but were sensitive to extreme temperatures. They also found incubation periods ranged from 8.5 to 17 days between temperatures of 11 and 5°C, respectively. Cod larvae at hatching measure 3 to 4 mm (Dunn and Matarese 1987). Extensive plankton sampling near Kodiak Island has demonstrated that once the larvae have emerged from their eggs, the larvae rise in the water column and spend their larval phase in the upper 45 m of the water col umn and are most frequently caught between 15 and 30 m. The majority of larvae hatched from spawning grounds near Kodiak Island have been found near Kodiak and along the Alaskan Peninsula during March through July. As larvae, they remain on the continental shelf and drift along the Alaskan Peninsula to the west. Cod larvae transform later into juveniles at 25 mm and begin a demersal life at 35 mm in length (Dunn and Matarese 1987). Cod larvae have not been frequently observed in Puget Sound. In his work on larval gadids in Port Townsend Bay, Walters (1984) found cod larvae spend their early larval phase oriented near the bottom. Paci fi c cod 1arvae hatched duri ng the wi nter in Port Townsend Bay reached a 1ength of 10 em by 1ate June. Duri ng the early juvenile period, Pacific cod remained in the shallow areas of Port Townsend Bay but left the shallow water beginning in June with most having left by late August. Off southeastern Vancouver Island, young-of-the-year (YOY) eod also were 10 em in July and were found 10 throughout the shallow waters (Beamish et al. 1976). Twelve-month-old cod averaged 27 cm in Port Townsend Bay (Karp 1982) but were slightly smaller off southern Vancouver Island where they averaged 24 cm (Beamish et al. 1976). In a southeastern Vancouver Island study, Beamish et al. (1978) found both adult and juvenile cod inhabit the inshore area, but were unsure of whether the cod moved on or offshore wi th age. They captured adul t and juvenile cod each month, in the study area and estimated lengths-at age by subjective length-frequency analysis with some confirmation by scale ageing. Cod grew continuously during the first two years: Beginning at 24 cm, age 0 cod reached 41 cm at age 2. Cod reached 61 cm by age 3, after which length modes were difficult to discern. Scale- and otolith-derived ages were found in error when compared to the ages derived from the progression of length-frequency modes. Karp (1982) also followed growth in Pacific cod from Port Townsend Bay by length-frequency analysis and by tagging. The mean length at age 2 ranged between 41 and 44 cm. Age 3 cod had mean lengths between 51 and 56 cm, and four year olds measured between 64 and 67 cm, on average. Karp's estimates of mean length-at-age are comparable to estimates by Foucher and Fournier (1982) who used tagging and computer methods to estimate age distributions from length distributions. They found age 2, 3, and 4 cod from Hecate Strait had mean lengths between 44 and 46 cm, 55 and 56 cm, and 63 and 64 cm, respectively. Karp (1982) found cod stocks in the Strait of Georgia and Port Townsend Bay had similar growth rates that were much faster than 11 growth rates of stocks in subarctic waters. Because of the problem of ageing cod, few studies have estimated von Bertalanffy growth rates. Estimated rates have been deri ved for some northeastern Pacific stocks (Table 1). Karp (1982) found that Ketchen's (1961) high estimate of the growth rate was biased because of a biased estimate of the size of age 2 fish. Excluding Ketchen's estimate for the Strait of Georgia, a distinct geographic cline in the growth rate is observed. Cod stocks in Alaska experience slower growth but also reach a greater size than cod stocks in British Columbia or Washington. This pattern confirms Ketchen's (1961) observation that cod stocks at the southern range have changed their life history pattern to compensate for a temperate environment with warmer temperatures and longer growing seasons. The difficulty of ageing cod has restricted the estimation of mortality rates. Estimates of total mortality (Z) have ranged between 1.05 and 1.77 (Table 2), with little evidence of geographic variation. Methods to estimate mortality have used average lengths, tagging, and age-frequency analysis. Westrheim and Foucher (1987) used age-frequency data to estimate total mortal ity rates for a number of southeastern Vancouver Island stocks. Estimates for the Nanoose stock were similar to those estimated by Ketchen (1961) for Hecate Strait. Other adjacent stocks also had mortality rates less than 1. 63 but greater than 1.11. The only est i mate of total mortality from Puget Sound comes from Karp's (1982) study of cod in Port Townsend Bay. Tag returns yielded high estimates between 1.45 12 Table l. Growth parameters estimated from Pacific cod stocks.

Author & Area k L to

Brown and Wilderbuer (1984) Aleutian Islands 0.14 144.2 -0.92 Brown et al. (1984) Kodiak -- males 0.20 105.8 -0.40 females 0.19 117 .0 -0.27 Ketchen (1961 & 1964) Strait of Georgia 0.67 75.1 Hecate Strait 0.35 90.0 Karp (1982) Port Townsend 0.33 86.6 -0.15 Table 2. Total and natural mortality rates for Pacific cod.

Total Mortality Natural Mortality Location - Z - M Method Source

ALASKA Bering Sea 0.7 Age frequency Wespestad et al. (1982) CANADA Hecate Strait 1.05 - 1.53 0.83 - 0.99 Average lengths Ketchen (1964) Hecate Strait 0.65 Age frequency Fournier (1983) ...... MSA 14 1.03 - 1.34 0.59 Age frequency Westrheim & Foucher ( 1987) w Nanoose 1. 27 - 1.62 0.9 - 1.4 Average lengths Ketchen (1961) Nanoose 1.46 - 1.77 Tagging Ketchen (1961) Nanoose 1.35 - 1.50 Age frequency Westrheim & Foucher ( 1987) Gulf Is. 1.11 - 1.48 Age frequency Westrheim & Foucher ( 1987) MSA 19 1.26 - 1.63 Age frequency Westrheim & Foucher (1987) MSA 20 1.16 - 1.32 Age frequency Westrheim & Foucher (1987) WASHINGTON Alverson and Port Townsend 1.45 - 1. 71 0.7 - 0.8 Carney (1975) Karp (1982) 14 and 1.71 compared to most other total mortality results. Some stock assessment and tagging studies have resulted in estimates of natural mortality (Table 2). Estimates range as high as 1.4 for cod in Nanoose, but most range between 0.6 and 0.9. Whereas the highest estimate was based upon Ketchen's (1964) study using a length-based technique, more reliable estimates have resulted from age-structured or tagging data. The estimates of 0.6 for MSA 14 (North of Nanaimo, Westrheim and Foucher 1987) and of 0.7 to 0.8 for Port Townsend cod (Karp 1982) are the most applicable to Pacific cod stocks in Puget Sound. At age 2 cod begin to associate with adults and become vulnerable to commercial trawl fisheries. Pacific cod also begin to mature at age 2 with 44% of males off southwest Vancouver Island mature, but only 33% maturity in females (Westrheim 1977). At age 3, at least 90% of all cod are mature off SW Vancouver Island, but maturity is somewhat delayed in Hecate Strait in northern British Columbia where only 61% of the males and 32% of the females are mature at age 3. By age 4 at least 88% of both sexes are mature. Size-specific fecundity increases from north to south, a trait that compensates for higher mortality rates for cod stocks in the southern extremes of their range. Karp (1982) reviewed two previous studies of size-specific fecundity and compared them to his results. A cod of 70-cm length produced 2.1 million eggs off the Kamchatka Peninsula and in Hecate Strait but produced 3.5 million eggs in Port Townsend Bay. 15 Stock Delineation Several pieces of evidence suggest that Pacific cod are aggregated into discrete stocks wi th in each of Wash i ngton and Canadian PMFC Areas. Evidence primarily comes from taggi,ng studies but also from the separation of cod during the spawning season and from parasitological studi~s. Westrheim (1984) analyzed both Canadian and Washington tagging studies and concluded that most cod remain within the following geographical units: Hecate Strait (PMFC Areas 5C/D), S.W. Vancouver Island (PMFC Area 3C), Strait of Juan de Fuca, Strait of Georgi a (PMFC Area 4B), the west coast of Washington State (PMFC Areas 3A/B), and Puget Sound (PMFC Area 4A). More detailed analysis found the geographic areas can support several cod stocks. Westrheim (1982) examined the migration patterns of cod within the southern inland marine waters of British

Columbia. He discriminated four cod stocks: ~ resident stock in MSA 14 (central west Strait of Georgia); a resident stock in, the Gulf Islands; a stock that was possibly resident in the Juan de Fuca Strait; and a highly migratory stock that spawns in Nanoose Bay during the winter. Westrheim has more recently used the occurrence of a lesion on the parabranch of cod caused by a protistan parasite to discriminate different cod stocks (Westrheim 1987). The incidence of the parasite was stable within regions and several geographic areas had unique parasite frequencies. Within PMFC Area 4B (Canadian Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca), 0.7% of the cod had the parasite but a cl ine was evident within the Canadian inside 16 waters, a pattern which provides evidence for separate stocks. Infestat i on rates were re 1at i ve 1y low in the northern Strait of Georgia (0.1%), moderate in the Gulf Islands (0.5%), and high in Victoria (1.7%). In the coastal Vancouver Island area,parasite frequencies were between 5 and 9%. The infestation rate increased from Vancouver Island to Queen Charlotte Sound where frequencies reached 11% of the sampled cod. Two stocks of cod were discriminated within Queen Charlotte Sound: PMFC Area 5A had the highest infestation rate of 11.0% while PMFC Area 5B only had a rate of 3.0%. Parasite frequencies decreased to 1.5% farther north in Hecate Strait.

Cod do occasionally migrat~ between southern Canada and the adjacent u.S. Some of the stock that spawned in Nanoose Bay spends the remainder of the year in adjacent Canadian MSA 14 and Gulf Island areas but the other portion moves to the U.S. Gulf of Georgia and waters offshore of Vancouver Island and Washington State (Westrheim 1982, 1984). Tagging studies of juveniles in the boundary areas also found some modest straying into adjacent U.S. waters (Westrheim 1985). Within Washington waters, tagging studies suggest the exi stence of several stocks. Cod were tagged in several study areas, but most remained within their general area of tagging (Gosho 1976, Westrheim 1984). The study areas were the north Washington coast (Destruction Island to Ucluelet), the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Gulf of Georgia. More recent tagging studies by Bargmann (1980) in Puget Sound demonstrated that only a small 17 portion (3%) of cod in Agate Pass migrate north of Admiralty Inlet and into the Canadian Strait of Juan de Fuca. Karp (1982) tagged fish in Port Townsend Bay and found most were recaptured within the Bay. Migration patterns could not be quantified in either of these studies because the majority of tags were recovered during the same season and within the same area and recovery effort outside the tagging areas was not quantified.

Recruitment Cod stocks at the southern end of their range show marked year-class fluctuation, with maximum to minimum differences in year class abundance of 7.5 times off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island to 33.7 times in northern British Columbia (Westrheim and Foucher 1986). Periods of good and poor recruitment are synchronous between adjacent stocks (Hollowed et al. 1987), but the similarity decreased as cod stocks were farther from each other. The cause for variation in recruitment in southern waters has been postulated as some factor related to temperature (Tyler and Westrheim 1986 based upon Alderdice and Forrester 1971), but more detailed studies have recently considered the effects of offshore transport, temperature, stock abundance, and predators. In exploring recruitment fluctuations of cod stocks in Hecate Strait (northern British Columbia), Tyler and Westrheim (1986) found that a combination of offshore transport, temperature, and stock size accounted for 67% of the variation in recruitment when fitted to a second-order model. Individually, transport explained most of the 18 variation with temperature and stock size of sequentially lesser importance. Higher predicted recruitment resulted during periods of weak northward transport, higher temperatures above 7.4°C, and low stock sizes. Walters et al. (1986) found that as cod abundance in Hecate Strait increased, survival of juvenile herring decreased. Increased herring abundance also corresponded to higher abundances of cod. In contrast, cod off the west coast of Vancouver Island had no impact on juvenile herring abundance, but cod abundance may have negatively affected the abundance of adult herring (Ware and McFarlane 1986). Coastal stocks in Canada are also influenced by climatic factors. Studies prompted by the 1982-1983 El Nino show that cod recruitment off Vancouver Island decreases dramatically after an El Nino event (Bailey and Incze 1985). The El Ninos, however, may be beneficial to cod stocks located more centrally in their geographic range. Juvenile recruitment appeared to increase one year after the El Nino in the Kodiak region.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Catch and Effort Commercial.-Several data sources for commercial catch statistics have become available since the mid-1950s and provide for an analysis of catch patterns. Puget Sound catch statistics are available since 1921, but the level of detail varies with time. These early records were based upon tax recei pts of commerci al wholesalers (D. Ward, Washington Department of Fisheries, Olympia, 19 Washington, Personal Communication, 1988) and until 1955 are only available for the combined Puget Sound region. Since 1955, catch statistics are recorded by a system of landing tickets and, for trawlers, by a logbook system of recording specific daily fishing information including area fished, duration of fishing, and gear characteristics (Clark 1986). Catch areas are divided into finer scale, Marine Fish Catch Reporting Areas (Figure 4). Trawl logbook and landing ticket data collected since 1970 have been integrated into a computer database providing for detailed analysis of trawl catch patterns (Cl ark 1988). Catch and effort by other fi shi ng gears in Puget Sound have been summarized from landing tickets into computer databases (Schmitt et al., In Review). For this report, most catch and effort data will be reported by Puget Sound Management Regions (Figure 2), but some commercial fishery data for the Central Sound Region will be separately reported for the Port Townsend area including WDF Areas 258 and 250. Commercial catch data are available for PMFC Areas along the west coast of the u.S. and Canada. Catch data were obtained from the "HAL" database developed by Van Houten-Lynde (1986) for the years 1953 through 1980. After 1981, PMFC catches were obtained from the "PacFIN" database (Daspit 1982). Canadian catch data for the major and minor statistical areas were obtained from Westrheim and Foucher (1983), Foucher (1984), and Foucher and Giudici (1985). More recent Canad i an data were obtained from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada (1983, 1985a, 1985b, 1986a, 1986b, 1987). The Spearman-rank correlation procedure tested for 20

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IS LAND

1• J

Figure 4. Marine fish catch reporting areas of Puget Sound. 21 correspondence among annual catch patterns among areas. Recreational.-Recreational fishery statistics for Puget Sound Management Regions are presented by Palsson (1988) for the years 1970-1985 and for 1986 and 1987 by WDF as unpublished data. Recreational catches were originally estimated by numbers of fish harvested but were converted to pounds harvested in order to compare them to commercial harvests. A standard conversion rate of 2.47 lbs/cod was used. A winter-time fishery in Agate Passage (Figure 5) draws many anglers to spawning aggregations of Pacific cod. A series of special creel surveys have monitored the Agate Passage fishery since 1977. Sampl ing methods have changed during these years and have i ncl uded rovi ng-boat and access-poi nt surveys and mark-recapture stUdies (Bargmann 1980, 1981; Stick 1983; Swenson 1982; Paulsen 1985; Wildermuth 1986; Hulsman 1987, 1988; Beam 1989). Total catch and effort have been estimated in 1977, 1981, 1984, and annually since 1986. Only since 1986 have catch and effort been estimated by the same method (Palsson, In press).

