Atlan C Cod, Atlan C Pollock and Haddock

Atlanc cod, Atlanc pollock and Haddock Gadus morhua, Pollachius virens, Melanogrammus aegleﬁnus

United States: Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine

Large mesh boom trawl, Large mesh boom gillnet, Handline, Boom longlines

October 3, 2016 Neosha Kashef, Consulng Researcher & Sam Wilding, Seafood Watch Staﬀ

Disclaimer Seafood Watch® strives to have all Seafood Reports reviewed for accuracy and completeness by external sciensts with experse in ecology, ﬁsheries science and aquaculture. Scienﬁc review, however, does not constute an endorsement of the Seafood Watch® program or its recommendaons on the part of the reviewing sciensts. Seafood Watch® is solely responsible for the conclusions reached in this report. Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 About Seafood Watch 3 Guiding Principles 4 Summary 5 Final Seafood Recommendations 6 Introduction 9 Assessment 14 Criterion 1: Impacts on the species under assessment 14 Criterion 2: Impacts on other species 25 Criterion 3: Management Effectiveness 62 Criterion 4: Impacts on the habitat and ecosystem 76 Acknowledgements 84 References 85 Appendix A: Extra By Catch Species 89 Appendix B: Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan 146 Appendix C: Update Summary 148

2 About Seafood Watch Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch® program evaluates the ecological sustainability of wild-caught and farmed seafood commonly found in the United States marketplace. Seafood Watch® defines sustainable seafood as originang from sources, whether wild-caught or farmed, which can maintain or increase producon in the long-term without jeopardizing the structure or funcon of affected ecosystems. Seafood Watch® makes its science-based recommendaons available to the public in the form of regional pocket guides that can be downloaded from www.seafoodwatch.org. The program’s goals are to raise awareness of important ocean conservaon issues and empower seafood consumers and businesses to make choices for healthy oceans. Each sustainability recommendaon on the regional pocket guides is supported by a Seafood Report. Each report synthesizes and analyzes the most current ecological, fisheries and ecosystem science on a species, then evaluates this informaon against the program’s conservaon ethic to arrive at a recommendaon of “Best Choices,” “Good Alternaves” or “Avoid.” The detailed evaluaon methodology is available upon request. In producing the Seafood Reports, Seafood Watch® seeks out research published in academic, peer-reviewed journals whenever possible. Other sources of informaon include government technical publicaons, fishery management plans and supporng documents, and other scienfic reviews of ecological sustainability. Seafood Watch® Research Analysts also communicate regularly with ecologists, fisheries and aquaculture sciensts, and members of industry and conservaon organizaons when evaluang fisheries and aquaculture pracces. Capture fisheries and aquaculture pracces are highly dynamic; as the scienfic informaon on each species changes, Seafood Watch®’s sustainability recommendaons and the underlying Seafood Reports will be updated to reflect these changes. Pares interested in capture fisheries, aquaculture pracces and the sustainability of ocean ecosystems are welcome to use Seafood Reports in any way they find useful. For more informaon about Seafood Watch® and Seafood Reports, please contact the Seafood Watch® program at Monterey Bay Aquarium by calling 1-877- 229-9990.

3 Guiding Principles Seafood Watch defines sustainable seafood as originang from sources, whether fished1 or farmed, that can maintain or increase producon in the long-term without jeopardizing the structure or funcon of affected ecosystems. Based on this principle, Seafood Watch had developed four sustainability criteria for evaluang wildcatch fisheries for consumers and businesses. These criteria are: How does fishing affect the species under assessment? How does the fishing affect other, target and non-target species? How effecve is the fishery’s management? How does the fishing affect habitats and the stability of the ecosystem?

Each criterion includes: Factors to evaluate and score Guidelines for integrang these factors to produce a numerical score and rang

Once a rang has been assigned to each criterion, we develop an overall recommendaon. Criteria rangs and the overall recommendaon are color-coded to correspond to the categories on the Seafood Watch pocket guide and online guide: Best Choice/Green: Are well managed and caught in ways that cause lile harm to habitats or other wildlife. Good Alternave/Yellow: Buy, but be aware there are concerns with how they’re caught. Avoid/Red Take a pass on these for now. These items are overﬁshed or caught in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.

1 “Fish” is used throughout this document to refer to finfish, shellfish and other invertebrates

4 Summary The following Seafood Watch report provides recommendaons for Atlanc cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and pollock (Pollachius virens) caught in the Northwest Atlanc by U.S fishing vessels. The three species inhabit similar habitats, have similar natural ranges, and are caught in mixed fisheries using a variety of methods including boom trawls, sink gillnets, boom longlines, and rod and line that will be covered by this report. The fisheries that capture cod, haddock, and pollock in the Northwest Atlanc are managed by the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) under the Mulspecies Fishery Management Plan. Cod, haddock, and pollock have a high inherent vulnerability to fishing pressure. There are two separate stocks of cod and haddock in the U.S. Northwest Atlanc: Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine. Cod abundances on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine are in an overfished state and of high conservaon concern. Fishing pressure on both stocks by all fishing gears is too high. Haddock stocks are healthier and have fully rebuilt on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine. Georges Bank haddock is fished at a sustainable level, and fishing pressure in the Gulf of Maine has reduced to sustainable levels. Pollock abundance in the Northwest Atlanc is healthy and is being fished at a sustainable level. The handline fisheries in the Northwest Atlanc are relavely selecve, with no species of concern caught other than the target species (typically cod). Boom trawl fisheries in the Northwest Atlanc catch a variety of species, including commercially important fish and marine mammals. Of greatest concern in the boom trawl fisheries for cod, haddock, and pollock is the bycatch of yellowtail flounder, which is overfished and experiencing overfishing on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine. Boom gillnet fisheries catch a variety of species, including a number of marine mammals; of greatest concern is the North Atlanc right whale, which is listed as "Endangered" by the Internaonal Union for the Conservaon of Nature (IUCN) and is being negavely affected by fishing acvies in the region. Boom longline fisheries are relavely selecve compared to the trawl and gillnet fisheries, but there is sll a high level of concern regarding bycatch of skate species. Boom trawls have a discard rate of 48% in the region, with gillnets and longlines each having a discard rate of 28%, and handline having a discard rate of 8% (most of which is undersized cod).

The NEFMC manages the groundfish fishery through a collecve Fishery Management Plan (FMP) that covers 20 stocks from 13 species. Grouping species together allows NEFMC to manage these mixed fisheries more effecvely than if individual species FMPs were used. Because of the historical exploitaon that the stocks have been exposed to, a number of stocks are depleted or in a state of rebuilding. NEFMC has recently introduced a new management system that should improve the rate of recovery of stocks. There is a considerable effort to collect data in these fisheries through logbooks and observer coverage; the data (along with fishery- independent data) guide stock assessments. NEFMC take into account the scienfic informaon provided by stock assessments on the majority of occasions; however, in some instances, total allowable catches (TACs) have been set too high in response to social and economic need. There are a number of regulaons in place that require fisheries managers to reduce the impacts of fishing acvies on nontarget populaons. Reporng of bycatch creates an incenve for reducon efforts while providing data for scienfic research and stock assessments. The observer program provides considerable data to aid in stock assessments of target and bycatch species. Enforcement is generally good, but enforcement of regulaons concerning the use of pingers in gillnet fisheries could be improved. The majority of the groundfish fishery takes place in water less than 100 m deep over sand and sand-silt habitats; gravel habitats affected by the fishery occur in waters less than 60 m deep. Habitat impacts are a moderate conservaon concern for boom trawl fisheries, a low conservaon concern for boom gillnet and boom longline fisheries, and a very low concern for handline fisheries. There is a minimal level of migaon measures in place in the form of a number of permanent closed areas to protect essenal fish habitat from boom trawls, and in other temporary and permanent closures that offer some protecon from all gears (but these are not designated specifically for habitat protecon and may not protect the most vulnerable of habitats). Ecosystem-based management is currently being developed for the groundfish fishery in the Northwest Atlanc and this process is expected to take a minimum of 5 years. Management of the ecosystem in this region is a moderate conservaon concern.