Stock Delineation Although other workers have reviewed tagging data from Washington State and adjacent waters, a reanalysis of these data was undertaken to more clearly outline dispersion patterns after the tagging period. Tag recovery data reported by Gosho (1976), Bargmann (1980), Westrheim (1982), and Karp (1982) were used to infer the extent of inter-regional dispersion and delineate stocks 22

CANPJJA VANCOlNER WASHINGTON

EVERETT 3

......

OREGON

Figure 5. Salmon Catch Record Areas (SCRAs) of Washington State. 23 within Puget Sound and its adjacent waters. Since most tag recoveries occurred during the same season and area of tagging, these recoveries were neglected and only those from other areas or from other seasons were considered. The percent frequencies of these recoveries were calculated for major catch reporting areas. Additionally, the occurrence of the protistan parasite on the parabranch of Pacific cod was used to delineate stocks in Puget Sound. Pacific cod collected during length sampling during 1987 and 1988 were inspected for the occurrence of the lesion in the same manner as Westrheim (1987). Fish were sampled from several areas in Puget Sound and from the adjacent northwest Washington Coast. The percent occurrence was calculated for each area where samples were collected.

Stock Assessment Since Pacific cod are difficult to age and age structures have not been collected, age-structured stock assessment methods could not be used. Stocks were assessed on the basis of trends in catch rates of commercial and recreational fisheries within each stock area. Additional stock assessment information included examining trends in average length and total mortality rates. Catch Rates.-Catch-rate trend analysis utilized two data series, one from the commercial trawl fishery and the other from the recreational fishery. Catch rates estimated from the commercial trawl fishery were based upon the WDF Trawl Logbook System (Clark 1986, 1988) and exclusively used bottom trawl information from 1969 24 through 1989. Preliminary estimates were also available for 1990. Skipper-reported estimates of catch (in pounds) and effort (in hours trawled) were aggregated by area and time period of interest. Since trawl fisheries were most significant during discrete periods in each region, only months of significant cod catches were used for the trawl catch rate index (Table 3). The effective catch rate was then determined by dividing the catch by the effort. Effective catch rates from the recreational fishery were based upon the creel-survey component of WDF's catch estimation system and were annually available from 1977 through 1989. For each Salmon Catch Record Area (SCRA, Figure 5) and month, angler catches were sampled at sites on randomly-selected days (site-days). The sites were selected in proportion to the anticipated level of effort among sites. Only the significant months of cod catches were used for the effective recreational catch rates (Table 3), and effort· was restricted to anglers only fishing for bottomfish. To calculate the effective catch rate, the total number of cod caught for each site day was divided by the number of bottomfish anglers interviewed. Site-days were only included when at least one bottomfish angler was interviewed. The observations of catch per angler trip were then averaged over all qualified site-days during the significant fishery months. A variance of the average catch per angler trip among site days was estimated by simple random sampling methods. The standard errors were converted into the 95% confidence limit for each catch rate by multiplying the error by 1.96 (Zar 1983). In a similar manner, data from past years' sampling programs Table 3. Signifi cant fishery months for recreational and trawl fisheries.

REGION TRAWL RECREATIONAL

Gulf-Bellingham January through May All Months San Juan Islands October through May All Months Juan de Fuca November through April April and May West Juan de Fuca December through May All Months N Port Townsend December through March U1 Hood Canal December through February All Months Central Puget Sound December through March PCA 8 - All Year PCA 9 - December through June PCA 10 - December through March South Puget Sound December through February All Months 26 at Agate Passage were used to estimate catch rates during the weeks of intensive fisheries .. Recent fishery monitoring has revealed that catch and effort are concentrated during two weeks of intensive fishing from the 17th of February to the 4th of March. These weeks correspond to the typical influx of cod into the restricted channel in Agate Passage. Sampling programs have varied in methodology since intensive monitoring began in 1977, but sampling days have been clustered around the peak period of fishing and have included interviewing anglers at the end of their trip at one or two of the major access points. To obtain a consistent data set among all years, each sampled day was stratified as a peak-period weekday, a peak-period weekend day or a non-peak day. The sampled catch was accumul ated for each day and di vided by the number of angl ers interviewed to yield an estimate of catch per angler trip. The mean of the daily catch rates was determined for each stratum during a year, and an overall annual catch rate was estimated as a mean of the strata catch rates weighted by the number of days in each stratum over all days in the fishery. The series of site-day observations of catch per trip from each SCRA and Agate Passage were used to test for i nterannua 1 differences in population abundance. Analysis of Yariance (ANOYA, Zar 1983) procedures were used to test the null hypothesi s that catch rates (or relative population abundance) did not vary among years for each SCRA and among years and fi shery peri ods for the Agate Passage fishery. When significant differences were found among strata, the Tukey multiple-comparison test was used to 27 discriminate which annual catch rates differed. To examine the correspondence of catch rates among regions and SCRAs, a Spearman rank-correlation test (Zar 1983) was performed among all SCRA recreational catch rates and Agate Passage, among all regions for trawl catch rates, and between regional trawl catch rates and SCRA recreational catch rates. Significant correlations were judged at an alpha level of 0.05. Length data. -Stock assessment inferences were al so gained from length data (fork length to nearest centimeter) taken from commerc i a1 and sport fi sheri es . Length -frequency histograms and mean lengths were derived from samples collected between 1970 and. 1987 for commercial sampling and between 1975 and 1987 for sport sampling. Data were grouped by fishery years which extend from fall through summer. Mortality rates.-Length data collected during months of significant trawl fisheries were also used to estimate total mortality rates for each stock during periods of sufficient biological sampling. Beverton and Holt (1956) presented a length based method to estimate total mortality rates assuming stable age distributions, constant re,cruitment, and age-specific mortality. the method depends upon estimates of the von Bertalanffy growth coefficient (k), the theoretical maximum length (L~), and the 1ength-at-full-recrui tment to the fi shery (1'). For each stock, the average length (1) is calculated for the lengths above the threshold length (1'), and the total mortality rate (2) is estimated by: 28 k (Leo - 1') 2= ______

1 - l' A value of 0.33 was used for k, Leo was set at 86.6 cm, and l' was 50 cm. The val ues of k and Leo were taken from Karp's (1982) estimates of growth for Pacific cod .in Port Townsend Bay. The critical size of 50 cm was based upon Westrheim and Foucher's (1987) analysis of trawl net-selectivity. Most trawl nets in Puget Sound have a mesh size ranging from 4 to 5 inches. Westrheim and Foucher found that the size at 50% selectivity for a 5-inch mesh was 37 cm and that 100% selectivity was 13 cm greater than the size of 50% selectivity. Since estimates derived from this method are extremely sensitive to fluctuations in year classes, the data were averaged and separated in to four, five-year periods. The percent frequency of lengths for each year was determined and then averaged over the five-year period. The mortality rate was then determined from the average percent frequency distribution. Total mortality rates were only presented from periods when at least three years of 1ength frequency samples were collected from the trawl fishery.

RESULTS STOCK DELINEATION Cod are known to simultaneously aggregate at several spawning 1ocat ions duri ng the wi nter months. Commerc i a1 and recreat i ona 1 fisheries occur during winter near Eliza Island in the Strait of 29 Georgia, Port Townsend Bay, Agate Passage in central Puget Sound, and Daleo Passage in southern Puget Sound. The simultaneous occurrence of these aggregations is the primary evidence for the existence of several cod stocks in Puget Sound and its adjacent waters. Tagging studies of many of these aggregations found that most recaptures came from the same area regardless of the time of year. Most fish tagged in the u.S. Gulf of Georgia were recaptured there during a different season of the year (Table 4). Most of the fish recaptured out of this area were caught in Nanoose Bay, in part corroborating the results of reciprocal tagging studies at Nanoose Bay where 63.5% of the recaptures outs i de of Nanoose came from Canadian or u.S. Strait of Georgia waters (Westrheim 1982). Fish tagged in Agate Passage dispersed to other areas of Puget Sound, but the majority (83.3%) remained south of Admiralty Inlet. Most other recaptures were in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (both U.S. and Canada) or in coastal waters. Fish escaping the Port Townsend fishery were generally recaptured in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (64%), in Port Townsend during other times of the year (13%), or in central Puget Sound (12%). Few recoveries were made from cod tagged on the Washington coast (Cape Flattery and Destruction Island), but over 60% remained in coastal Washington waters. Some of the fish made far ranging movements to southwest Vancouver Island and to the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Georgia. Infestation rates of the protistan parasite on the parabranch were low within all areas of Puget Sound that were sampled (Table Table 4. Modified results ~f Pacific cod tagging studies: Percent recoveries escaping fishery during tagging. PERCENT TAGS RECOVERED BY AREA RETURNS TAGGING NUMBER TOTAL ESCAPING PUGET PORT JUAN DE US GULF GULF WASH SW YEAR OF AUTHOR AREA TAGGED RETURNS FISHERY SOUND TOWNSEND FUCA MSA 19 GEORGIA ISLANDS MSA 29 NANOOSE MSA 14 COAST VANCOUVER OTHER TAGGING

U.S. STUDIES ------AGATE PASS 643 121 60 76.6 6.7 6.7 6.7 1.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.7 0.0 WINT 1977 Bargmann 1980 PT. TOWNSEND 2456 769 78 12.8 12.8 64.1 3.8 1.3 1.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.3 0.0 2.6 WINT 1979 Karp 1982 BELLINGHAM BAY 1318 242 86 0.0 3.5 0.0 0.0 90.7 1.2 0.0 3.5 0.0 0.0 1.2 0.0 APR 1968 Gosho 1976 GULF OF GEORGIA 113 67 23 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 82.6 0.0 0.0 13.0 0.0 4.3 0.0 0.0 JAN 1967 Gosho 1976 GULF OF GEORGIA 2474 1604 180 0.0 3.3 0.0 0.0 91.7 1.7 0.0 2.8 0.0 0.6 0.0 0.0 SPR 1967 Gosho 1976 w GULF OF GEORGIA 306 88 74 0.0 1.4 0.0 1.4 90.5 1.4 0.0 5.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 JUN 1970 Gosho 1976 0

DESTRUCTION IS. 531 72 18 0.0 0.0 5.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 94.4 0.0 0.0 JUNE 1957 Gosho 1976 CAPE FLATTERY 215 39 18 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 22.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 61.1 16.7 0.0 MAY 1967 Gosho 1976 CANADIAN STUDIES ------NANOOSE 1975 255 107 0.0 0.0 0.9 6.5 41.1 22.4 6.5 2.8 13.1 2.8 3.7 0.0 1955-1959 Westerheim 1982 31 5). Only seven fish with parabranchial lesions were observed in 4,313 fish sampled, resulting in a frequency of only 0.2%. Fish caught near Port Angeles had the highest incidence (0.9%) of lesions while fish from more interior areas of the Sound had none. Lesions were not observed on cod from the northwest Washington coast. The low frequency of 1es i on occurrence in PMFC Area 4A indicated that little intermingling occurred with southwest Vancouver Island stocks where the lesion frequency was 3.4% (Westrheim 1987). The higher lesion frequency in the Port Angeles area suggested some i ntermi ngl i ng may occur between the nearby Victoria and southwest Vancouver Island areas. The low frequency of lesion occurrence from the Washington coast indicated little i ntermi ngl i ng of those fi sh with the southwest Vancouver Isl and area. The low parasite frequency did not i~dicate that cod found in coastal Washington waters, PMFC Area 4A, and PMFC Area 48 were distinct from each other. In contrast, the results from tagging studies did support the existence of separate stocks for the Washi ngton coast, PMFC Area 4A, and PMFC Area 48. Most tag recoveries from cod tagged in these areas were from the same region, and these regions had many spawning areas that support cod at the same time of the year. On the bas is of the taggi ng resul ts and the separation of spawning aggregations, several stocks were recognized within PMFC Area 4A and i ncl uded a northern stock, a western stock, and a southern stock. Most cod remained within each stock area throughout the year, and each stock area supported at 1east one spawni ng Table S. Frequency of parabranchial lesions on Pacific cod in Washington State.

Puget Sound Catch Reporting Area PUGET NW COAST 20A 23C 2SA 2SD 26B 26C SOUND

1987 NO. SAMPLED 400 1200 700 300 sao 2700 NO. TUMORS a 1 6 a a 7 % FREQUENCY 0.0 0.1 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.3 w N 1988 NO. SAMPLED 200 1174 339 100 1613 NO. TUMORS a a a a a % FREQUENCY 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 TOTAL NO. SAMPLED 600 2374 700 300 339 100 500 4313 NO. TUMORS a 1 6 a a a a 7 % FREQUENCY 0.0 0.0 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 33 aggregat ion duri ng the wi nter. The northern stock included cod found in the Gulf-Bellingham and San Juan Management Regions. Tag recoveries also indicated that cod from this stock were shared with British Columbia, specifically those fish that spawn in Nanoose Bay. The western stock was comprised by cod from the West Juan de Fuca and Juan de Fuca Management Regions and from the Port. Townsend area. The cod found in the Central Puget Sound Management Region south of Admiralty Inlet and the Hood Canal and South Sound Management Regions comprised the southern stock. Although some interchange did occur throughout these areas, the tendency for most fi sh to remain in each stock area and the concentration of fisheries in each area made their delineation useful for assessment and management.

FISHERY HISTORY Pacific cod fisheries have been important to Washington residents even before statehood. An 1866 memorial, by the territorial legislature to the President of the United States urged him to purchase Alaska from the Russians in order to provide territorial fishers the opportunity to catch cod and other fishes in Alaskan waters (Cobb 1927). Locally, however, cod fisheries in Puget Sound only became fully developed after World War 2.