5 Final Seafood Recommendaons CRITERION CRITERION 2: 1: IMPACTS IMPACTS ON CRITERION 3: CRITERION 4: ON THE OTHER MANAGEMENT HABITAT AND OVERALL SPECIES/FISHERY SPECIES SPECIES EFFECTIVENESS ECOSYSTEM RECOMMENDATION Atlanc cod Red (1.414) Red (1.272) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (2.598) Avoid (1.935) United States Georges Bank, Large mesh boom trawl Atlanc cod Red (1.414) Red (1.272) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (2.598) Avoid (1.935) United States Gulf of Maine, Large mesh boom trawl Haddock Green Red (1.272) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (2.598) Good Alternave United States (5.000) (2.653) Georges Bank, Large mesh boom trawl Haddock Green Red (1.272) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (2.598) Good Alternave United States Gulf (3.831) (2.482) of Maine, Large mesh boom trawl Atlanc pollock Green Red (1.272) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (2.598) Good Alternave United States (4.284) (2.553) Georges Bank, Large mesh boom trawl Atlanc cod Red (1.414) Red (0.950) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (3.122) Avoid (1.883) United States Gulf of Maine, Large mesh boom gillnet Atlanc pollock Green Red (0.950) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (3.122) Good Alternave United States (4.284) (2.484) Georges Bank, Large mesh boom gillnet Atlanc cod Red (1.414) Red (0.950) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (3.122) Avoid (1.883) United States Georges Bank, Large mesh boom gillnet

6 Atlanc cod Red (1.414) Green (5.000) Yellow (3.000) Green (3.571) Good Alternave United States (2.950) Georges Bank, Handline Atlanc cod Red (1.414) Green (3.831) Yellow (3.000) Green (3.571) Good Alternave United States Gulf (2.760) of Maine, Handline Haddock Green Red (1.414) Yellow (3.000) Green (3.571) Good Alternave United States (5.000) (2.950) Georges Bank, Handline Haddock Green Red (1.414) Yellow (3.000) Green (3.571) Good Alternave United States Gulf (3.831) (2.760) of Maine, Handline Atlanc cod Red (1.414) Red (1.449) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (3.122) Avoid (2.093) United States Georges Bank, Boom longlines Atlanc cod Red (1.414) Red (1.449) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (3.122) Avoid (2.093) United States Gulf of Maine, Boom longlines Haddock Green Red (1.343) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (3.122) Good Alternave United States (5.000) (2.816) Georges Bank, Boom longlines Haddock Green Red (1.343) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (3.122) Good Alternave United States Gulf (3.831) (2.634) of Maine, Boom longlines Atlanc pollock Green Red (0.950) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (3.122) Good Alternave United States Gulf (4.284) (2.484) of Maine, Large mesh boom gillnet Atlanc pollock Green Red (1.272) Yellow (3.000) Yellow (2.598) Good Alternave United States Gulf (4.284) (2.553) of Maine, Large mesh boom trawl

7 Summary Handline ﬁsheries for cod and haddock from Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine are considered a GOOD ALTERNATIVE, due in part to the selecve nature of the ﬁshing gear. Haddock and pollock caught in the Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine regions with all gears are considered a GOOD ALTERNATIVE as stocks are healthy but there are moderate to high concerns over bycatch of other species. Cod caught from Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine using boom trawls, boom gillnets, and boom longlines receive an AVOID recommendaon due to concerns of the target stock and bycatch species.

Eco-Cerficaon Informaon The US Acadian redfish, haddock and pollock oer trawl fishery was cerfied as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council in July 2016.

Scoring Guide Scores range from zero to five where zero indicates very poor performance and five indicates the fishing operaons have no significant impact. Final Score = geometric mean of the four Scores (Criterion 1, Criterion 2, Criterion 3, Criterion 4). Best Choice/Green = Final Score >3.2, and no Red Criteria, and no Crical scores Good Alternave/Yellow = Final score >2.2-3.2, and neither Harvest Strategy (Factor 3.1) nor Bycatch Management Strategy (Factor 3.2) are Very High Concern2, and no more than one Red Criterion, and no Crical scores Avoid/Red = Final Score ≤2.2, or either Harvest Strategy (Factor 3.1) or Bycatch Management Strategy (Factor 3.2) is Very High Concern or two or more Red Criteria, or one or more Crical scores.

2 Because effecve management is an essenal component of sustainable fisheries, Seafood Watch issues an Avoid recommendaon for any fishery scored as a Very High Concern for either factor under Management (Criterion 3).

8 Introducon

Scope of the analysis and ensuing recommendaon The following Seafood Watch report provides recommendaons for Atlanc cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and pollock (Pollachius virens) caught in the Northwest Atlanc by U.S fishing vessels. The three species are caught in mixed fisheries using a variety of methods including boom trawls, sink gillnets, boom longlines, and rod and line that will be covered by this report. Recommendaons are provided for the gears that catch a significant volume of each species or offer a more sustainable opon (see Table 1).

Species Overview Atlanc cod is widely distributed throughout the North Atlanc and the Arcc Oceans. In the Northwest Atlanc, it can be found from Cape Haeras, North Carolina to Greenland. It is found to depths of 600 m, although typically it inhabits depths of less than 200 m (Froese & Pauly 2012). Atlanc cod is an extremely important commercial species that has been targeted throughout its range for many years, making it culturally and socially signiﬁcant.

Haddock is found in both the Northwest and Northeast Atlanc in water temperatures between 4°C and 10°C. In the Northwest Atlanc, it is found between Cape May, New Jersey and the Strait of Belle Isle, Newfoundland. Typically found at depths between 10 m and 200 m, it is demersal, living above rocky, sand, gravel, or shell-based seabeds and feeding on crustaceans, echinoderms, mollusks, worms, and fish (Froese & Pauly 2012). Pollock is closely related to both cod and haddock and is part of the Gadoid family of fish. It is found throughout a range similar to both cod and haddock: throughout the coastal and connental shelf region of the North Atlanc. In the Northwest Atlanc, it ranges from Greenland to North Carolina, in both inshore and offshore areas, typically forming shoals (Froese & Pauly 2012).

The groundfish fishery in New England has been in existence for 400 years and provided the first major industry for early selers in this region, with a number of associated businesses arising to support the fishing industry. Thus the groundfish fishery of New England is of great social and economic importance to the local communies. Over the centuries, capture methods have changed dramacally with improvements in technology and efficiency of the fishery. As a result of the increased efficiency, overfishing occurred, resulng in the depleon of many of the Northwest Atlanc groundfish stocks. Concerns with overfishing were raised in the early 1900s, and in the 1930s the overcapacity of the industry became evident (NEFSC website). The introducon of factory trawlers in the 1960s from overseas (including the USSR, Poland, Spain, and Japan) led to the virtual collapse of stocks of groundfish, some of which have yet to recover aer connued fishing pressure through the 1980s and 1990s. In recent years, fishers have been using more selecve fishing gears, parcularly in the trawl fishery, where separator trawls and Ruhle trawls have been developed and adopted to reduce bycatch and discarding of nontarget and/or low abundance species. Because of quota restricons on low abundance species, fishers have also started to target more abundant species and stocks, such as haddock and redfish.

The U.S. fisheries that target the above species are managed by the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) under the Northeast Mulspecies Fishery Management Plan (NE Mulspecies FMP; "the plan"), which was enacted in 1986. Since its incepon, it has been amended several mes to account for changes in fishing acvity and abundance of the 20 stocks (13 different species) managed under the plan (NEFSC 2012a).