Commercial Cod fisheries on the west coast of North America were initiated in 1859 from San Francisco by one vessel (Cobb 1927). By 1867, twenty sailing schooners were fishing the Okhotsk and Bering 34 Seas and the Gulf of Alaska. The primary fishing technique during the 1800s was for a schooner to act as a mothership to a fleet of two-man dories (Cobb 1927). Alaskan fisheries were expanded after the purchase, and shoreside processing facilities were constructed in Alaska, Washington, and California. At these facilities, filleted cod was processed, and barrels of salted cod were then sold on world markets including the east coast of the U.S., Europe, the West Indies, Asia, and Hawaii. In 1891, schooners based in Puget Sound began to fish in the· Bering Sea for cod (Cobb 1927). The fishing industry expanded in Puget Sound as cod curing facilities were established at Seattle, Tacoma, Richmond Beach, Oockton (Maury Island), and Poulsbo. While schooner-dory fishing was still predominant in 1927 when Cobb (1927) reviewed the fishery, new techniques were being developed including longlining, gill netting, and trawling. Many of these new techniques were used in Washington waters. Local commercial fisheries in Washington did not develop until 1921 when a vari ety of gears harvested bottomfi sh (WOF data, unpublished). Gears included beam trawls, hand lines, and fish traps. Alverson et al. (1964) reported that otter trawlers began operating in coastal and inside marine waters of Washington State in 1925, but WOF catch statistics for otter trawls were not reported until 1935. The fishery was apparently developed by this time and was described by Smith (1936). Otter trawl gear used on inside waters then differed slightly from the gear used at present times. Mesh sizes ranged between 4 and 5 inches (stretch mesh), but steel 35 trawl warp now replace the rope warps used then. Between April 1935 and March 1936, trawlers made 1,320 landings in territorial waters, which were primarily from Puget Sound waters (Smith 1936). Trawlers then, as they do now, primarily targeted on flatfish and caught cod incidentally. In the early years, important cod fishing areas included the U.S. Strait of Georgia, Sequim Bay, and Hale Passage (southern Puget Sound) where 14 to 17% of the catch consisted of cod. Cod catches were greatest during the winter and spring, when the greatest activity of the fleet occurred. The seasonality in effort was the result of fishers switching from other fisheries, especially for salmon, to bottomfish trawling to supplement their income. Fish were sold for the fresh fish market, and market conditions and effort fluctuated inversely with the availability of cod from high seas fisheries. Many present conditions are similar to the developmental days of the fishery. The number of trawlers licensed by the State of Washington peaked during the late 1970s when approximately 200 vessels were active (Pedersen 1984). Many of the fishers still switch from summer and fall salmon fisheries to fish for bottomfish during the late fall, winter, and spring. Year-round effort is more stable than in earlier years, however, because many fishers trawl for bottomfish during the entire year. Other commercial fisheries have developed in the last twenty years, and the areas of fishing have changed due to regulations or species avatlability (Bargmann et al., In Review). 36 Since 1970, the number of landings and trawl hours were available to characterize the recent histories of the trawl and set net fisheries. The most important commercial fishery for Pacific cod was the trawl fishery, followed by the set net fishery. Bottom trawl effort within Puget Sound has varied between 12,200 hours and 22,000 hours in the last nineteen years (Table 6). Annual trawl hours were relatively low during the early 1970s but gradually increased to at least 16,500 hours in 1975. Trawl effort has mostly ranged between 19,000 and 22,000 hours in the past decade. Trawl effort differs by region. Trawl ers in the Gul f- Bellingham Management Region typically accounted for about half of the total trawl effort in Puget Sound (Table 6). Effort in this region increased dramatically after 1977 and remained high ever since. Trawl effort peaked in 1987 at nearly 15,000 hours. Central . Puget Sound south of Admiralty Inlet is the second-most trawled region where between 1,500 and 5,200 hours have been expended. Peak trawl effort occurred in Central Sound during 1986 when twice the amount of effort was expended than the preceding or following year. The Juan de Fuca Region is the third-most important trawling area where between 1,500 hours and 3,400 hours have been spent trawling in any year. Trawl effort has varied with little trend in this region during the last eighteen years. The Port Townsend fishery including Admiralty Inlet has been important since at least 1970 when 600 hours of trawling occurred. The fishery expanded in the mid-1970s when trawl effort peaked at 1500 hours. Since 1976, trawling has declined until the Bay was closed by regulation in Table 6. Annual trawl hours in each Puget Sound Management Region and the Port Townsend area, 1970-1988.

GULF- SAN JUAN JUAN DE WEST JUAN PORT HOOD CENTRAL SOUTH PUGET YEAR BELLINGHAM ISLANDS FUCA DE FUCA TOWNSEND CANAL SOUND/a SOUND SOUND

1970 8516 1003 2087 0 636 2 2812 997 16053 1971 5961 641 2157 0 563 29 1897 1381 12629 1972 6609 191 2206 0 752 165 1860 447 12230 1973 6548 164 1799 0 758 552 1977 516 12314 1974 8009 410 1764 0 1063 511 1461 796 14014 1975 9208 1110 2482 0 1480 417 1673 604 16974 1976 9963 837 1940 0 1458 333 2082 695 17308 w 1977 12345 1136 2004 0 870 427 2453 281 19516 ...... 1978 12617 975 2470 0 516 346 2807 432 20163 1979 10306 636 1902 0 282 52 3018 662 16858 1980 11945 1014 3403 71 259 167 3935 748 21542 1981 14472 1554 2758 0 464 350 2370 464 22432 1982 12267 1004 1891 0 477 148 3426 1272 20485 1983 11221 493 1474 5 107 144 3442 889 17775 1984 13955 920 2127 30 107 12 3081 1247 21479 1985 11346 183 1465 1 169 14 2191 1121 16490 1986 13621 95 1889 33 42 90 5154 928 21852 1987 14536 188 2487 25 18 45 2670 48 20017 1988 12234 295 806 0 77 8 2214 823 16457

/a Does not include Port Townsend or Admiralty Inlet (WDF Areas 25B and 25D). 38 1987. Some trawling still occurs in the adjacent Admiralty Inlet area. Trawling has been prohibited since July 1989 by legislative action in all Puget Sound waters south of Admiralty Inlet. In the last twenty years, trawling has been sporadic in the Hood Canal and

South Sound Regions, a~ well as in the San Juan and West Juan de Fuca Regions. Another important commercial fishery developed for Pacific cod during the mid-1970s. Set netting for cod spawning in Port Townsend Bay was promoted as an alternative fishery to salmon fisheries (Pedersen 1981). Set nett i ng was also promoted as a means to harvest dogfi sh, and many of the reported 1and i ngs were fi shers targeting on dogfish (Pedersen 1981). In 1976, there were 1904 set net landings in Puget Sound compared to only 122 during the previous year (Table 7). In the Port Townsend area (WDF Areas 25B and 250), there were only 56 landings in 1975, but landings increased to 600 the next year and remained high until 1980. Set net landings decreased after 1980 to only 90 in 1986, the last year of the full fishery. In the following year, Port Townsend Bay was closed to set nets, and only an experimental fishery was allowed in 1988. Some set netting still occurs in other areas of Admiralty Inlet.

Recreational The development of the recreational fishery has been poorly documented. Sampling of boat-based recreational fishers has only occurred since the mid-1960s (Ward 1968) and standardized statistics have only been made since 1970 (Palsson 1988). However, Table 7. Annual set net landings in e~ch Puget Sound Management Region and the Port Townsend area, 1970-1988.

GULF- SAN JUAN JUAN DE WEST JUAN PORT HOOD CENTRAL SOUTH PUGH YEAR BELLINGHAM ISLANDS FUCA DE FUCA TOWNSEND CANAL SOUND/a SOUND SOUND

1970 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 1971 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 1972 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 1973 0 0 4 29 0 0 33 1974 2 0 2 39 0 0 43 1975 4 0 4 53 56 0 4 1 122 1976 299 18 161 37 600 612 164 13 1904 w 1977 630 0 225 3 725 195 230 106 2114 1.0 1978 351 0 366 138 680 134 185 197 2051 1979 240 0 308 42 664 300 166 209 1929 1980 183 0 305 267 604 284 143 121 1907 1981 179 0 93 589 316 89 40 48 1354 1982 242 0 57 298 114 27 79 9 826 1983 221 14 158 311 166 42 79 1 992 1984 86 3 122 68 114 20 44 15 472 1985 34 9 45 114 144 15 52 9 422 1986 65 0 86 237 90 2 70 2 552 1987 137 19 36 238 7 16 63 4 520 1988 77 3 78 171 22 2 71 3 427

/a Does not include Port Townsend or Admiralty Inlet (WDF Areas 25B and 250). 40 recreational salmon fisheries existed in the inland waters for many years prior to the 1960s (Haw et ale 1967), and Pacific cod were probably caught while people fished for salmon. Pacific cod were also targeted upon by Scandinavian immigrants and their descendants who sought Pacific cod as a substitute for Atlantic cod in their tradi t i onal reci pes. Others have sought bottomfi sh for thei r sporting and eating quality for many years. Sport fishers typically catch cod .by hook and 1ine using either herring as natural bait or artificial lures such as jigs. The popularity of recreational saltwater fishing has increased from the early 1970s, when at least 800,000 boat-based angler trips were taken, to 1983 when a high of 1.7 million trips were taken (Table 8). Much of the increase in the number of boat trips can be explained by more people fishing for bottomfish. Less than 20,000 boat-based bottomfishing trips were taken in the first two years of recreational fishery monitoring (Table 9) but the number of trips soon increased, to at least 92,000 in the mid-1970s, and to 357,000 in 1983. Since then, bottomfishing effort from boats has decreased to levels between 188,000 trips in 1985 and 307,000 trips in 1987. Through the years, boat-based angl i ng patterns have been consistent among regions (Table 8). Seven hundred thousand to one million boat-based trips for salmon were taken in the Central and South Puget Sound Management Regions and comprised the majority of boat-based trips in any year. The Juan de Fuca Region was the third most important region, with effort almost equalling the 200,000 to over 400,000 trips taken in each of the Central and South Puget Table 8. Annual number of angler trips made by all anglers in each Puget Sound Management Region, 1970-1987.

Gulf- San Juan Juan de Hood Central South West Juan Puget YEAR Bellingham Islands Fuca Canal Sound Sound de Fuca Sound

1970 14225 128020 194024 59662 322241 171718 8797 898687 1971 10723 96488 231708 64758 284742 129742 9787 827948 1972 12097 108854 228440 80465 298470 138461 11640 878427 1973 7327 65938 249175 85612 313066 186649 10168 917935 1974 15200 136808 217232 98465 438543 242416 9633 1158297 1975 12341 111064 222875 80163 348139 270818 10761 1056161 1976 12368 98932 260860 68445 462022 326098 7967 1236692 1977 16349 130783 244036 71600 439992 348967 10343 1262070 ~ 1978 18989 151894 273540 73480 443231 308047 11117 1280298 - 1979 21529 172223 269967 114445 622317 441377 8075 1649933 1980 26275 210177 248388 99159 472234 478602 6105 1540940 1981 14285 114252 198064 73685 436186 421185 6839 1264496 1982 17580 140629 195739 65470 465182 482857 9065 1376522 1983 30014 240103 273981 98831 609324 462099 11769 1726121 1984 18352 146814 199031 61625 448664 259483 6387 1140356 1985 15620 124961 260634 52488 426709 316697 8008 1205117 1986 13774 110171 361172 45552 451440 360818 8988 1351915 1987 16500 131982 420907 73604 491056 380797 11256 1526102 Table 9. Annual number of angler trips made by bottomfish anglers in each Puget Sound Management Region, 1970-1987.

Gulf- San Juan Juan de Hood Central South West Juan Puget YEAR Bellingham Islands Fuca Canal Sound Sound de Fuca Sound

1970 772 6946 1241 397 1995 2967 0 14318 1971 135 1217 530 60 2044 4562 0 8548 1972 766 6887 3739 1384 3987 4465 0 21228 1973 380 3419 10967 3999 9697 22149 0 50611 1974 1372 12363 9928 4945 33288 30752 0 92648 1975 1951 17560 11388 3815 25870 33517 252 94353 1976 1694 13557 15287 1998 23096 51917 10 107559

1977 2179 17429 17667 1821 36320 55367 241 131024 ~ 1978 4328 34620 13538 2321 46419 42470 502 144198 N 1979 6300 50395 15825 6805 87890 69030 513 236758 1980 10849 86775 29620 11398 70588 73242 422 282894 1981 5782 46239 15085 12401 102903 95515 656 278581 1982 7750 61984 19369 7118 34452 129275 1267 261215 1983 12063 96496 26756 17660 67553 135537 1130 357195 1984 7030 56234 23574 8964 71846 65145 4526 237319 1985 3954 31640 27711 11743 46608 62228 4286 188170 1986 3922 31367 63097 9545 46302 103109 4735 262077 1987 4528 36207 71356 11427 80124 96779 7000 307421 43 Sound Regions. The San Juan Region had half as many trips as the Juan de Fuca Region. Boat-based effort in Hood Canal typically ranged between 50,000 to 100,000 trips in a year. The West Juan de Fuca and Gulf-Bellingham Regions were the least significant areas for recreational angling from boats. The increase in bottomfishing by boat-based anglers over the last eighteen years was reflected in each management region in Puget Sound (Table 9). The among-region pattern of bottomfishing effort was similar to total fishing effort. The Central and South Puget Sound Management Regions have had between 42,000 trips and 136,000 trips each year and comprised half of the bottomfish trips taken during any year in Puget Sound. Effort in the Juan de Fuca Region equaled or exceeded either of these regions, but typically 20,000 to 30,000 tri ps have been taken there. Effort in the San Juan Region has ranged to 96,000 trips but in most recent years effort ranged between 31,000 and 56,000 bottomfish trips. Bottomfish trips in Hood Canal ranged to 18,000 trips by boat-based anglers, but typically was less than 12,000 trips. Bottomfishing effort was least significant in the Gulf-Bellingham and West Juan de Fuca Regions.

CATCH PATTERNS PMFC Area 4A Pacific cod have been harvested since 1921 in Puget Sound and its adjacent waters, but catches were not significant until 1942 when they exceeded at least 300,000 lbs per year (Figure 6). Since 4

3.5 TRAWL -E2ZJ SETNET 3 rzza OTHER COM

en 2.5 ~ SPORT -Dl_ ...Jtn -c: J: .2 2 0= ~6 0 1.5

0.5

O---'fllor'~~~~~T'""I"'"!''''''''''''~ 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56 61 66 71 76 81 86 YEAR

Figure 6. Historical Pacific cod catches in Puget Sound by trawl, set net, other commercial~ and recreational gears. 45 World War 2, otter trawls have caught more Pacific cod than other gears. Otter trawls were not identified as gear until 1935 in WDF catch records, but beam trawl catches were reported. Only a small proportion of the cod catch before 1935 was caught by beam trawls. Passive gears including fish traps, set lines, set nets, and hook and 1ines caught the majority of cod in, the 1920s and 1930s when annual cod catches ranged between 50,000 and 175,000 1bs. Although otter trawl catches were reported after 1935, a change occurred in the reporting of species composition, so catch was not reported by species until 1942. Pacific cod were probably caught between 1935 and 1941. After 1942 and until present times, the otter trawl has been the dominant gear landing Pacific cod and has accounted for at least 77% of the cod catch. Other gears, especially set nets and hook-and-1ine, became significant during the mid-1970s. Recreational fishers became important harvesters in 1973 when 8% of the catch was caught by hook-and-1ine anglers. Since then, at least 5% and as much as 16% of the PMFC Area 4A cod catch has been caught by anglers. In 1975, set nets became a significant gear in Puget Sound with the inception of the cod set net fi shery in Port Townsend Bay and dogfi sh set netting in other areas. The contribution of set nets to the cod catch rose from less than 5% in 1975 to 12% in 1979 and then declined to less than 5% after 1984. Cod catches from Puget Sound and its adjacent waters have not been constant and in the last ten years have varied an average 22% from the ten-year mean (Table 10). The annual catches also Table 10. Average catch characteristics in each management region and Port Townsend between 1978 and 1987.

Gulf- San Juan Juan de W. Juan Port Central Hood South Puget Average Bellingham Islands Fuca de Fuca Townsend Sound/a Canal Sound Sound

Total 1290606 115986 514930 4727 175191 212293 22210 160733 2496674 % Anomaly 14.0 61.9 31.2 124.5 69.2 24.2 75.5 27.7 22.3 Trawl 1285870 113600 466326 3944 52823 99943 16969 38068 2077544 % Anomaly 14.7 62.8 29.0 141.9 80.4 40.4 88.3 74.1 20.6 Set Net 1754 3 5258 23 122368 10053 1153 1796 142410 % Anomaly 73.3 173.5 104.8 63.0 69.8 91.4 116.1 101.4 58.7

~ Other Commercial 2792 863 15053 486 2989 32 620 22832 m % Anomaly 102.7 93.2 116.5 85.6 79.2 120.0 96.3 92.8 Recreat i ona 1 189 1520 28293 273 99308 4057 120250 253888 % Anomaly 87.0 86.6 52.7 129.6 34.0 56.2 34.4 24.5 % Cod in Trawl Catch /b 31.2 26.5 63.1 19.1 42.9 7.0 21.6 3.5 28.0 % Cod in Recreational Catch (by weight) 0.8 0.8 13.2 0.2 29.8 13.0 18.1 17.1

/a Does not include WDF Areas 25B and 250. /b 1980-1987 average only. 47 suggested long-term cycling. Since 1942, six major phases of cod catches were observed in the catch record (Figure 6). Each of these phases were distinguished by a two- to three-year period when annual catches were depressed relative to a two- to eleven-year period when catches were consistently higher. Low catch years were observed in 1947, 1955, 1961, 1973, 1983, and 1986. With the exception of 1986, these low catch years occurred between five and twelve years apart, averaging eight years between each low catch year. During the first phase between 1942 and 1947, the high catch period only lasted two years wi th catches between 1. 0 and 1. 65 mi 11 ion 1bs. Duri ng the second phase, 1948 to 1955, between 1.7 and 2 million lbs of cod were caught annually for a five-year period (1949 to 1953). During the third phase (1956 to 1961) catches remained at a high level for three years when they were at least 1.75 million lbs and peaked at 2.4 million lbs. Catches were relatively high during the fourth phase (1962 to 1973). Between 1.4 and 2.45 million lbs of cod were harvested each year during this long period of high catch. Catch 1eve 1s cont i nued to bu il d duri ng the fifth catch phase (1974 to 1983) and remained for seven years between 2.8 million lbs and the historical high catch of 3.5 million lbs in 1980. A sixth catch phase may be di st i ngui shed duri ng recent years. Catches were depressed in 1983, were relatively high for two years (between 2.0 and 2.9 million lbs) and then were low again in 1986. Since otter trawl catches dominated commercial catches, the historical pattern of total catches also described the annual pattern of otter trawl catches. However, beginning in 1975 and 48 especially during the fifth catch phase, set nets and recreational gear became important contributors to the catch (Figure 6). Otter trawl catches during this period were still at their historical peaks but the catches by the new gears supplemented the high trawl catches during this period, yielding high total catches. The decrease in set net catches after 1980 conversely accentuated the low catch period following the fifth high-catch period.

Eastern North Pacific Cod catches in Puget Sound were lower than in many geographical areas in the eastern North Pacific (Table 11). Puget Sound catches were comparable to the combined west coast catches from California, Oregon, and coastal Washington. Regions to the north were much more important with the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska fisheries constituting 89% of recent catches. Puget Sound was not unique in having annual harvests with long-term fluctuations. Annual commercial catches along the coasts of the contiguous U.S. and Canada have fluctuated in synchrony over the last three decades (Figure 7). The combined annual cod catches from the areas to the south of Queen Charlotte Sound never exceeded 19 million lbs in any year. Catches from the Queen Charlotte Region (PMFC Area 5) have at least equalled the combined cod catches from regions to the south and in some years more than doubled the southern catches. The annual catches from these two regions were correlated (Spearman rank correlation, Pr<0.003) , and the periods of low and high catches occurred during the same years. Synchrony 49

Table 11. Eastern North Pacific Ocean catches of Pacific cod (in millions of lbs) by all commercial fishing gears.

Bering Gul f of British Puget West Year Aleutians Sea Alaska Columbia Sound Coast Total

1981 16.39 121. 22 79.57 14.72 2.67 2.79 237.36 1982 18.51 128.20 64.78 11.00 1.83 2.00 226.33 1983 18.59 197.16 80.26 9.93 1.68 1.34 308.97 1984 17.60 264.51 52.43 7.63 2.58 1.39 346.14 1985 15.30 302.82 31.54 5.16 1.94 1.19 357.96 1986 15.23 289.19 54.28 8.05 1.45 1.18 369.38 1987 29.12 318.85 68.66 30.12 1. 76 7.01 455.52

Average 18.68 231. 71 61.65 12.37 1.99 2.41 328.81

% Total 5.7 70.5 18.7 3.8 0.6 0.7 • U.S. COAST & V.1. + N. OF V.1.

en -.a 20 r::::: 0 E -I Uc U'I ~ 0 U 10

2~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~--~~--~~--~~ ~~oo~M~~ron~ro~oo~M~OO YEAR

Figure 7. Annual Pacific cod trawl catches along the U.S. coast and southern Vancouver Island (V.I.) and British Columbia waters north of Vancouver Island, 1956-1988. 51 in low catch years occurred in 1961, 1970, and 1985. High catch years were 1958, 1966, around 1975, and 1987-1988. For coastal and inside-water PMFC Areas south of Queen Charlotte Sound, trawl catch patterns were generally similar (Figure 8). The annual catches from Puget Sound (PMFC Area 4A), Canadian inside waters (PMFC Area 4B), and the southern Washington coast and Oregon (PMFC Areas 3 A&B) have been comparable in magnitude, each ranging from 0.5 million lbs to over 4 million lbs. Annual catches from the Cape Flattery/SW Vancouver Island areas (PMFC Area 3C) usually were twice greater than any PMFC areas to the south. Most PMFC Areas had periods of higher catches that occurred during the late fifties, the mid-1960s, and the second half of the 1970s. The annual trawl catches from all the coastal PMFC Areas 3A&B, 3C, and 3D were all correlated with each other (Spearman-rank correlation, Table 12). Additionally, the catches from the Washington and South Vancouver Island coasts (PMFC Areas 3A, 3B and 3C) were correlated with Puget Sound annual catches. Despite sharing common borders, the catch patterns for Canadian inside waters and Puget Sound did not correl ate with each other by the Spearman rank correlation test; however, they did correlate with each other using the sample correlation test (Pr.<0.05).

Regional Catches in Puget Sound The northern and western stocks contributed the majority of the Puget Sound cod catch: About half (52%) of the cod caught in PMFC Area 4A came from the Gulf-Bellingham Management Region (Figure 52

A. Coastal PMFC Areas

• 3AB (j) 10 + 3C .c <> 3D c: .2 'E -J: o 5 o~

0 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88

4 B. Inside PMFC Areas

I:; 4A

(/) 3 x 4B :9- c: .2 'E 2 -J: 0 ~ 0 1

o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 YEAR

Figure 8. Pacific cod trawl catches by PMFC area: (A) Coastal areas; (8) Inside areas. 53

Table 12. Spearman-rank correlation matrix of annual trawl catches in southern PMFC areas.

PMFC AREA 3 A&B 3 C 3 D 4 A 4 B

3 A & B ** * * ** (Oregon & So. Washington) 3 C * * (Cape Fl attery & So. Vancouver Is.)

3 D (No. Vancouver Is.)

4 A (Puget Sound)

4 B (Strait of Georgia) * Correlation coefficient with alpha less than 0.05 but greater than 0.01. ** Correlation coefficient with alpha less than 0.001 54 9) and 21% were caught from the Juan de Fuca Management Region (Table 10). About 16% of the cod were caught from the Central Sound Region, and the South Sound Region contributed 6% to cod catches during a typical year. less than 5% of the cod were caught from the San Juan Island Regi on. Hood Canal and West Juan de Fuca Regi ons accounted for approximately 1% of the annual cod catches. Northern stock.-The Gulf-Bellingham and San Juan Regions comprised the northern stock area, which was also exploited in Canadian fisheries. Canadian harvests from Nanoose winter fisheries have been less than 100,000 lbs since 1974 (Westrheim and Foucher 1987) . Commercial harvests from the U.S. Strait of Georgia (Gulf Bellingham Region) have been at least 500,000 lbs since 1955, and the peak hi stori cal catch occurred in 1967 when just over 2.1 million lbs were caught (Figures 9 and 10). Recent catches (last ten years) from this region have been stable, only varying an average 14% (Table 10). Annual catches from the San Juan Management Region declined during the most recent three years (1985-1987) from a period of high catch lasting from 1975 through 1984 (Figure 11): Recent catches were 1ess than 20,000 1bs but were as great as 270,000 lbs during the late 1970s. Otter trawlers caught virtually all of the cod caught in these two regions (Figures 10 and 11) with cod comprising between 27 and 31% of their catches (Table 10). Most of the cod were caught from January through May (Figure 12). In the Gulf-Bellingham Region, boat-based anglers only caught an average 189 lbs of cod (less than a hundred fish) and an average 3.5~------=~------~

-en 2.5 ED -I -J: en () -c: 2 «t- .-o ()~ -I -1.5

(J'I ~ (J'I 0 t- 1

0.5

0 55 57 59 61 63 65 67 69 71 73 75 77 79 81 83 85 87 YEAR _ GB ~ SJ l?Z2l JF ~ HC ~ C8 E:2l 88

Figure 9. Annual Puget Sound Pacific cod catches by management region, 1955-1987. GULF-BELLINGHAM 1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2 -C/)co_ ....IU) ;;;;:;;,c 1.0 0 u=I= '-6 0.8 (J"I « en U 0.6

0.4

0.2

0 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 YEAR _ TRAWL ~ SETNET !ZZa OTHER COM ~ SPORT Figure 10. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the Gulf-Bellingham Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987. SAN JUAN ISLANDS 280~------,

240

200 -00- ~-g 160 -as J:UJ:::s ~2120 (3C 80

o 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 YEAR - TRAWL ~ SETNET ~ OTHER COM r;ssJ SPORT

Figure 11. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the San Juan Islands Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987. 10

ol-~--~~--~~~~==~~~~~!-~ JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC MONTH

Figure 12. Average monthly trawl catches (1978-1987) in each Puget Sound Management Region. 59 1,520 lbs (a few hundred fish) in the San Juan Region (Table 10). Cod were insignificant in the recreational catch, comprising 1% of the recreational catch of all bottomfish species during the last ten years (Table 10). Anglers in the San Juan and Gulf-Bellingham Regions caught 68% of their cod during spring months (Figure 13), and bottomfish anglers caught 69% of the annual recreational catch of cod (Table 13). Western stock.-Fisheries in the West Juan de Fuca and Juan de Fuca Management Regions and the Port Townsend area have accounted for 28% of the total catch in Puget Sound (Table 10). Over 500,000 lbs of cod were typically caught in the Juan de Fuca Management Region, and annual catches from this region were moderately stable, varying an average 31% from year to year (Table 10). The 1980 catch of 1 million lbs almost doubled any annual catch between 1970 and 1987 and coincided with the peak catch of 32,000 lbs for the West Juan de Fuca Region (Figures 14 and 15). The instability and low annual harvests of the West Juan de Fuca Region made it only a minor region for cod harvest. The Port Townsend area was an important area of harvest for the western cod stock, and the fishery harvested almost 700,000 lbs in 1976 (Figure 16). Most annual catches have been below 200,000 lbs since 1976. In the western stock area, otter trawling has been responsible for 75% of the total catches (Table 10), and most of the cod were caught by otter trawlers during January through March (Figure 12). Cod dominated the otter trawl catches in the Juan de Fuca Region and Port Townsend area, accounting for 43 to 63% of the catch (Table 60 • GB/SJ 50 <> JF /:; HC I x 0 40 CS ~ \l SS 0 I- Zw 30 0 0"1 a: 0 w a.. 20

o~~~--~~~~~~~~~~~~--~~~==~ JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC MONTH

Figure 13. Average monthly recreational catches (1978-1987) in each Puget Sound Management Region. Table 13. Percent of Pacific cod caught by bottomfish anglers in each region, 1970-1987.