9 Producon Stascs Cod, haddock, and pollock are all globally important commercial species. In 2010, cod was the 10th-most landed species by volume, with a total of 950,950 MT. Global landings of pollock (ranked 26th) and haddock (27th) were 400,920 MT and 396,389 MT, respecvely (FAO 2012).

Landings of all three species from U.S. waters are currently below the 50-year average, although pollock landings are approaching this value. Figure 1 shows the trends in landings for the four species from U.S. vessels from 1950 to 2011. Landings for cod, haddock, and pollock have been ﬂuctuang between 3,000 MT and 10,000 MT since 2003. For cod, this represents the historical low, whereas pollock and haddock landings have increased from historical lows in the mid-1990s.

For the New England ﬁsheries discussed in this report, the breakdown of which gears are used to catch each of the species is summarized in Table 1 (recommendaons are provided for the species-gear combinaons that are shown in bold).

Figure 1: Landings of Atlanc cod, haddock, and pollock from U.S vessels between 1950 and 2011. Compiled from NMFS landings data, with landings shown in metric tons.

Importance to the US/North American market. All three species of groundﬁsh considered in this report are imported into the U.S. In 2010, 17,570 MT of Atlanc cod (with a value of $97.2 million), 34,636 MT of haddock ($151.1 million), and 5,432 MT of pollock ($1.3 million) were imported into the U.S. Figure 2 shows the sources of the imports, and it is clear that the main countries of importance are Canada, Iceland, and China, with Norway being an important source of haddock. It should be noted that imports from China are likely caught in other countries (including the U.S.) and sent to China for processing before being imported to the U.S. markets. There is confusion over the original source of cod from China, and there are concerns over the volume of Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported landings (IUU) ﬁsh entering Chinese (and other Asian) processors (Album 2010).

10 Export data are harder to analyze because they are generally grouped into similar species; e.g., both Atlanc and Paciﬁc cod are grouped together. Data from the NOAA Oﬃce of Science and Technology (website) show that, in 2010, a total of 692 MT of haddock and 726 MT of pollock were exported from the U.S., with values of $3 million and $1.3 million, respecvely. It is interesng to noce that the value of pollock imports is equal to the value of exports, whereas imports of cod and haddock are much higher than exports—illustrang the importance of these laer species to U.S. consumers.

Figure 2 Source of imports for Atlanc cod into the U.S in 2010. From data obtained from NOAA Office of Science and Technology. NOTE: Only data which was species specific was included in this comparison, unknown or unspecified species were not included.

11 Figure 3 Source of imports for haddock into the U.S in 2010. From data obtained from NOAA Office of Science and Technology. NOTE: Only data which was species specific was included in this comparison, unknown or unspecified species were not included.

12 Figure 4 Source of imports for pollock into the U.S in 2010. From data obtained from NOAA Office of Science and Technology. NOTE: Only data which was species specific was included in this comparison, unknown or unspecified species were not included.

Common and market names. Atlanc cod is generally labeled simply as cod, but is also known as true-cod, and smaller cod is referred to as scrod.

Haddock is marketed as haddock, and smaller haddock is also known as scrod.

Pollock is the only known common name in use in the United States; however, this species is referred to as saithe or coley in Europe, where a closely related species, Pollachius pollachius, is given the name pollack. This species should not be confused with walleye (Alaskan) pollock, which is caught in the Paciﬁc.

All the species considered in this report can be found under the name whitefish, a generic term used for firm, white-fleshed fish.

Primary product forms Cod, haddock, and pollock from the New England region are primarily available fresh in the form of whole ﬁsh and ﬁllets.

Other forms of cod, haddock, and pollock that may be available on the market include frozen ﬁllets, breaded/baered, smoked, salted, or block (typically used for ﬁsh scks, etc.).

13 Assessment This secon assesses the sustainability of the ﬁshery(s) relave to the Seafood Watch Criteria for Fisheries, available at hp://www.seafoodwatch.org.

Criterion 1: Impacts on the species under assessment This criterion evaluates the impact of fishing mortality on the species, given its current abundance. The inherent vulnerability to fishing rang influences how abundance is scored, when abundance is unknown. The final Criterion 1 score is determined by taking the geometric mean of the abundance and fishing mortality scores. The Criterion 1 rang is determined as follows: Score >3.2=Green or Low Concern Score >2.2 and ≤3.2=Yellow or Moderate Concern Score ≤2.2=Red or High Concern

Rang is Crical if Factor 1.3 (Fishing Mortality) is Crical

Criterion 1 Summary

ATLANTIC COD Inherent Fishing Region / Method Vulnerability Abundance Mortality Score United States/Georges Bank Large mesh 1.00: High 2.00: High 1.00: High Red boom trawl Concern Concern (1.414) United States/Gulf of Maine Large mesh 1.00: High 2.00: High 1.00: High Red boom trawl Concern Concern (1.414) United States/Gulf of Maine Large mesh 1.00: High 2.00: High 1.00: High Red boom gillnet Concern Concern (1.414) United States/Georges Bank Large mesh 1.00: High 2.00: High 1.00: High Red boom gillnet Concern Concern (1.414) United States/Georges Bank Handline 1.00: High 2.00: High 1.00: High Red Concern Concern (1.414) United States/Gulf of Maine Handline 1.00: High 2.00: High 1.00: High Red Concern Concern (1.414) United States/Georges Bank Boom 1.00: High 2.00: High 1.00: High Red longlines Concern Concern (1.414) United States/Gulf of Maine Boom 1.00: High 2.00: High 1.00: High Red longlines Concern Concern (1.414)

ATLANTIC POLLOCK Inherent Fishing Region / Method Vulnerability Abundance Mortality Score United States/Georges Bank Large mesh 1.00: High 5.00: Very Low 3.67: Low Green boom trawl Concern Concern (4.284)

14 United States/Georges Bank Large mesh 1.00: High 5.00: Very Low 3.67: Low Green boom gillnet Concern Concern (4.284) United States/Gulf of Maine Large mesh 1.00: High 5.00: Very Low 3.67: Low Green boom gillnet Concern Concern (4.284) United States/Gulf of Maine Large mesh 1.00: High 5.00: Very Low 3.67: Low Green boom trawl Concern Concern (4.284)

HADDOCK Inherent Region / Method Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Score United States/Georges Bank Large mesh 2.00: Medium 5.00: Very Low 5.00: Very Low Green boom trawl Concern Concern (5.000) United States/Gulf of Maine Large mesh 2.00: Medium 4.00: Low 3.67: Low Green boom trawl Concern Concern (3.831) United States/Georges Bank Handline 2.00: Medium 5.00: Very Low 5.00: Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) United States/Gulf of Maine Handline 2.00: Medium 4.00: Low 3.67: Low Green Concern Concern (3.831) United States/Georges Bank Boom 2.00: Medium 5.00: Very Low 5.00: Very Low Green longlines Concern Concern (5.000) United States/Gulf of Maine Boom 2.00: Medium 4.00: Low 3.67: Low Green longlines Concern Concern (3.831)

Criterion 1 Assessment SCORING GUIDELINES

Factor 1.1 - Inherent Vulnerability Low—The FishBase vulnerability score for species is 0-35, OR species exhibits life history characteriscs that make it resilient to fishing, (e.g., early maturing). Medium—The FishBase vulnerability score for species is 36-55, OR species exhibits life history characteriscs that make it neither parcularly vulnerable nor resilient to fishing, (e.g., moderate age at sexual maturity (5-15 years), moderate maximum age (10-25 years), moderate maximum size, and middle of food chain). High—The FishBase vulnerability score for species is 56-100, OR species exhibits life history characteriscs that make is parcularly vulnerable to fishing, (e.g., long-lived (>25 years), late maturing (>15 years), low reproducon rate, large body size, and top-predator). Note: The FishBase vulnerability scores is an index of the inherent vulnerability of marine fishes to fishing based on life history parameters: maximum length, age at first maturity, longevity, growth rate, natural mortality rate, fecundity, spaal behaviors (e.g., schooling, aggregang for breeding, or consistently returning to the same sites for feeding or reproducon) and

15 geographic range.

Factor 1.2 - Abundance 5 (Very Low Concern)—Strong evidence exists that the populaon is above target abundance level (e.g., biomass at maximum sustainable yield, BMSY) or near virgin biomass. 4 (Low Concern)—Populaon may be below target abundance level, but it is considered not overfished 3 (Moderate Concern) —Abundance level is unknown and the species has a low or medium inherent vulnerability to fishing. 2 (High Concern)—Populaon is overfished, depleted, or a species of concern, OR abundance is unknown and the species has a high inherent vulnerability to fishing. 1 (Very High Concern)—Populaon is listed as threatened or endangered.

Factor 1.3 - Fishing Mortality 5 (Very Low Concern)—Highly likely that fishing mortality is below a sustainable level (e.g., below fishing mortality at maximum sustainable yield, FMSY), OR fishery does not target species and its contribuon to the mortality of species is negligible (≤ 5% of a sustainable level of fishing mortality). 3.67 (Low Concern)—Probable (>50%) chance that fishing mortality is at or below a sustainable level, but some uncertainty exists, OR fishery does not target species and does not adversely affect species, but its contribuon to mortality is not negligible, OR fishing mortality is unknown, but the populaon is healthy and the species has a low suscepbility to the fishery (low chance of being caught). 2.33 (Moderate Concern)—Fishing mortality is fluctuang around sustainable levels, OR fishing mortality is unknown and species has a moderate-high suscepbility to the fishery and, if species is depleted, reasonable management is in place. 1 (High Concern)—Overfishing is occurring, but management is in place to curtail overfishing, OR fishing mortality is unknown, species is depleted, and no management is in place. 0 (Crical)—Overfishing is known to be occurring and no reasonable management is in place to curtail overfishing.

ATLANTIC COD

Factor 1.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES High The FishBase vulnerability score for Atlanc cod is 65 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

16 Factor 1.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES High Concern The Georges Bank cod populaon had an esmated spawning stock biomass (SSB) of 13,216 MT (following retrospecve paern adjustment), which is only 7% of that maximum sustainable yield, SSBMSY (186,535 MT) (NEFSC 2013a). This results in a score of "high" concern. Raonale: Biomass declined from 96,864 MT in 1980 to 19,220 MT in 1995 (Figure 5). Aer a brief increase in the late 1990s that peaked at 25,624 MT in 2001, biomass declined to a historic low of 10,121 MT in 2010. The biomass has since increased; however, it is sll well below threshold values, and rebuilding is minimal (NEFSC 2013a). Recruitment (age 1 ﬁsh) has been below the series average (13.6 million ﬁsh) for the last two decades and has not exceeded the long-term mean since 1991 (NEFSC 2013a). Considering the current trend in low recruitment, it is unlikely that rebuilding of this stock will occur in the short to medium term.

Figure 5: Spawning stock biomass and recruitment for Georges Bank Atlanc cod between 1978 and 2011. Dashed line represents SSBTHRESHO L D (½SSBMSY) at 93,268mt. Adapted from NEFSC 2013.

UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES High Concern The Gulf of Maine cod populaon is esmated to be below the threshold spawning stock biomass, SSBTHRESHOLD (NEFSC 2013a). This results in a score of "high" concern. Raonale:

17 The most recent stock assessment of Gulf of Maine cod used two diﬀerent models to esmate the biomass of the stock. The M0.2 model esmated a SSB2011 of 9,903 MT, compared to a SSBTHRESHOLD of 27,372 MT; the MRAMP model esmated a SSB2011 of 10,221 MT, compared to a SSBTHRESHOLD of 40,100 MT (NEFSC 2013a). Both models show that the biomass is well below threshold targets (Figure 6) and remains in an overﬁshed state. Recruitment has declined in recent years and in both models is at a historical low (NEFSC 2013a).

Figure 6: Esmated trends in spawning stock biomass of Gulf of Maine Atlanc cod between 1982 and 2011 as predicted by M0.2 and M RAMP models. Threshold targets, SSBTHRESHOLD , (1/2 SSB MSY ) are shown for each model. From NEFSC 2013.

Factor 1.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES High Concern Overfishing is occurring in the Georges Bank cod fisheries: total fishing mortality in 2011 was 0.43, compared to an FMSY of 0.18 (NEFSC 2013a). This results in a score of "high" concern. Raonale:

18 The Georges Bank cod fisheries have failed to meet the FREBUILD target set at 0.18 in Amendment 13 of the New England Mulspecies Fishery Management Plan (NE Mul FMP) (NEFMC 2004). Management has failed to effecvely reduce fishing mortality to allow rebuilding of the Georges Bank cod stock. A new management system based on hard TACs and quotas (rather than the previous days at sea effort control) was introduced in 2010; however, FMSY PROXY was exceeded in 2010 and 2011, suggesng that quotas are too high. Cod is caught using large mesh oer trawls, large mesh gillnets, longline, and rod and reel, with each method contribung 55%, 36%, 3%, and 2% to landing volumes, respecvely. Because cod is a target species in each of these fisheries, all methods are considered to be contribung toward the overfishing.

There is overﬁshing occurring on the Gulf of Maine stock of Atlanc cod, because F2011 was above FMSY PROXY (NEFSC 2013a). This results in a score of "high" concern. Raonale:

Fishing mortality was esmated to be 0.86 or 0.90 by the M0.2 and MRAMP models, respecvely. Although this represents a decline from historical highs in the mid-1990s, it is sll 4.7 or 5.0 mes higher than the FMSY PROXY predicted by each model (NEFSC 2013a). The Gulf of Maine cod fisheries have failed to meet the target of F = 0.21 as set in Amendment 13 of the New England Mulspecies Fishery Management Plan (NE Mul FMP) (NEFMC 2004). Management has failed to effecvely reduce fishing mortality to allow rebuilding of the Gulf of Maine cod stock. A new management system based on hard TACs and quotas (rather than the previous days at sea effort control) was introduced in 2010; however, FMSY PROXY was exceeded in 2010 and 2011, which suggests that quotas are too high. Cod is caught using large mesh oer trawls, large mesh gillnets, longline, and rod and reel, with each method contribung 55%, 36%, 3%, and 2% to landing volumes, respecvely. Because cod is a target species in each of these fisheries, all methods are considered to be contribung toward the overfishing.

ATLANTIC POLLOCK

Factor 1.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High FishBase provides a vulnerability score of 61 for pollock (Froese & Pauly 2012).

19 Factor 1.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Very Low Concern The latest stock assessment for pollock in the Northwest Atlanc was conducted using 2009 data. That year's spawning stock biomass (SSB2009 ) was esmated to be 196,000 MT, which is above that maximum sustainable yield (SSBMSY ) of 91,000 MT (NEFSC 2010). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern.

Factor 1.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Low Concern

The most recent esmate of fishing mortality on the pollock stock was F2009 = 0.07, which is 28% of the FMSY of 0.25 (NEFSC 2012b). There may be some uncertainty in this esmate: without further understanding of the size-based selecvity of fishing gears, the current stock model implies the existence of a large biomass of pollock, accounng for 35%–70% of the total, which neither current surveys nor the fishery has been able to confirm (NEFSC 2010). This results in a score of "low" concern. Raonale: Pollock is caught using large mesh oer trawls and large mesh gillnets, with each gear contribung 56% and 39%, respecvely, to landing volumes.

HADDOCK

Factor 1.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Medium Fishbase provides a vulnerability score of 47 for haddock (Froese & Pauly 2016).

20 Factor 1.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES Very Low Concern

The 2010 spawning stock biomass, SSB2010 , for Georges Bank haddock was esmated to be 167,278 MT, which is above that maximum sustainable yield, SSBMSY , of 124,900 MT (NEFSC 2012a). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern.