Gulf- San Juan Juan de Hood Central South West Juan Puget YEAR Bellingham Islands Fuca Canal Sound Sound de Fuca Sound

1970 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 35.2 0.0 16.8 1971 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.2 1.0 16.4 0.0 9.9 1972 4.9 4.9 0.0 2.9 4.1 7.5 0.0 6.2 1973 0.0 0.0 7.2 14.6 12.6 53.0 0.0 34.2 1974 52.9 52.9 28.3 35.1 52.3 61.2 0.0 55.0 1975 79.6 79.6 53.6 18.6 36.6 66.0 0.0 51.8 1976 51.0 51.0 25.3 48.5 43.6 85.6 0.0 71.4 1977 84.3 84.3 35.1 24.1 47.2 69.2 0.0 58.5 .....O'l 1978 73.6 73.6 20.5 46.5 70.8 71.8 0.0 69.8 1979 100.0 100.0 19.1 16.2 53.6 64.4 100.0 53.6 1980 94.8 94.8 41.3 52.3 56.4 65.5 0.0 56.1 1981 96.3 96.3 29.8 30.6 54.0 76.9 0.0 61.5 1982 100.0 100.0 23.8 39.7 68.9 74.8 100.0 69.9 1983 100.0 100.0 22.4 68.1 58.8 88.6 90.3 69.1 1984 100.0 100.0 32.8 39.7 55.6 73.9 98.2 60.6 1985 0.0 0.0 62.1 56.2 64.2 65.5 100.0 64.1 1986 5.9 5.9 21.8 8.2 42.2 78.0 97.4 65.1 1987 15.0 15.0 37.6 18 .. 5 51.1 78.1 96.4 63.4 10 YEAR AVERAGE 68.6 68.6 31.1 37.6 57.6 73.7 68.2 63.3 JUAN DE FUCA STRAIT 1.3 1.2 1.1 1 0.9 -C/)m_ 0.8 -lU) -c 0.7 :I: 0 0== 0.6 .-~ «- 0.5 0 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 7879 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 YEAR TRAWL ~ SETNET t?Za OTHER COM ~ SPORT Figure 14. Annual- catches of Pacific cod in the Juan de Fuca Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987. WEST JUAN DE FUCA 32

-CJ)_men 20 ...J"O_ c: a:::lIm 16 «L:~o aC- 12

0 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 YEAR TRAWL ~ SETNET !2Za OTHER COM ~ SPORT Figure 15. Annual catches- of Pacific cod in the West Juan de Fuca Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987. PT TOWNSEND BAY AND ADMIRALTV INLET 700~------~

600

500 -00- ~~_c 400 as I~ ~~ 300 «I:::. U 200

100

o 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 YEAR _ TRAWL ~ SET NET Figure 16. Annual catches of Pacific cod in Port Townsend Bay (WOF Area 250) and Admiralty Inlet (WOF Area 25B) by trawls and set nets, 1970-1987. 65 10). Trawlers in the Port Townsend area caught at least 100,000 lbs during each year between 1970 and 1979, and their annual catch peaked at 440,000 lbs in 1976 (Figure 16). The trawl fishery rapidly diminished after 1976, with annual catches only ranging to 60,000 lbs in the 1980s. Trawling in Port Townsend Bay has been prohibited since 1987 but has continued at low levels in Admiralty Inlet. After the inception of the set net fishery in 1975, set netters harvested most of the Port Townsend catches until the fishery closed in 1987. Set net catches peaked in 1979 at nearly 300,000 lbs but as with the trawl fishery, annual catches rapidly declined during the 1980s. Miscellaneous commercial gears, primarily set lines and jigs, accounted for 4% of the total harvest in the Juan de Fuca Region (Figure 14, Table 10), but this small harvest comprised 66% of the 23,000 lbs of cod caught by miscellaneous gears throughout Puget Sound during an average year (Table 10). Sport fishers accounted for 6% of the total cod harvest in the Juan de Fuca Region (Table 10). On average, 28,000 lbs were caught each year by anglers and other than a high catch of 80,000 lbs in 1980, no trend in sport harvests was evident (Figure 14). Cod were not as important in the total sport harvest as in the trawl harvest (Table 10). Only 13% of the sport catch of bottomfish was cod, and salmon anglers caught 69% of the recreational harvest of cod (Table 13). Most of the recreational catch occurred during the spring and summer months (Figure 13). Sport fishing occurred in Port Townsend Bay and in Admiralty Inlet but recreational harvest was tallied 66 under SCRA 9 which will be discussed in the southern stock fishery review. Southern stock.-Fisheries south of Admiralty Inlet only constituted 16% of the entire cod catch of PMFC Area 4A (Table 10). Approximately 400,000 lbs were harvested by all gears in a year, and more than half of the catch resul ted from fi sheri es in the Central Puget Sound Region (south of Admiralty Inlet). Forty percent of the cod catch came from the South Sound Region, and the remainder came from the Hood Canal Region. Recent catches were stable in the Central and South Regions and only varied from 24 to 28% from the annual average. In each of the Central and South Regions, catches increased from less than 40,000 lbs in 1970 to over 100,000 lbs in the mid-1970s and until 1981 (Figures 17 and 18). After 1981, catches were lower but not as low as they were in early 1970s. In contrast, Hood Canal catches reached a higher level by 1973 and remained high until 1978 after which catches fell to less than 30,000 lbs in most years (Figure 19). Unlike the northern and western stock fisheries, otter trawlers have harvested less than half of the cod in the southern stock (Table 10). Almost 100,000 lbs were caught by otter trawlers in an average year in the Central Sound Region, while trawlers in the South Region and Hood Canal only catch 38,000 and 17,000 lbs, respectively. Although otter trawl catches were still important in 1987 in the Central Region, otter trawling was only important in the early 1980s in the South Region and in the early and mid-1970s in Hood Canal (Figures 17-19). Most otter trawl catches have been made SOUTH OF ADMIRALTV INLET 320

280

240

-00-men 200 _c..J"O to J:en 160 U5 ~t. U 120

40 o 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 YEAR _ TRAWL ~ SETNET ~ SPORT

Figure 17. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the Central Puget Sound Management Region south of Admiralty Inlet by trawl, set net, and sport gears, 1970-1987. SOUTH PUGET SOUND

280

240

_ 200 00_men ...J'O :r:m- c: 160 U5 ut:..~.c 120

70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 YEAR _ TRAWL IQQQl SETNET IZ22J OTHER COM ~ SPORT Figure 18. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the South Puget Sound Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987. HOOD CANAL 130 120 110 100 90 W_ -[DC/) 80 ...J"O_c: :em 70 0::1 60 ....-0«J:: ot:. 50 40 30 20 10 0 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 YEAR _ TRAWL b.888 SETNET ~ OTHER COM &SSJ SPORT Figure 19. Annual catches of Pacific cod in the Hood Canal Management Region by trawl, set net, other commercial, and sport gears, 1970-1987. 70 during the winter months of December through February in the southern stock regions (Figure 12). Many of these areas were closed to trawling from mid-February through mid-April. Cod made up 3.5% of the South Sound trawl catch of bottomfish, 22% of the Hood Canal catch, and 7% of the Central Sound catch (Table 10). Cod were caught by set netters while they were fishing for dogfish and other fishes in the southern stock region (Figures 17- 19). The annual cod catch by set net gear has averaged 13,000 lbs of cod with most of the harvest from the Central Region (Table 10). Set net catches have been erratic during the last ten years and have been minor during the last few years. Recreational fishers have caught over 220,000 1bs of cod during an average year from the Central and South Puget Sound Management Regions (Table 10). About half of the recreational harvest of all Puget Sound resul ted from fi sheri es in the South Region. Monthly harvest patterns differed between the Central and South Sound regions: Half of the cod from Central Sound were caught during February and March (Figure 13), but cod were caught throughout the year in South Sound. Cod were more common in the Central Sound sport fishery where they comprised nearly a third of the bottomfish catch (Table 10); in South Sound and Hood Canal, cod compri sed between 13 and 18% of the bottomfi sh catch. In South Sound, most (74%) of the cod were caught by bottomfish anglers (Table 13); in Central Sound, 57% were caught by bottomfish anglers. The catch data for the Central Puget Sound Region included the winter-time fishery in Agate Passage, but the special creel surveys 71 provided more precise estimates of catch and effort. Participation has declined from 8,000 trips in 1981 to only 393 trips in 1989 (Table 14). Catches have correspondingly declined from a peak catch of 32,800 in 1981 to only 150 fish in 1989.

STOCK ASSESSMENT Northern stock The stock condition indices for the northern stock were based upon the trawl catch rates of the Gul f-Bell ingham and San Juan Management Regions and upon catch rates of the recreational fishery in SCRA 7. Over the longterm, catch rates of the Gulf-Bellingham trawl fishery declined from a period prior to 1978 when catch rates ranged from 90 to 180 lbs/hr to a period between 1978 and 1989 when catch rates have been low but stable, ranging between 60 and 100 lbs/hr (Table 15, Figure 20a). Although these recent catch rates appeared stable, the inclusion of the preliminary 1990 catch rate showed a short-term decreasing trend (Table 15). Catch rates from the San Juan trawl fishery showed a similar pattern and annual catch rates were correlated to the trawl catch rates of the Gulf Bellingham Region (Table 16). In 1972, the trawl catch rate of the San Juan region peaked at 220 lbs/hr but as time progressed catch rates decreased to only 35 lbs/hr in 1989 and 0 in 1990 (Table 15, Figure 20a). The SCRA 7 recreational catch rates were low compared to other SCRAs (Table 17, Figure 20b) but differed among years with the 1977 rate different from many of the rates from subsequent years (Table 18). The recreational catch rate index correlated with the 72

Table 14. Standardized results from Agate Passage fishery monitoring for Pacific cod.

CATCH PER ANGLER TRIP PEAK PEAK NON-PEAK RELATIVE NEW SEASONAL ANGLER YEAR WEEKDAY WEEKEND DAY SEASON SEASON CATCH TRIPS

1977 5.9 2.1 5.5 5.2 8,900 2,300 1978 1979 7.5 1.1 4.1 4.6 1980 10.2 2.1 3.6 5.1 1981 8.6 3.4 3.1 4.6 32,800 8,100 1982 1983 1984 7.6 2.1 1.2 3.0 9,000 3,400 1985 5.1 0.0 1.2 2.1 1986 4.4 1.9 0.1 1.5 1.4 4,980 3,440 1987 8.6 4.3 0.4 3.0 2.2 11,194 5,202 1988 3.8 1.9 0.6 1.6 1.6 3,500 2,160 1989 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.1 0.4 146 393 Table 15. Annual trawl catch rates (lbs/hr) for each region during significant fishery months, 1970-1990.

GULF- SAN JUAN JUAN WEST JUAN PORT HOOD CENTRAL SOUTH YEAR BELLINGHAM ISLANDS DE FUCA DE FUCA TOWNSEND CANAL SOUND/a SOUND

1970 101.48 112.45 161. 93 0.00 236.00 0.00 9.98 0.00 1971 135.21 94.53 132.75 0.00 374.18 63.33 18.15 3.93 1972 178.91 227.21 220.00 0.00 343.34 190.92 15.24 3.69 1973 97.62 93.04 131. 99 0.00 312.88 126.29 23.98 3.87 1974 92.47 83.29 272.07 0.00 321. 79 169.95 27.23 6.44 1975 158.68 61.24 178.65 0.00 287.31 162.75 37.19 3.21 1976 141.51 185.24 207.99 0.00 267.28 205.75 65.48 57.04 1977 122.96 70.92 190.57 0.00 269.98 257.04 39.89 35.08 1978 79.79 102.78 174.23 0.00 165.64 174.89 58.00 11.02 ...... 1979 80.39 163.52 176.00 0.00 307.93 76.64 28.40 37.49 w 1980 94.27 96.49 216.23 196.25 150.18 196.37 17 .42 23.26 1981 90.76 136.79 149.49 0.00 239.99 180.46 33.55 60.40 1982 71.48 96.79 151.19 0.00 139.52 58.57 27.34 37.43 1983 60.61 58.34 190.61 0.00 76.97 34.32 23.67 61.20 1984 99.25 126.71 167.28 38.14 76.29 45.67 53.39 29.08 1985 88.53 68.61 192.00 150.00 139.96 287.83 31.40 7.79 1986 67.03 26.46 63.92 0.00 83.50 129.38 22.84 34.52 1987 86.55 75.47 178.32 28.33 0.00 36.36 18.70 0.00 1988 59.84 19.14 108.12 0.00 29.59 19.00 109.40 4.04 1989 62.02 35.07 138.48 0.00 19.31 18.82 37.79 7.75 1990 /b 29.01 0.00 40.14 12.61 -- /c -- /c -- /c

/a Does not include WDF Area 25B or 25D. /b Premliminaryestimate. /c Closed by legislative action. 74

A. TRAWL a: 200 • GULF-BELLINGHAM :::> + SANJUAN ISLANDS 0 J: ""'- -(J) CO ...J 100 -J: U ~ u«

0 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88

B. RECREATIONAL • seRA 7 0.02 a. -a: I- a: W D.. 8 0.01 U

0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-4~~~~~ 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 YEAR

Figure 20. Trawl and recreational catch rates for the northern cod stock: (A) Trawl; (8) Recreational. Table 16. Significant Spearman-rank correlations among annual trawl catch rates for each management region and the Port Townsend area.

Gulf- San Juan Juan West Juan Port Hood Central South REGION Bellingham Islands de Fuca de Fuca Townsend Canal Sound Sound

Gulf-Bellingham * * San Juan Islands *

Juan de Fuca * West Juan de Fuca Port Townsend Hood Canal * Central Puget Sound South Puget Sound

* Significant positive correlation at 0.05 level. 76

Table 17. Effective recreational catch rates and 95% confidence limits during significant fishery months for the boat-based fishery in each SCRA.