Raonale: Spawning stock biomass peaked in 2007 at over 250,000 MT and has since decreased (Figure 7), although it is sll above biological reference points and is considered rebuilt. Short-term projecons predict a further increase in biomass between 2011 and 2015, ranging from 147,700 MT to 240,200 MT (NEFSC 2012a). One of the major factors in this projected increase is the strong 2010 year-class recruing to the ﬁshery, which was esmated to be 750 million age-1 ﬁsh (compared to an average of 19 million between 2000 and 2009). There is sll uncertainty over the size of this cohort; however, the projecons described have taken this uncertainty into account.

Figure 7: Spawning stock biomass of Georges Bank haddock between 1930 and 2010. Taken from NEFSC 2012a.

21 UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Low Concern

The spawning stock biomass of haddock in the Gulf of Maine in 2013, SSB2013, was 4,153 MT, which is 101% of the SSBMSY proxy of 4,108 MT (NEFSC 2014). This results in a score of "low" concern.

Factor 1.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES Very Low Concern

The Georges Bank haddock populaon is considered to be rebuilt and is being ﬁshed below the FMSY proxy of 0.39, at a level of 0.24 (NEFSC 2012a). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern. Raonale: Haddock is caught using rod and reel, large mesh oer trawls, and boom longlines, which contribute 1%, 89%, and 8%, respecvely, to landing volumes.

UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Low Concern

The Gulf of Maine haddock stock is not experiencing overﬁshing because F2013 was 0.39, compared to an FMSY proxy of 0.46 (NEFSC 2014). Fishing mortality is rated as a "low" concern because ﬁshing mortality is below FMSY.

22 Criterion 2: Impacts on other species All main retained and bycatch species in the fishery are evaluated in the same way as the species under assessment were evaluated in Criterion 1. Seafood Watch® defines bycatch as all fisheries-related mortality or injury to species other than the retained catch. Examples include discards, endangered or threatened species catch, and ghost fishing. To determine the final Criterion 2 score, the score for the lowest scoring retained/bycatch species is mulplied by the discard rate score (ranges from 0-1), which evaluates the amount of non-retained catch (discards) and bait use relave to the retained catch. The Criterion 2 rang is determined as follows: Score >3.2=Green or Low Concern Score >2.2 and ≤3.2=Yellow or Moderate Concern Score ≤2.2=Red or High Concern

Rang is Crical if Factor 2.3 (Fishing Mortality) is Crcal

Criterion 2 Summary Only the lowest scoring main species is/are listed in the table and text in this Criterion 2 secon; a full list and assessment of the main species can be found in Appendix B. ATLANTIC COD - UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK - BOTTOM LONGLINES Subscore: 1.526 Discard Rate: 0.95 C2 Rate: 1.449 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Barndoor skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Lile skate 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Haddock 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

23 ATLANTIC COD - UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK - HANDLINE Subscore: 5.000 Discard Rate: 1.00 C2 Rate: 5.000 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Haddock 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Scup 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

ATLANTIC COD - UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK - LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Subscore: 1.000 Discard Rate: 0.95 C2 Rate: 0.950 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Humpback whale: Gulf of 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 1.00:High Concern Red (1.000) Maine Concern North atlanc right 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 1.00:High Concern Red (1.000) whale: Western North Concern Atlanc Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Fin whale: Western North 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 3.67:Low Concern Red (1.916) Atlanc Concern Harbor porpoise: Gulf of 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Maine/Bay of Fundy Concern Atlanc halibut 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Harbor seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow North Atlanc (2.709) Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Bolenose dolphin: 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Western North Atlanc, Concern (3.162) oﬀshore Atlanc white-sided 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Risso's dolphin: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162)

24 Short-beaked common 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Harp seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Hooded seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Gray seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Barndoor skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Atlanc pollock 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Acadian redﬁsh 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

ATLANTIC COD - UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK - LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Subscore: 1.414 Discard Rate: 0.90 C2 Rate: 1.272 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Yellowtail flounder: 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Georges Bank Winter flounder: Georges 3.00:Low 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Bank Witch flounder 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Summer flounder 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (2.000) Ocean pout 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern

25 Atlanc halibut 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Atlanc white-sided 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow dolphin: Western North (2.709) Atlanc Long-ﬁnned pilot whale 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow (2.709) Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Harbor seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Short-beaked common 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Minke whale: Canadian 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow east coast Concern (3.162) Harp seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Harbor porpoise: Gulf of 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Maine/Bay of Fundy Concern (3.162) Gray seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) White hake 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Monkﬁsh 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Lile skate 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Atlanc pollock 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) American plaice 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 5.00:Very Low Green Concern (4.472)

26 Acadian redﬁsh 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Haddock 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Scup 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

ATLANTIC COD - UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE - BOTTOM LONGLINES Subscore: 1.526 Discard Rate: 0.95 C2 Rate: 1.449 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Haddock 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Barndoor skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Lile skate 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

ATLANTIC COD - UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE - HANDLINE Subscore: 3.831 Discard Rate: 1.00 C2 Rate: 3.831 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Haddock 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Scup 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

27 ATLANTIC COD - UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE - LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Subscore: 1.000 Discard Rate: 0.95 C2 Rate: 0.950 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Humpback whale: Gulf of 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 1.00:High Concern Red (1.000) Maine Concern North atlanc right 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 1.00:High Concern Red (1.000) whale: Western North Concern Atlanc Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Fin whale: Western North 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 3.67:Low Concern Red (1.916) Atlanc Concern Atlanc halibut 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Harbor porpoise: Gulf of 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Maine/Bay of Fundy Concern Harbor seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow North Atlanc (2.709) Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Atlanc white-sided 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Bolenose dolphin: 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Western North Atlanc, Concern (3.162) oﬀshore Gray seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Harp seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Hooded seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Risso's dolphin: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162)

28 Short-beaked common 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Barndoor skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Atlanc pollock 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Acadian redﬁsh 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

ATLANTIC COD - UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE - LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Subscore: 1.414 Discard Rate: 0.90 C2 Rate: 1.272 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Yellowtail flounder: Cape 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Cod/ Gulf of Maine Witch flounder 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Summer flounder 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (2.000) Atlanc halibut 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Ocean pout 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Atlanc white-sided 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow dolphin: Western North (2.709) Atlanc Long-finned pilot whale 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow (2.709) Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053)

29 Gray seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Harbor seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Harp seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Minke whale: Canadian 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow east coast Concern (3.162) Short-beaked common 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Harbor porpoise: Gulf of 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Maine/Bay of Fundy Concern (3.162) Winter flounder: Gulf of 3.00:Low 3.00:Moderate 3.67:Low Concern Green Maine Concern (3.318) Haddock 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Barndoor skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) White hake 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Monkfish 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Atlanc pollock 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Lile skate 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) American plaice 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 5.00:Very Low Green Concern (4.472) Acadian redfish 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

30 Scup 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

ATLANTIC POLLOCK - UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK - LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Subscore: 1.000 Discard Rate: 0.95 C2 Rate: 0.950 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Humpback whale: Gulf of 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 1.00:High Concern Red (1.000) Maine Concern North atlanc right 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 1.00:High Concern Red (1.000) whale: Western North Concern Atlanc Atlanc cod 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Fin whale: Western North 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 3.67:Low Concern Red (1.916) Atlanc Concern Harbor porpoise: Gulf of 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Maine/Bay of Fundy Concern Atlanc halibut 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Harbor seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow North Atlanc (2.709) Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Bolenose dolphin: 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Western North Atlanc, Concern (3.162) oﬀshore Atlanc white-sided 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Risso's dolphin: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Short-beaked common 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Harp seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162)

31 Hooded seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Gray seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Barndoor skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Acadian redﬁsh 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