SALMON CATCH RECORD AREA YEAR 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Catch Rate (cod per angler trip) 1977 0.17 0.64 0.05 0.18 0.50 2.55 0.77 0.03 0.64 1978 0.00 0.10 0.00 0.06 0.50 3.58 0.72 0.21 1.04 1979 0.09 1.13 0.01 0.02 0.28 1.38 0.45 0.00 0.38 1980 0.00 2.35 0.03 0.04 0.39 2.22 0.52 0.33 0.42 1981 0.10 1.37 0.02 0.08 0.72 1.36 0.60 0.01 0.62 1982 0.08 0.07 0.00 0.02 0.43 2.57 0.32 0.03 0.18 1983 0.25 0.62 0.00 0.07 0.22 0.64 0.63 0.06 0.40 1984 0.12 0.37 0.00 0.10 0.66 1.18 0.54 0.01 0.85 1985 0.47 0.07 0.00 0.02 0.31 1.02 0.17 0.02 0.11 1986 0.01 0.03 0.01 0.05 0.29 1. 20 0.71 0.01 0.27 1987 0.45 0.01 0.01 0.06 0.12 0.94 0.56 0.00 0.11 1988 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.06 0.44 0.23 0.11 0.03 1989 0.07 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.46 0.01 0.00 0.00

95% Confidence Limit (+/- two standard errors) 1977 0.21 0.48 0.08 0.22 0.24 1.02 0.26 0.04 0.17 1978 0.00 0.13 0.00 0.03 0.20 0.90 0.20 0.19 0.21 1979 0.17 1. 07 0.00 0.02 0.19 0.44 0.08 0.00 0.08 1980 0.00 0.94 0.00 0.02 0.21 1. 53 0.19 0.54 0.13 1981 0.12 0.82 0.00 0.04 0.38 0.61 0.16 0.02 0.21 1982 0.11 0.07 0.00 0.02 0.22 0.87 0.13 0.03 0.07 1983 0.49 0.36 0.00 0.08 0.11 0.41 0.18 0.08 0.17 1984 0.11 0.19 0.00 0.09 0.26 0.57 0.12 0.01 0.29 1985 0.48 0.06 0.00 0.02 0.13 0.46 0.07 0.02 0.06 1986 0.02 0.04 0.00 0.06 0.22 0.86 0.19 0.02 0.16 1987 0.19 0.01 0.00 0.05 0.09 0.40 0.22 0.00 0.08 1988 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.30 0.11 0.21 0.05 1989 0.10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.47 0.01 0.00 0.00 Table 18. Significant Tukey multiple-range test results for annual differences in recreational catch rates for each SCRA: high-value years versus low-years.

CATCH RATES OF SIGNIFICANT LOW-VALUE YEARS HIGH-VALUE SCRA YEAR CATCH RATE 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

6 1979 1.13 0.04 0.53 0.33 0.06 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.00 1980 2.35 0.64 0.10 1.13 0.07 0.62 0.37 0.07 0.03 0.01 0.00 0.00 1981 1.37 0.07 0.03 0.01 0.00 0.00 7 1977 0.05 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 9 1981 0.37 0.12 0.06 0.01 1984 0.40 0.12 0.06 0.01 10 1977 2.55 0.44 1978 3.58 1.39 1.36 0.64 1.18 1.02 1.20 0.94 0.44 0.46 1982 2.57 0.44 ...... 11 1977 0.77 0.17 0.23 0.01 1978 0.73 0.17 0.23 0.01 1980 0.52 0.01 1981 0.60 0.01 1983 0.63 0.17 0.01 1984 0.54 0.01 1986 0.71 0.17 0.23 0.01 1987 0.56 0.01 13 1977 0.64 0.40 0.11 0.27 0.11 0.03 0.00 1978 1. 04 0.64 0.38 0.42 0.62 0.18 0.40 0.11 0.27 0.11 0.03 0.00 1981 0.62 0.18 0.11 0.11 0.03 0.00 1984 0.85· 0.38 0.42 0.18 0.40 0.11 0.27 0.11 0.03 0.00 78 Gulf-Bellingham trawl index (Table 19), suggesting some concordance of peak and nadir years of cod abundance. The San Juan trawl index did not correlate with the recreational index. Length-frequency histograms revealed that trawl catches from the Gulf-Bellingham region depended upon a single or two length or age classes (Appendix Figure AI). Average lengths calculated from these data did not show consi stent long-term trends but showed short-term peaks and declines (Figure 21a). The apparent cycling in average lengths was often related to the peaks and nadirs of catch rates: In particular, the years 1975, 1976, 1981, and 1984 were years when catch rates were high and mean lengths were low, usually around 48 or 49 cm. These strong catch rates were supported by strong recruiting year classes which dominated the catch and depressed mean 1ength . Conversely, when catch rates were low or moderate, mean lengths were usually greater than 50 cm. The total instantaneous mortal i ty rate was 1.35 duri ng the early 1970s but increased to 1.85 in the early 1980s (Table 20). In the later 1980s total mortality decreased slightly to 1.53.

Western stock The three trawl indices and two recreational indices that characterize the stock condition in the western. stock area did not all show the same 10ng- and short-term trends (Tables 15 and 17). From 1971 through 1979 and excluding 1978, the Port Townsend trawl fishery was the most successful of any other regional trawl fishery (Figure 22a) and had catch rates between 250 and 375 lbs/hr from 79

Table 19. Significant Spearman-rank correlations among annual trawl and recreational catch rates.

SALMON CATCH RECORD AREA TRAWL Agate REGION 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Passage

Gulf-Bellingham * * * * * * San Juan Islands * * * * * Juan de Fuca * West Juan de Fuca Port Townsend * * * * * Hood Canal * * * Central Puget Sound South Puget Sound *

* Significant positive correlation at 0.05 level. 80

70 A. NORTHERN PUGET SOUND 60 -:!: 0 50 -J: I- (!l 40 Z W ..J 30 • GB Z + JF L5 20 <> PT :!: 10

O+-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--~~ 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88

70 B. SOUTHERN PUGET SOUND

60 + -:!: V/ 0 50 <> <> .I -J: • <> I- (!;J 40 Z • CS W ..J 30 - + SS Z <> HC L5 20 - :!: 10 -

O+-~~~~~~--~~~~~~~~~--~~ 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 COD YEAR Figure 21. Annual mean lengths (by fishery years) for Pacific cod trawl samples, 1970-1988: (A) Northern Puget Sound; (8) Southern Puget Sound. 81

Table 20. Total instantaneous mortality rates for Pacific cod stocks in Puget Sound.

TIME NORTH WEST SOUTH

1970-1974 1.35 1.57 1975-1979 1.45

1980-1984 1.8~ 1.60 1.01 1985-1989 1.53 1. 79 82 400 A. TRAWL ex: • JUAN DE FUCA ::J 300 + WEST JUAN DE FUCA 0 o PORT TOWNSEND I """- en -co 200 -I -I U ~ 100 U

0 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88

1.5 B. RECREATIONAL • SCRA5 + SCRA6 a. -ex: 1.0 I- ex: W a. 0 0 U 0.5

o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+-~ 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 YEAR

Figure 22. Trawl and recreational catch rates for the western cod stock: (A) Trawl; (B) Recreational. 83 1970 to 1977. After 1979, the population diminished rapidly and had catch rates less than 100 lbs/hr. Port Townsend Bay was closed in 1987, but experimental and commercial trawling in the bay and in adjacent Admiralty Inlet area showed abundance was still low in the Port Townsend area after 1988 (Figure 22a). Trawl catch rates in the Juan de Fuca Management Region were variable, and only a slight long-term decl ine was evident between the 1970s and- 1980s (Figure 22a). The prel iminary 1990 rate showed a drastic decl ine from previous years (Table 15). Trawling was only sporadic in the West Juan de Fuca Region which had high catch rates in 1980 and 1985 which exceeded 150 lbs/hr (Figure 22a, Table 15). None of the regional trawl catch rates are correlated to each other for this stock (Table 16). Recreational catch rates from SCRAs 5 and 6 showed opposite trends in population abundance (Figure 22b, Table 17) and were not correlated (Table 21). SCRA 6 catch rates have decreased since 1983, whereas SCRA 5 catch rates had higher values in 1985 and 1987 than in other years. However, catch rates were not statistically distinguishable among years in SCRA 5. In SCRA 6, effective catch rates were significantly higher in 1979 through 1981 than during most of the subsequent years (Table 18). Within the western stock area, only the SCRA 6 catch rates correlated to the annual catch rates from the Port Townsend fishery (Table 19). The Port Townsend catch rate also correlated with the SCRA 9 catch rate which encompassed the Port Townsend fi shery area. Thi s correspondence indicated a decline in cod abundance in the eastern portion of the 84

Table 21. Significant Spearman-rank correlations for recreational catch rates among SCRAs.

SALMON CATCH RECORD AREA Agate SCRA 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Passage

5 6 * * * * 7 * 8 * * * 9 * * 10 * * 11 * 12 13 *

* Significant positive correlation at 0.05 level. 85 stock area. No clear relationship was evident between catch rate and average size for the western stock as for the northern stock.

Length-frequency hi stograms showed that all fi sheri~s typically depended upon one or two length modes corresponding to one or two age classes (Appendix Figures A2-A5). The Juan de Fuca and the Port Townsend area trawl fisheries caught small fish, averaging 48 to 50 cm, during the years from 1970 through 1975 (Figure 21a). In Port

Townsend, these were the most successful years of th~trawl fishery; but catch rates were variabl e in the Juan de Fuca trawl fi shery (Figure 22a). In 1970 and 1980 when catch rates were relatively low when average lengths from the Port Townsend area trawl samples were the two greatest of all years sampled. Juan de Fuca cod tended to be larger than the Port Townsend area fish beginning in 1976 and ranged to nearly 60 cm in some years. Cod caught by set nets in the Port Townsend area were about 5 cm 1arger than fi sh caught by trawlers in the same area (Figures 21a and 23). Average lengths were greater during the first three years of the set net fishery but decreased by several centimeters in most of the subsequent years. Cod caught by anglers in the Juan de Fuca Region were about the same size (48 cm to 55 cm) as cod caught by trawlers in the same region, and average lengths varied among the years (Figure 24a). However, peaks or nadirs in mean length did not occur during the same years for the sport and trawl fisheries (Figures 2la and 24a). Total mortality slightly increased over the last twenty years, increasing from 1.57 in the early 1970s to 1.79 in the later 1980s 70 .------~

0 50 -~ 0 -J: 40 • PT t- (!) + JF Z W 30 0 HC ..J Z co « t:. CS en W 20 ~

o ;-~~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~--~~--r_~--~~~ 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 COD YEAR

Figure 23. Annual mean lengths (by fishery years) for Pacific cod set net samples by management region, 1970~1988. 87

70~------~ A. NORTHERN SOUND ..--.. 60 :IE g, 50 J: ~ 40 Z ~ 30 • SJ ~ 20 + JF :IE 10

O+-~-r~-'--r-~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87

70~------~ B. SOUTHERN SOUND 60 ..--.. :IE g. 50 J: ~ 40 Z ~ 30 Z • CS L1i 20 + SS

:IE <> HC 10

O+-~-r~-'--r-~~~~~~--~~~-r~~ 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 COD YEAR

Figure 24. Annual mean lengths (by fishery years) for Pacific cod recreational samples, 1970-1988: (A) Northern Puget Sound; (8) Southern Puget Sound. 88 (Table 20).

Southern stock Ten catch-rate indices existed for the southern cod stock south of Admiralty Inlet. The three commercial and seven recreational fisheries did not all show the same trend over the years preventing a clear assessment of stock status (Figure 25). A11 time seri es showed peri od i ca 1 increases and decreases and a tendency for greater fishing success in the 1970s or early 1980s. Catch rates have been low for all but the Central Sound trawl index during the last few years of the 1980s (Figure 25a), indicating that populations were low compared to the 1970s or early 1980s. Trawlers have been more successful in the Hood Canal Region than in any other southern region, especially during the period lasting from 1972 to 1981 and during 1985 (Figure 2Sa). While catch rates exceeding 200 lbs/hr have occurred there in many years, the early 1970s, 1979, 1982-1984, and 1987-1989 had low catch rates of less than 100 lbs/hr during the months of significant fisheries. Peak catches in either of the southernmost regions have never exceeded 100 lbs/hr. Sustained high catch rates were observed between 1976 and 1983, but catch rates decreased in the South Puget Sound Region after 1984 and have generally remained low afterwards. In contrast, Central Sound trawl catch rates were low for a number of years after 1983 but then peaked in 1988 at nearly 100 lbs/hr and were high in 1989. None of the annual trawl catch rates were correlated within the southern stock area (Table 16). 89

300 A. TRAWL • HOOD CANAL a: + CENTRAL SOUND ::J o o SOUTH SOUND :::c ...... en 200 ~ -:::c U 100 ~ U

oL-~~~~~~~~~~~~~L-~~~~ 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88

6~------~ B. RECREATIONAL-CENTRAL x 5 • SCRA8 + SCRAS a.. c: 4 <> SCRA 10 J- et: 6 SCRA 12 W 3 a.. x AGATE PASS C o 2 U

oL-~~~~-L~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 YEAR Figure 25. Trawl and recreational catch rates for the southern cod stock: (A) Trawl; (8) Recreational-central seRAs; (e) Recreational-southern SeRAs. 90 4 C. RECREATIONAL-SOUTH

• seRA 11 a.. 3 + seRA 13 -c: J- c: a..W 2 0 0 () 1

o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 YEAR

Figure 25. Continued. 91 Recreational fishers had the greatest fishing success in the Agate Passage fishery and in the general recreational fishery in SCRA 10 than in other SCRAs (Table 17, Figures 25b and 25c). All sport catch indices except the SCRAs 8 and 12 indices indicated population levels were higher for at least one year during the period 1977 to 1982 than they had been in subsequent years (Table 18). In SCRAs 8 and 12, catch rates did not di ffer among years. Sport fishers were relatively unsuccessful during significant fishery months in SCRAs 8 and 12 (Figure 25b), catching only one cod every third trip even in the best years of fishing. SCRA 9 has had only moderate catch rates; sport fishing was best in 1981 and 1984, but catch rates were near zero in the most recent four years. In SCRA 10, fishing was best in 1978 when nearly 3.6 cod were harvested during an average bottomfishing trip. Since then, catch rates have decreased to nearly one fish every other trip in 1989. Fishing for cod in each of the southernmost and adjacent SCRAs 11 and 13 yielded about the same success (Figure 25c), and the pattern of peak and low catch rates was about the same. A cod was caught on about every other bottomfishing trip in these areas during many of the years between 1977 and 1986, but since 1984 in SCRA 13 and 1986 in SCRA 11, catch rates have declined to almost zero. Standardization of sampling data from past creel surveys of the Agate Passage cod fishery allowed catch rates to be compared among years and fishery periods (Table 14). The annual rates were the greatest in 1977 when cod anglers were catching about cod per trip (Figure 25b). Catch rates have decreased almost every year 92 since then to nearly zero in 1989. Agate Passage catch rates differed· among fishery periods (ANOVA, Pr.

DISCUSSION Evidence to assess the status of Pacific cod stocks in Puget Sound and its adjacent waters has relied upon historical comparisons of catch, catch per unit effort, length data, and mortality rates. Based on trends in these variables, stock· assessments have been made for each stock, and interrelationships among these variables may provide the basis for management actions. Some inferences may also be made about how natural and man-induced factors may have influenced the observed patterns.

Stock Delineation The existence of three cod stocks in PMFC Area 4A was primarily based on the observation that large spawning aggregations simultaneously occurred in each stock area. The results from tagging studies conducted over many years suggested that most cod remained in these areas after spawning. Some out-of-area movements 94 did occur, but mixing rates could not be estimated because the tagging studies were not conducted at the same time, unquantified and non-uni form recovery effort occurred among areas, and significant numbers were recovered immediately after tagging in the tagging area. These problems are exemplified by Karp's (1982) study of Pacific cod spawning in Port Townsend Bay. 86.9% of the fish he tagged were recaptured in the bay. Karp estimated mortality due to the Port Townsend fi shery was a maximum of 0.45 and total mortality was approximately 1.65. If natural mortality was 0.75 as estimated by Karp, then fisheries in other areas exerted another instantaneous fishing mortality of 0.45, suggesting high rates of movement to other areas, contrary to the high recapture rate from the Bay. Fortunately, for the purposes of stock delineation, most of these recoveries were in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The frequencies of the protistan parasite only served to separate the Puget Sound stocks from the stock off the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island.

Catch and Effort Puget Sound cod catches have been relatively low since 1982 compared to the 1975 to 1981 period when catches were at their all time highs.· Although recent catches are low, they are about at the level as catches made between 1962 and 1974. The increase in effort since 1975 and high catch rates have apparently caused catch levels to be at historical peaks during the late 1970s. The differing levels of effort over the years confounded the interpretation of 95 catch patterns as a measure of relative abundance over the years.

Broad-scale environment~l factors may affect cod catches of Puget Sound and adjacent PMFC Areas. The correspondence of recruitment patterns among adjacent regions has already been observed (Hollowed et al. 1987). Such relationship may be similar to the synchronous pattern observed among annual cod catches along the Pacific Coast and climatic events may cause these patterns. For the two most recent El Nino events in 1958 and 1982, catches were low in all major PMFC regions two to four years after. Because El Nino events are characterized by warmer water temperatures, recruitment, mortality, or behavior may have been adversely affected by these warmer oceanographic regimes along the Pacific coast. The effect of warmer conditions on early life survival would not be observed in the fishery until the affected year class recruits to the fishery at ages two and three. Such a delay is corroborated by the several year 1ag between the El Ni no and decreased catches. Bailey and Incze (1985) also observed that the 1982 El Nino affected cod recruitment on the west coast of North America. The coast-wide and historical synchronous fluctuations in cod catches suggested that the recent, low cod catches will increase in the future. Although sound-wide catches in the 1980s were lower than catches in the 1970s, individual regions showed differing patterns in catch levels through the years. The two most important management regions, Gulf-Bellingham and Juan de Fuca, had stable catch patterns during the 1970 to 1987 period (Table 22). The slightly increased catches in the Gulf-Bellingham Region beginning 96 97 in 1975 may have been a response to more trawl hours fished in the region. Despite an increase of a third in effort after 1976, catches only increased slightly compared to the prior period. For Puget Sound, most of the increased catches observed between 1975 and 1981 came from the Juan de Fuca Region and the Port Townsend area fisheries. High trawl and set-net effort in Port Townsend resulted in high catches, and the peak catch observed in the Juan de Fuca Region in 1980 occurred when effort increased by almost half from previous years. The southern cod stock, important for recreational cod fisheries, has been only a minor area to Puget Sound cod production. Except for Hood Canal, overall catches in Central and South Puget Sound have been relatively stable despite increased recreational effort and relatively stable trawl effort during the last two decades. Some of the results of catch and effort history must be used with caution. The commercial catch data are based upon a system of report; ng ti ckets of wei ghed catches at fi sh processors. These reports which represent the bulk of cod harvest in Puget Sound are accurate, although some weights and catch areas may be accidentally or intentionally misrepresented at times. The recreational catch and effort estimates, based upon the catch reporting system may be less rel iable. Recent independent creel surveys have shown that catch and effort is overestimated by a factor of two in the southern stock region and by lesser amounts in other areas (WDF et al. 1990). Est imated recreati ona 1 harvests were shown to be substant i ali n these areas, but actual harvests may be much less. Concerns have 98 also been raised that bottomfish anglers are not sampled in proportion to actual occurrence during the creel surveys. Another problem of the recreational estimates was not using actual pounds harvested but estimating the poundage from a single conversion ratio over all years.

Stock Assessment Stock Status.-Not all fisheries comprising each stock showed the same trend in catch rates, but when strong decl ines were present, most annual catch rates correlated with ea~h other. The catch rates used to typify stock conditions were judged by the consistency of indices, the importance of the fishery, and the relative magnitude of the fishing areas. The two significant indices in the northern region showed that the stock has declined over the long term (Table 22). The Gulf Bellingham Region trawl index was the best abundance index for the northern stock because trawling activity was intense and consistent in this region. This index showed stock stability between 1978 and 1989 but also a long-term decline compared to the years to 1978 (Table 22). A short-term decline was evident with the inclusion of the preliminary 1990 catch rate. Trawling is not as consistent in the San Juan Region, but the index showed both long- and short-term population declines (Table 22). SeRA 7 catch rates were not a useful index because they were near zero during most years. Most regional catch rates in the western stock showed populations have decreased in the long term, but short-term 99 stability is uncertain (Table 22). The Juan de Fuca abundance index was characterized by the trawl catch rate which has shown a slight, long-term decline after 1980. While most recent catch rates were stable, the prel il'ninary 1990 rate showed a dramatic decrease. SCRAs 5 and 6 also comprised the Juan de Fuca Region, but their catch rate indices showed conflicting patterns: SCRA 5 had a recent increase in abundance while SCRA 6 had a short-term decrease. The recent stability of the Juan de Fuca trawling success contrasted to the steady decline of trawl catch rates tn the Port Townsend area. The erratic trawl catch rates and low catches in the West Juan de Fuca Region indicated cod were not usually available to trawlers in this region, but that abundance was atypically high in 1980. The conflicting patterns of the indices in the western stock suggested different population abundances or availability within the western stock area (Table 22). The recent high recreational catch rates in SCRA 5 indicated that the western portion of the Juan de Fuca Region had increased cod abundance while the eastern half had reduced abundance. In the eastern range of the stock, 1oca 1 depletion occurred in the Port Townsend area. For the remaining area, catch rates indicated a long-term decrease in abundance and suggest another recent decline. For the southern stock, most regional catch rate indices showed long-term stabil ity in abundance, but short-term decl ine (Table 22). The regional patterns were difficult to assess because the trawl and recreational indices often showed different patterns. Hood Canal catch rates showed long-term stability but a more recent 100 population decline (Table 22). Because recreational fisheries were more ubiquitous in Central and South Sound, their catch rates may be more indicative of stock abundance. Recreational catch rates in Central Sound are not consistent with the regional trawl catch rate: Recreational catch rates have decreased consistently in SCRAs 9 and 10 and in Agate Pass while trawl catch rates have not declined. The recreational catch rates in South Sound have decreased after 1983 or 1984 as did the South Sound trawl catch rates, but these declines were later than the recreational catch rates of Central Puget Sound. Because all other time series except the Central Sound trawl index showed a decline from high values in the late 1970s or early 1980s, the southern stock is likely in lesser abundance than in earlier years. Although trawl catch rates had longterm stabil ity, catch rates from all important recreational fisheries have declined to almost near-zero values. This suggests local depletion has occurred, especially 1.n the Agate Passage spawning area. Assessment methods.-The assessments for Pacific cod stocks in Puget Sound were based upon a qualitative assessment of the trend in catch rates. Stock assessments ideally determine the absolute abundance of a stock over the duration of a fishery and provide information to evaluate the impacts of fishing. For Pacific cod in Puget Sound, direct methods of stock assessment such as acoustic or bottom-trawl surveys have not been completely developed. Other fishery-dependent assessment methods might have been used but rely upon catch-at-age data. Because Pacific cod are difficult to age, catch-at-age information was unavailable. Length-based analogs to 101 catch-at-age analysis have been developed (Schnute and Fournier 1980, Lai 1985) but still depend upon guessing the number of age classes in the population and estimating the growth function. Because of these limitations, length-based methods were not used in the present analysis to estimate catch-at-age. Other stock assessment methods use changes in biological characteristics to infer the condition of a stock, but frequently depend upon knowing the age of sampled fish. Average length data were used for Puget Sound stock assessment, but only cyclical trends were evident in some time series. The use of catch rates to infer stock abundance assumed the relative change in catch rates was proportional to the change in abundance over time (Gu11and 1983). Therefore, their validity for stock assessments required that vulnerability to trawl and hook-and line gear did no~ changed over the period of study. Several factors may invalidate this assumption. For both commercial and recreational fisheries, advances in acoustic technology in the 1980s may have increased vulnerability because fish schools were easier to locate. Gear saturation and fisher experience may have c~anged vulnerability when effort increased during the late 1970s. The contrasting patterns of catch rates among fisheries within a stock s.uggested that not all i ndi ces measured popu1 at ion abundance. The use of the recreational index was often hampered by the high variation that prevented all but the highest catch rate years to be statistically discriminated among the low and moderate catch rates of other years. The uti 1i ty of each index must be 102 judged by the consistency of a fishery over time and within a stock area, and by the ability to discriminate trends. Some work has shown that commercial and recreational catch rates of Pacific cod are indicative of population abundance. Tyler and Foucher (1990) compared the results of a virtual population analysis for Pacific cod in Hecate Strait to the trawl fishery catch rates. The annual catch rates correlated to the biomass estimated for the same year. In Puget Sound, Lemberg et al. (1988) found that increases and decreases in acoustic biomass during the Agate Passage fishery corresponded to increases and decreases in catch rates of the recreational fishery. Recruitment.-Evidence from length data and catch rates i ndi cated cod recrui tment was vari abl e. Length-frequency distributions usually revealed that a single length mode or age class dominated the catch of each year. For some fisheries, such as the important Gulf-Bellingham trawl fishery, three-year cycles of increases and decreases in average length correlated inversely with the three-year cycles of peak and nadir catch rates: Fish were small when catch rates were high, and fish were large when catch rates were low. This pattern was probably produced by a strong year class recruiting to the fishery at age 2 or 3 and dominating the catch thus causing the average lengths to be small. Unless another strong year class followed in the next two years, the catch was dominated in each of the next successive years by the strong year class causing average lengths to increase while catch rates decreased. Because mortality rates were high, a strong year class 103 is only perceptible in the fishery for two or three years. By age 5, most cod have died. If this pattern holds for other stocks, the high catch rates observed during many years of the 1970s and early 1980s were the result of better, sustained recruitment than in the later 1980s. The lack of a clear inverse relationship between catch rates and average 1ength in other areas may be due to changes in adul t mortality or variable year classes obscuring the length distributions.

CAUSES OF STOCK DECLINE The Puget Sound stocks of Pacific cod all demonstrate long term or short-term decreases in abundance. A decrease in abundance may be explained by decreased recruitment, by excessive adult mortality, or a movement out of a stock area. Several environmental and fishery-related factors can explain reduced population abundance in Puget Sound stocks. Environmental. -Predation, starvation, and adverse physical conditions can all theoretically reduce recruitment or adult survival rates, but few studies have clearly identified the cause of population decline in cod stocks. As reviewed previously, water temperature and the presence or absence of herring may affect cod recruitment or occurrence in British Columbia. Changes in temperature may be ali ke 1y cause of decreased cod abundance in Puget Sound. 104 Catch rates decreased after 1977 in the Gulf-Bellingham Region, after 1978 in the Port Townsend fishery, after 1981 in Hood Canal, after 1977 for significant sport fisheries in Central Puget Sound, and after 1984 in South Puget Sound. These decreases, all after 1977, corresponded to a change in the oceanographic characteristics of Puget Sound beginning in 1977 (Figure 26). Prior to this year, Puget Sound experienced a cold-water regime characterized by cool sea-surface temperatures, high runoff, many storms, and low inputs of oceanic water (Ebbesmeyer et al. 1989). After 1977, a warmer regime characterized by warm sea-surface temperatures, low runoff, few storms, and a great influx of oceanic water at depth replaced the colder regime. Each regime lasts approximately eight years with the most recent colder regime lasting from 1964 through 1976 (Figure 26). Although the oceanographic times series exists to 1924, the cod abundance index only encompasses one cycle of warm and cold regimes. The causative relationship between abundance and oceanographic regimes can only be tested in the future. The correspondence between low catch years and El Ninos along the Pacific coast suggests that warmer water regimes in Puget Sound may inhibit cod production. Pacific cod populations on the southern margin of their range_have responded to less suitable environmental cond it ions with higher growth rates, morta 1ity rates, and fecundities (see previous review). How warmer water temperatures might affect recruitment or adult abundance is unknown. Warm water may affect reproductive physiology, the survival of eggs (Alderdice 2~------,

1 X W 0 Z W 0 ~ ~ ::J 0 0 ~ -1 -U'1 Z

-2

43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 61 63 65 67 69 71 737577 7981 83 85 87 YEAR