ATLANTIC POLLOCK - UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK - LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Subscore: 1.414 Discard Rate: 0.90 C2 Rate: 1.272 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Atlanc cod 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Yellowtail flounder: 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Georges Bank Winter flounder: Georges 3.00:Low 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Bank Witch flounder 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Summer flounder 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (2.000) Ocean pout 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Atlanc halibut 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Atlanc white-sided 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow dolphin: Western North (2.709) Atlanc

32 Long-finned pilot whale 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow (2.709) Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Harbor seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Short-beaked common 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Minke whale: Canadian 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow east coast Concern (3.162) Harp seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Harbor porpoise: Gulf of 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Maine/Bay of Fundy Concern (3.162) Gray seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) White hake 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Monkfish 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Lile skate 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) American plaice 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 5.00:Very Low Green Concern (4.472) Acadian redfish 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Haddock 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Scup 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

33 ATLANTIC POLLOCK - UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE - LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Subscore: 1.000 Discard Rate: 0.95 C2 Rate: 0.950 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Humpback whale: Gulf of 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 1.00:High Concern Red (1.000) Maine Concern North atlanc right 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 1.00:High Concern Red (1.000) whale: Western North Concern Atlanc Atlanc cod 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Fin whale: Western North 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 3.67:Low Concern Red (1.916) Atlanc Concern Atlanc halibut 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Harbor porpoise: Gulf of 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Maine/Bay of Fundy Concern Harbor seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow North Atlanc (2.709) Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Atlanc white-sided 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Bolenose dolphin: 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Western North Atlanc, Concern (3.162) oﬀshore Gray seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Harp seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Hooded seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Risso's dolphin: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Short-beaked common 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc

34 Barndoor skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Acadian redﬁsh 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

ATLANTIC POLLOCK - UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE - LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Subscore: 1.414 Discard Rate: 0.90 C2 Rate: 1.272 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Atlanc cod 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Yellowtail flounder: Cape 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Cod/ Gulf of Maine Witch flounder 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Summer flounder 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (2.000) Atlanc halibut 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Ocean pout 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Atlanc white-sided 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow dolphin: Western North (2.709) Atlanc Long-finned pilot whale 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow (2.709) Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Gray seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162)

35 Harbor seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Harp seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Minke whale: Canadian 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow east coast Concern (3.162) Short-beaked common 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Harbor porpoise: Gulf of 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Maine/Bay of Fundy Concern (3.162) Winter flounder: Gulf of 3.00:Low 3.00:Moderate 3.67:Low Concern Green Maine Concern (3.318) Haddock 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Barndoor skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) White hake 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Monkfish 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Lile skate 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) American plaice 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 5.00:Very Low Green Concern (4.472) Acadian redfish 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Scup 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

HADDOCK - UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK - BOTTOM LONGLINES Subscore: 1.414 Discard Rate: 0.95 C2 Rate: 1.343

36 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Atlanc cod 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Barndoor skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Lile skate 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

HADDOCK - UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK - HANDLINE Subscore: 1.414 Discard Rate: 1.00 C2 Rate: 1.414 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Atlanc cod 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Scup 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

HADDOCK - UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK - LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Subscore: 1.414 Discard Rate: 0.90 C2 Rate: 1.272 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Atlanc cod 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Yellowtail flounder: 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Georges Bank Winter flounder: Georges 3.00:Low 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Bank Witch flounder 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414)

37 Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Summer flounder 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (2.000) Ocean pout 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Atlanc halibut 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Atlanc white-sided 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow dolphin: Western North (2.709) Atlanc Long-finned pilot whale 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow (2.709) Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Harbor seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Short-beaked common 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc Minke whale: Canadian 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow east coast Concern (3.162) Harp seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Harbor porpoise: Gulf of 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Maine/Bay of Fundy Concern (3.162) Gray seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) White hake 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Monkfish 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Lile skate 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284)

38 Atlanc pollock 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) American plaice 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 5.00:Very Low Green Concern (4.472) Acadian redﬁsh 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Scup 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

HADDOCK - UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE - BOTTOM LONGLINES Subscore: 1.414 Discard Rate: 0.95 C2 Rate: 1.343 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Atlanc cod 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Barndoor skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Lile skate 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

HADDOCK - UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE - HANDLINE Subscore: 1.414 Discard Rate: 1.00 C2 Rate: 1.414 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Atlanc cod 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414)

39 Spiny dogﬁsh 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Scup 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

HADDOCK - UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE - LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Subscore: 1.414 Discard Rate: 0.90 C2 Rate: 1.272 Species Inherent Vulnerability Abundance Fishing Mortality Subscore Atlanc cod 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Yellowtail flounder: Cape 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Cod/ Gulf of Maine Witch flounder 2.00:Medium 2.00:High Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (1.414) Thorny skate 1.00:High 1.00:Very High 2.33:Moderate Red (1.526) Concern Concern Summer flounder 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 1.00:High Concern Red (2.000) Atlanc halibut 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Ocean pout 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 2.33:Moderate Red (2.159) Concern Atlanc white-sided 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow dolphin: Western North (2.709) Atlanc Long-finned pilot whale 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 3.67:Low Concern Yellow (2.709) Winter skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 2.33:Moderate Yellow Concern (3.053) Gray seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Harbor seal: Western 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow North Atlanc Concern (3.162) Harp seal: Western North 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Atlanc Concern (3.162) Minke whale: Canadian 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow east coast Concern (3.162) Short-beaked common 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow dolphin: Western North Concern (3.162) Atlanc

40 Harbor porpoise: Gulf of 1.00:High 2.00:High Concern 5.00:Very Low Yellow Maine/Bay of Fundy Concern (3.162) Winter flounder: Gulf of 3.00:Low 3.00:Moderate 3.67:Low Concern Green Maine Concern (3.318) Barndoor skate 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Rosee skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Smooth skate 2.00:Medium 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) White hake 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Monkfish 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 3.67:Low Concern Green (3.831) Atlanc pollock 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Clearnose skate 1.00:High 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) Lile skate 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 3.67:Low Concern Green Concern (4.284) American plaice 1.00:High 4.00:Low Concern 5.00:Very Low Green Concern (4.472) Acadian redfish 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000) Scup 2.00:Medium 5.00:Very Low 5.00:Very Low Green Concern Concern (5.000)

Discards and landings of skates for the large mesh gillnet fishery are much lower than for the large mesh oer trawl and extra-large mesh gillnet fisheries (not considered in this report) {NMFS 2011b}. But skate landings and discards are not separated by species, so the impact of the large mesh gillnet fishery cannot be determined precisely. Therefore, it has been scored alongside the large mesh oer trawl fishery for the purposes of this report. Skate species are not separated in the naonal bycatch report, so the discard rate must be considered collecvely. Discards of the skate complex are equivalent to 27.5% of trawl landings and 6.5% of longline landings by weight {NMFS 2011b}.