Figure 26. Puget Sound climate index, based upon snowfall and sea surface temperatures (after Ebbesmeyer et al. 1988). 106 and Forrester 1971), or the survival of larvae or juveniles. Instead of affecting recruitment, warmer oceanographic conditions could have prompted a movement out of traditional fishing areas and into deeper and cooler waters. The reduction in fishing success in the shallow spawning grounds of Port Townsend Bay and Agate Passage may have resulted from a change in distribution rather than a decline in population. The continued success of trawlers in the Juan de Fuca and Central Sound Regions may have been a result of displaced cod now aggregating in other areas. However, if warmer water affected adult behavior, a quicker decrease in catch rates would be expected than was observed. Alternatives to the warm-climate hypothesis include changed cod abundance due to biotic factors. Westrheim and Pedersen (1986~ concluded that anomalous occurrences of cod in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca including the San Juan Islands and Gulf-Bellingham were the result of cod migrating from coastal areas and feeding on unusual abundances of Pacific herring occurring in the eastern Straits of Juan de Fuca. This relationship may exist in the Gulf Bellingham Region where a large population of herring once spawned. The higher trawl catch rates of Pacific cod corresponded to a period in the 1970s when herring populations were high (Day 1987). Since 1980, herring abundance has declined. Cod that once inhabited the region may have moved to other feeding grounds or may have experienced reduced egg production because of poor food resources as found by Walters et al. (1986) for cod in Hecate Strait. 107 Predation on Pacific cod in Puget Sound could have increased since the late 1978 and have accounted for the decline in abundance and subsequent recruitment. The importance of predation on cod is not known, and only marine mammals have been implicated in reducing other fi sh popul at ions in Puget Sound. The seal and sea 1ion popul at ions in Puget Sound have increased dramat i call y since the late 1970s and during the 1980s and have been implicated in reducing steel head (Onchorhynchus miskis) and Pacific whiting (Merluccius productus) populations in Puget Sound (Nielsen 1990, Schmitt 1990). Pacific cod have never accounted for more than 3.4% of the identified fish prey of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) in Port Gardner or Elliott Bay where scat or spewing samples have been available (Gearin et ale 1986, Everitt et ale 1981). Cod have accounted for 7.8% of the fish prey from harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) at Protection Island (Everitt et ale 1981) but have not occurred in scats in South Puget Sound, Smith Island, or Hood Canal (Calambokidis et ale 1978, Everitt et ale 1981). Without further information on the co-occurrence of cod and pinnipeds or the diet of seals and sea lions, the impacts of marine mammal predation on cod cannot be assessed. Fisheries effects.-Oirect evidence for overexploitation was not available since fishing mortalities could be estimated and a spawner-recruit relationship was not identified. Length-based mortality rates offered some insight into the exploitation dynamics. Total mortality estimates were high but not unprecedented (Table 2). For the Gulf-Bellingham Region, total mortality rates increased at 108 the same time as trawl catch rates decreased and effort increased. For the western stock, mortal ity rates were high throughout the period of high exploitation in the Port Townsend fishery and remained high in the late 1980s. Other correlations between fishery patterns and mortality rates were not obvious. The reason for the high or increased mortal ity rates cannot be directly determined because either or both natural and fishery mortality may have changed over the years. Natural mortality has been estimated for nearby Canadian stocks at 0.6 (Westrheim and Foucher 1987). Using this estimate for Puget Sound stocks, instantaneous fishing mortality ranged from 0.8 in the early 1970s for the northern stock to 1.3 in the early 1980s. Fishing mortality for the western stock has ranged from 0.9 to 1.2 and has been the highest during the most recent period. If natural mortality was constant, it is unclear whether these high fishing mortality rates were excessive for sustainable yield. Karp (1982) used estimates of growth and similar estimates of natural mortality to examine the optimal yield of the Port Townsend area fi shery. With natural mortal i ty rates of 0.5 and a growth coefficient of 0.33, age 3 was the ideal age of entry into the fi shery and a fi sh i ng mortality of 1. 5 resulted in max i mum production. However, fishing mortality rates above 0.7 only marginally improved annual yields. The high fishing mortality rates that provided maximum yield per recruit modeled by Karp (1982) have been realized in the significant regions of commercial exploitation in Puget Sound. The fisheries have also concentrated on fish that 109 are age two and age three. The northern stock has apparently supported such high fishing rates until recently. The recent decline of the western stock corresponds to period of high fishing mortality. The length-frequency distributions revealed that fisheries depend upon one or two year classes. Such a dependence on few age classes results in pulse fishing and its associated problems: Fishing will only be successful when one or more strong year classes recruit and persist in the population. However, when year class strengths are weak, as they may have been during the warm climatic periods, fisheries will be erratic and unsuccessful at times. When such catastrophic events as E1 Nino or other conditions depress populations, intense fisheries may accelerate population declines or suppress population recoveries. Karp (1982) cautioned that high exploitation rates may also affect the reproductive resilience of the cod stock in Port Townsend Bay. Trawlers targeting on recruiting spawners and set netters targeting on mature three- and four-year olds may have overfished the population and decreased the reproductive potential below a level that can sustain subsequent recruitment even when environmental conditions are favorable. A similar phenomenon may have occurred with the spawning population in Agate Passage. During low abundance years, the intense recreat i ona 1 fi sh i ng effort in the restri cted passage area and exposure to other recreational fisheries outside of the spawning season may have caused excessive fishing mortality for the Central Puget Sound spawners. 110 Further Research and Recommendations Because of the problems with assessing populations by catch rates and with the reduction of commercial fishing throughout Puget Sound, alternative methods must be sought to achieve more reliable stock assessments. These include obtaining other fishery-dependent information such as catch-at-age data for virtual population analysis (Tyler and Foucher 1990) or developing fishery-independent assessment methods. Direct-assessment methods could include standardized trawl surveys or acoustic survey techniques. Acoustic assessments may be able to assess the biomass of spawning aggregations and preliminary studies show promising results (Lemberg et al. 1988, 1989). Trawl surveys have been conducted but the results have not been completely analyzed. Without new assessment methods, conservative management policies must be adopted. Assessment methods must identify catastrophic or low recruitment years. When low abundance years are i dent ifi ed, the reproduct i ve res il i ency of 1oca 1 stocks must be protected by reducing harvests on fish that are easily captured when they are aggregated for spawning. Trip limits or seasonal closures might control trawl fisheries, and season or area restrictions and decreased daily bag limits might control recreational fisheries. Since the three Pacific cod stocks in Puget Sound all are depressed, these conservative management practices should be investigated and implemented. 111

SUMMARY 1. Review of tagging data and catch patterns indicated northern, western, and southern stocks of Pacific cod exist in Puget Sound. 2. Both recreational and commercial effort increased during the 1970s and stabilized during the 1980s. 3. Puget Sound catches showed alternating periods of good catch years with periods of poor catch years. Six cycles have occurred since 1942, and catch peaked in 1980 at 3.5 million 1bs. Si nce then, catches have decl i ned to just over two million lbs, but have averaged 2.5 million lbs over the last ten years. Recent catches have been below average. 4. Annual catches from southern PMFC Areas often showed synchronous patterns among years. 5. Trawl fisheries in the Gulf-Bellingham Region accounted for half of the cod captured in Puget Sound each year. Trawl, set net, and recreational fisheries in the Juan de Fuca Region harvested the second greatest amount of cod. The Central Sound Region, including the Port Townsend area was the third most important region which also included significant recreat i ona 1 fi sheri es. Important recreat i ona 1 fi sheri es also occur in the South Puget Sound Region. The San Juan Island, Hood Canal, and West Juan de Fuca Reg ions were of 1esser importance, often providing erratic catches. 6. Catch rate patterns differed among regions but generally were consistent for the three stocks. The northern stock showed 112 a long-term decline but short-term stability. The western stock showed long- and short-term decl i nes in the eastern fisheries and a long-term decline in catch rates for the Juan de Fuca trawl fishery. Recreational catch rates in the southern stock indicated a drastic decline in abundance. 7. Length frequency distributions showed that cod fisheries are dependent upon one or two age classes.

8~ Mean lengths estimated from biological samples collected since 1970 did not demonstrate long-term patterns. In the Gulf Bellingham Region, mean length was often lower in years when catch rates were high, indicating many young fish were recruiting to the fishery. 9. Total mortality rates were high for Puget Sound cod, ranging between l. 0 and l. 9. Mortal i ty rates have been higher since 1980. 10. The recent decrease in stock abundance corresponded to a change to a warmer oceanographic regime, an increase in the abundance of pinnipeds, and an increase of fishing effort. Stock recovery may be hampered by recreational and commercial fisheries. 113 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author thanks Cyreis Schmitt and Greg Bargmann for many useful comments in drafts of this document. Curt Ebbesmeyer is also thanked for contributing the oceanographic indices used in this analysis. Jurgen Westrheim provided excellent critiques and perspectives. This work was supported by the Sport Fish Restoration Act, F- 81-R, Segments 2 through 5, "Monitoring and Assessment of Puget Sound Recreational Bottomfish Stocks." 114 LITERATURE CITED

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GULF OF GEORGIA/BELLINGHAM GULF OF GEORGIA/BELLINGHAM

1970 1974 .. " .•. ,.

co IZZI .. -1171 .. .. 1971 .. 1975 ".. .. ,... .." .. ..,.

. " ,. IZ2I 11-'"'" IZZ1 II .. I."

.. 1972 .. .." " 1976 .. .. ,. ,.

IZZJ ...... I". IZZJ '".... ,..

,. 1973 " .. 1979 ,...... " ,... ..

Figure AI. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in Gulf Bellingham trawl fisheries, 1970-1988. 125

GULF OF GEORGIA/BELLINGHAM GULF OF GEORGIA/BELLINGHAM -n_ 1980 " 1984 .. .." " " .."

IZ2l ....'" 1100 2ZJ N'" - 1100

20 1981 " 1985 .. .." .. " .." ,. I •

ill ~ rfk ... -"

20 I22l ....'" 12iCO 22l ....'" 1007 .. ,. " 1982 1986 .•.. .." ,. • ·

,. .. 20 eM IZ2l ... 111, IZZl '"III.~

2O~------, .. " " 1983 " 1987 .." " .. .•.." " " " ",.·

.. ,...... " eM IZ2l ..... --

Figure AI. Continued. 126

GULF OF GEORGIA/BELUNGHAM ~~------~------~ " .. 1988 .." ,." f

.. CZ2J ".'" II'"

Figure AI. Continued. 127

.. JUAN DE FUCA .. JUAN DE FUCA 1970 .." 1974 " ~ .. II II I ".. I I I

,. ·.. '" .. .. 'f2'2''I:, "e~~ .. II" 1971 .. 1975 .. .." ..... § .. II II.. J .." i .. I I

'" '" .. '"

.. 1972 .• 1976 " " .. .. II II ..· ..

,. .. ,. .. .. '" ~ '" .. 'f2'2'''''.no "e",';l, .. Of .. 1973 .." 1980 ".. .."II .. .. I II.. .. ! .. If .." I • i

• -I-__-..aym • ,. .. .. ,. .. ,. ..

Figure A2. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in Juan de Fuca trawl fisheries, 1970-1988. 128

JUAN DE FUCA JUAN DE FUCA

" .. 1981 " 1986 .,I." .,.. .. " " "I "I ,•

'" ...... 0:., ...... ,., lUI '" """ '"

.~------~ .~------~------~ 1,1 1982 1987 .. " "., .. I. ,... " "..n I

.. ..

.~------~------~ .~------~ .. 1983 1988 " ..., I. " " " .. ..n

.. ,. .. .. '" .. '" ...... """ ,..,

~------~--~------~ ... 1985 .." ,,'I. "

.. ,. ..

Figure A2. Continued. 129

PORT TOWNSEND PORT TOWNSEND :~------~ " 1970 " 1974 "

1l" .. .." ,." .."

1971 1975 " " " ..1l "

" .. "r------, 1972 1976 ,."

"1l 1l" ,. , ,.,

.. ,. .. III """"''''''IU:I ,,..

~------~ " 1973 ..,." 1977 " "

1l" " ".. .." ,."

,. III ,.

Figure A3. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in the Port Townsend area trawl fisheries, 1970-1982. 130

PORT TOWNSEND .~------,.. .. 1979 .." .." u ..

1980

.. ,. ,. .. ..

.. 1981 " ..os ..u .. •

." .. ,. .. .. ,. .. "8":1. .. .. 1982 " .. I .." I

,. .. ..

Figure A3. Continued. .. .. ,. .. .. ,. ..

Figure A4. Length frequency di stri but ions for cod caught in the Port Townsend area set net fisheries, 1970-1986. 132

PORT TOWNSEND

,. 1986 .." .,.. ,.. .•

" ..

Figure A4. Continued. 133

JUAN DE fUCA JUAN DE fUCA ~~------, ~~------~------~ 1978 1982 " .." .. " " ".. , .•

~~------~------, 1979 " 1983 " .. " " .. ,". • . 134

JUAN DE FUCA .~------~ " 1987 .." I> ..OJ I I. I J

Figure AS. Continued. 135

CENTRAL PUCET SOUND CENTRAL PUCET SOUND .~------~ .. 1975 .." 1979 ...... I ..•• .." I •

~"' ~ l1li_Il10..

.~------, .. .. 1976 t7 1980 t7 .. . .. I... .." .." I .." IE

,. .. .. ,.

,. .. ~------~------~ .• .." 1977 .. 1981 .." .. .." ".. II .• .. t

,. ,. ,. .. ,. .. ,. .. .. ~!:2 ~!:.'4 ,...... 1978 1982 .." ."...... •• .. ..u .." • •

,. ,. .. .. ,. .. eo

Figure A6. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in Central Puget Sound recreational fisheries, 1970-1988. 136

CENTRAL PUCET SOUND

.~------, " 1983 " ..II .. •

.. '" .. 1984" . " .." .. .. •

,. '" __ oe·, .. .. ~ .. -us

Figure A6. Continued. 137

SOUTH PUGET SOUND SOUTH PUGET SOUND ~~------~ ~,------~ · .." 1978 " 1982 .." ,II. .. " ,." ,." t t

IZ:t£J----"., l1li_»$

~~------~~------, .~------~------, .." 1979 II 1983 " " ..1. II "11 11 II .. t t

.. ..

.~------, ~~------~~------~ 198Q 19.84 .." " ..It ,..". ,.II" II,. t ,

.. .. ,...... ,." 1981 " BBS " " " ..It ,". I> II" II ..II ..11 t ,

1 .~ __~~~~~.u~ .. ,...... " ......

Figure A7. Length frequency distributions for cod caught in South Puget Sound recreational fisheries, 1970-1985.