Criterion 2 Assessment SCORING GUIDELINES

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability (same as Factor 1.1 above)

41 Factor 2.2 - Abundance (same as Factor 1.2 above)

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality (same as Factor 1.3 above)

Yellowtail ﬂounder: Cape Cod/ Gulf of Maine

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Medium Yellowtail ﬂounder has a FishBase vulnerability score of 37 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance

UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern The most recent assessment of Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine yellowtail ﬂounder was published in 2012, and it indicated that SSB2010 = 1,680 MT and SSBMSY proxy = 7,080 MT, so the stock was considered overﬁshed, with B2010 /B MSY = 0.237 (Figure 10) (NEFSC 2012a). This results in a score of "high" concern. Raonale:

42 Figure 8. Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine yellowtail flounder spawning stock biomass (SSB) and fishing mortality (F) esmates during 1985-2007, from GARM III assessment in 2008 (blue circles), along with 80% confidence intervals for 2007 esmates. Projected SSB and F with 80% confidence intervals are shown with open squares. Figure from data in NEFSC 2012a.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality

UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern

The most recent assessment of Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine yellowtail flounder indicated that F2010 = 0.36 and FMSY = 0.26, so F2007 /F MSY = 1.38 and overfishing was occurring (NEFSC 2012a). But fishing mortality had been declining since 2004 and was at its lowest point in the me series (NEFSC 2008) (NEFSC 2012a). The stock is currently in year 8 of its 19-year rebuilding plan (NMFS 2012c). Between 1994 and 2010, discards (across all gear types) averaged 17% of total landings (NEFSC 2012a). We have scored this as "high" concern. Raonale:

43 Amendment 16 to the NE Mulspecies FMP adopted a broad suite of management measures to achieve fishing mortality targets. To accomplish the reducon in fishing mortality, the amendment will expand the use of sectors that have their catch limited by a quota and implemented Accountability Measures (AMs) to prevent overfishing. In parcular, these AMs include differenal Days-At-Sea (DAS) counng to correct for over- or under-harvesng, and a transion in 2012 from an effort control fishery to one managed through hard TACs (total allowable catch). In addion, this amendment will implement new requirements for establishing allowable biological catch (ABC), annual catch limits (ACLs), and AMs for the stocks managed under the FMP (Federal Register 2010).

Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate

UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL 40-60% Discards from the large mesh oer trawl fishery largely consist of skate species and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). Skate species are believed to have a higher post-release survival rate than other fish species. A recent study revealed that the post-release mortality of the skate complex (species combined) was 19%, with the highest post-release mortality exhibited by smooth skate at 60% (Mandelman et al. 2013). Because of the uncertainty about which skate species are discarded during the groundfish fishery, a precauonary assumpon is made that they are all smooth skate; this results in an overall discard rate of 43%. Raonale: It is worth nong that, in recent years, fishers have been adopng more selecve gears in an aempt to reduce bycatch of non-target, low abundance species. Separator trawls and Ruhle trawls are designed to take advantage of the different behaviors of different species: catching species such as haddock that tend to swim upward and allowing the release of species that tend to swim down during capture, such as cod and flaish.

Yellowtail ﬂounder: Georges Bank

Factor 2.2 - Abundance

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern

The latest stock assessment by the Transboundary Resources Assessment Commiee revealed that SSB2011 was 4,600 MT, which is below the target reference point, SSBMSY = 43,200 MT (TRAC 2012). Biomass has been below SSB MSYfor the enre me series (Figure 9). This is scored as "high" concern. Raonale:

44 Figure 9.Georges Bank yellowtail flounder spawning stock biomass and fishing mortality (F) esmates during 1973-2010, from 2011 TRAC assessment, along with 80% confidence intervals for 2010 esmates (Figure from data in NEFSC 2012a).

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern

The fishing mortality reference point, FREF = 0.25, has been exceeded throughout the meseries and is currently esmated at F2011 = 0.31; however, if current retrospecve trends connue, this is expected to increase to 0.62 (TRAC 2012). Discards are esmated to be 20% of the landed volume, coming mainly from the trawl fishery and the scallop dredge fishery. We have scored this as "high" concern. Raonale:

45 Amendment 16 to the NE Mulspecies FMP adopted a broad suite of management measures to achieve fishing mortality targets. Specific to Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, the rebuilding plan was adjusted to meet rebuilding targets, with a probability of 50%, by 2032 (Federal Register 2012). To accomplish the reducon in fishing mortality, the amendment expanded the use of sectors that have their catch limited by a quota and implemented Accountability Measures (AMs) to prevent overfishing. In 2010, there was a transion from an effort control fishery to one managed through hard TACs (total allowable catch). In addion, this amendment will implement new requirements for establishing allowable biological catch (ABC), annual catch limits (ACLs), and AMs for the stocks managed under the FMP (Federal Register 2010).

Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL 40-60% Discards from the large mesh oer trawl fishery largely consist of skate species and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). Skate species are believed to have a higher post-release survival rate than other fish species. A recent study revealed that the post-release mortality of the skate complex (species combined) was 19%, with the highest post-release mortality exhibited by smooth skate at 60% (Mandelman et al. 2013). Because of the uncertainty about which skate species are discarded during the groundfish fishery, a precauonary assumpon is made that they are all smooth skate; this results in an overall discard rate of 43%. Raonale: It is worth nong that, in recent years, fishers have been adopng more selecve gears in an aempt to reduce bycatch of non-target, low abundance species. Separator trawls and Ruhle trawls are designed to take advantage of the different behaviors of different species: catching species such as haddock that tend to swim upward and allowing the release of species that tend to swim down during capture, such as cod and flaish.

Thorny skate

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES High Thorny skate has a FishBase vulnerability score of 59 (Froese & Pauly 2016).

46 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES

Very High Concern

B/BMSY = 0.03 (NMFS 2016); current abundance esmates are below the limit reference point and at historical lows. NMFS classifies the thorny skate stock as overfished (NMFS 2016). Thorny skate is considered “Crically Endangered” in U.S. waters by the IUCN Red List (globally, the species is listed as “Vulnerable”). Seafood Watch considers abundance of thorny skate to be a “very high” conservaon concern. Raonale: For thorny skate, the 3-year (2012–2014) average survey biomass of 0.13 kg/tow shows an increase on the previous 3-year average, but is only 3.1% of the BMSY target of 4.13 kg/tow. This stock is 12 years into the rebuilding period (end date of 2028), yet it connues to decline without any signs of rebuilding. To ensure that an overfished species will achieve target levels, skate regulaons require the Council to take management acon (e.g., priorizing research into thorny skate populaon dynamics, among the acons to halt the decline of thorny skate biomass) (Sosebee 2015). Thorny skate is currently a Species of Concern, but a new peon has been submied to the Endangered Species Act in May 2015 to have the species listed; it is currently being evaluated by NOAA (Sosebee 2015). Biomass reference points are based enrely on NEFSC survey data because reliable landings and discard informaon are not available by species. For all skate species but barndoor, the BMSY proxy is defined as the 75th percenle of the appropriate survey biomass index me series for that species (Brown et al. 2013).

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Moderate Concern The 2012–2014 index is higher than the 2011–2013 index by 8.7%, therefore NMFS states that overfishing is not occurring for thorny skate (Sosebee 2015). The use of a biomass index to determine fishing mortality results in a high level of uncertainty, and fishing mortality relave to maximum sustainable yield (MSY) is considered unknown. Annual catch limits are designed to prevent impacts of fishing from increasing to unsustainable levels, and all landings of thorny skate are prohibited (NEFMC 2011a). Nevertheless, together with the other skate species, thorny skate is frequently taken as bycatch and discarded by vessels targeng groundfish. As a result, oer trawling is the principal source of fishing mortality for all skates discussed in this report (Sosebee 2015). Seafood Watch considers fishing mortality to be a “moderate” conservaon concern. Raonale: The fishing mortality reference points for skates are based on changes in survey biomass indices. If the 3-year moving average of the survey biomass index for a skate species declines by more than the average coefficient of variaon (CV) of the survey me series, then fishing mortality is assumed to be greater than FMSY and overfishing is occurring for that skate species (Sosebee 2015).

47 Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL 40-60% Discards from the large mesh oer trawl fishery largely consist of skate species and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). Skate species are believed to have a higher post-release survival rate than other fish species. A recent study revealed that the post-release mortality of the skate complex (species combined) was 19%, with the highest post-release mortality exhibited by smooth skate at 60% (Mandelman et al. 2013). Because of the uncertainty about which skate species are discarded during the groundfish fishery, a precauonary assumpon is made that they are all smooth skate; this results in an overall discard rate of 43%. Raonale: It is worth nong that, in recent years, fishers have been adopng more selecve gears in an aempt to reduce bycatch of non-target, low abundance species. Separator trawls and Ruhle trawls are designed to take advantage of the different behaviors of different species: catching species such as haddock that tend to swim upward and allowing the release of species that tend to swim down during capture, such as cod and flaish.

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET 20-40% The main species discarded in the large mesh gillnet fishery is spiny dogfish (41.6% of total landings) (NMFS 2011b). Spiny dogfish has been shown to have a 55% overall mortality rate in gillnet fisheries (Rulifson 2007). Therefore, the overall discard rate was adjusted to account for the survival rate of spiny dogfish, resulng in an overall discard rate of 28%.

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES 20-40% The majority of discards from the longline fishery are skates and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). There is no post-release survival informaon for this fishery (although there are ongoing studies in this area), so a discard mortality of 100% is assumed. Smaller amounts of cod and haddock are also discarded in this fishery.

48 Winter ﬂounder: Georges Bank Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Low Winter ﬂounder (a.k.a. blackback) has a FishBase vulnerability score of 34 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern The observed esmated spawning stock biomass (SSB) in 2014 was 5,275 MT, which is 79% of the biomass target for an overfished stock (SSBMSY = 6,700, with a threshold of 50% of SSBMSY ) (NEFSC 2015d). But when the observed abundance is corrected for retrospecve error, an abundance esmate of 2,883 MT is found. This is 43% of SSBMSY , therefore the stock is in an overfished condion (NEFSC 2015d). Seafood Watch considers stock abundance to be a "high" conservaon concern for Georges Bank blackback. Raonale: The latest assessment of the Georges Bank blackback stock found that the 2014 SSB esmate, when adjusted for retrospecve error (83% for SSB), is outside the 90% confidence interval of the unadjusted 2014 point esmate (NEFSC 2015d). Therefore, the 2014 SSB value used in the stock status determinaon was the retrospecve-adjusted value of 2,883 MT (NEFSC 2015d), which is 43% of the biomass target (SSBMSY = 6,700) for an overfished stock. Therefore, the stock is considered to be overfished. As of December 31, 2015, NMFS listed Georges Bank blackback as “overfished” and rebuilding, in year 6 of a 7-year plan (NMFS 2015c). "Short-term projecons of biomass were derived by sampling from a cumulave distribuon funcon of recruitment esmates (1982--2013 YC) from the final run of the ADAPT VPA model. The annual fishery selecvity, maturity ogive, and mean weights-at-age used in the projecon are the most recent 5-year averages (2010--2014). An SSB retrospecve adjustment factor of 0.546 was applied in the projecons" (NEFSC 2015d).

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern The 2014 F point esmate, when adjusted for retrospecve error (–51%), is outside the 90% confidence interval of the unadjusted 2014 point esmate (NEFSC 2015d). Thus, the value used in the stock status determinaon was the adjusted value of F = 0.778, which is 145% of the overfishing threshold (FMSY = 0.536), and suggests that the stock is currently undergoing overfishing. Fishing mortality is scored as "high" concern (NEFSC 2015d). Raonale: The observed 2014 fully selected fishing mortality (F; fully selected ages [ages 4–6]) was esmated to be 0.379, which is 71% of the overfishing threshold (FMSY = 0.536) (NEFSC 2015d).

49 Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate

Scup

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE Medium The FishBase vulnerability score is 38 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE Very Low Concern

The 2011 spawning stock biomass, SSB2011 , was esmated to be 190,424 MT, which is above the maximum sustainable yield (SSBMSY ) of 92,044 MT (Terceiro 2012b). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern. Raonale: The most recent peer review of the scup stock assessment took place in 2008 when the Northeast Data Poor Stocks (DPS) Peer Review Panel accepted the use of an Age Structured Assessment Program (ASAP) as the basis of reference points and stock abundance esmaon. The model showed that overfishing was not occurring and that the stock was not overfished. Fishing mortality was esmated to have fallen rapidly since 1994 to F2007 = 0.054. With reduced fishing mortality and improved recruitment, SSB increased to 119,300 MT in 2007. Aer this 2008 stock assessment, NMFS declared the scup stock rebuilt in 2009 (Terceiro 2012b). Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate

50 Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE Very Low Concern

F2011 was esmated to be 0.034 which is below the reference point FMSY which is 0.177. Accurate esmates of scup discards are unavailable, but they are believed to exceed landings (Terceiro 2012b). Discards from the oer trawl ﬁshery are <1% of the weight of all species landed.

Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL 40-60% Discards from the large mesh oer trawl fishery largely consist of skate species and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). Skate species are believed to have a higher post-release survival rate than other fish species. A recent study revealed that the post-release mortality of the skate complex (species combined) was 19%, with the highest post-release mortality exhibited by smooth skate at 60% (Mandelman et al. 2013). Because of the uncertainty about which skate species are discarded during the groundfish fishery, a precauonary assumpon is made that they are all smooth skate; this results in an overall discard rate of 43%. Raonale: It is worth nong that, in recent years, fishers have been adopng more selecve gears in an aempt to reduce bycatch of non-target, low abundance species. Separator trawls and Ruhle trawls are designed to take advantage of the different behaviors of different species: catching species such as haddock that tend to swim upward and allowing the release of species that tend to swim down during capture, such as cod and flaish.

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE < 20% The only recorded discards in the handline ﬁshery were of Atlanc cod (NMFS 2011b). It is likely that these are regulatory discards of ﬁsh below the minimum landing size. Discarded cod are approximately 8% of the landed weight (NMFS 2011b). A recent stock assessment suggests that post-release mortality of cod can range between 20% and 80%, depending on the gear used (unfortunately, it did not provide an esmate for individual gear types) (NEFSC 2013a).

Humpback whale: Gulf of Maine Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability

51 UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

52 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET

Very High Concern The humpback whale is listed as endangered under the United States Endangered Species Act. This is scored as "very high" concern. Raonale: The best abundance esmate for humpback whale in the Gulf of Maine is 847 individuals, with a minimum populaon of 823 individuals (Waring et al. 2013a). The populaon in the Gulf of Maine is steadily increasing, which is consistent with an average increase in the wider North Atlanc populaon as a whole; however, the populaon may be below the opmum sustainable populaon (OSP) within the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) (Waring et al 2013a).

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET High Concern The average annual human-related mortality and serious injury rate exceeds the potenal biological removal (PBR) of 2.7 whales. Between 2009 and 2013, mortalies because of U.S. fisheries are esmated to be 9 per year (Waring et al. 2016). The contribuon of gillnet fisheries (the only fishery within the scope of this report with known interacons with humpback whales) is 6.5 whales per year (Waring et al. 2016). Fishing mortality is rated as a "high" concern because this is a strategic stock and listed as an endangered species.

Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET 20-40% The main species discarded in the large mesh gillnet fishery is spiny dogfish (41.6% of total landings) (NMFS 2011b). Spiny dogfish has been shown to have a 55% overall mortality rate in gillnet fisheries (Rulifson 2007). Therefore, the overall discard rate was adjusted to account for the survival rate of spiny dogfish, resulng in an overall discard rate of 28%.

53 North atlanc right whale: Western North Atlanc Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

54 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET

Very High Concern Current populaon esmates of North Atlanc right whale in the western North Atlanc suggest that there is a minimum of 476 individuals (Waring et al. 2016). It is believed that this is extremely low relave to the OSP. North Atlanc right whale is listed as "Endangered" under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) (Waring et al. 2016) and by the Internaonal Union for the Conservaon of Nature (IUCN). We have scored this factor as "very high" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET High Concern Between 2009 and 2013, there were 3.4 recorded average annual mortalies or serious injuries because of fishery interacons with North Atlanc right whales (Waring et al. 2016). Entanglements were not specific to a parcular fishery; however, 1.85 average annual mortalies or serious injuries occurred in the same region as the Northeast Sink Gillnet fishery. This rate of interacon is greater than the PBR of 1 whale per year. Between 2001 and 2006, there was one reported mortality associated with a gillnet, but it was not possible to determine which gillnet fishery was responsible. Fishing mortality is rated as a "high" concern because this is a strategic stock and listed as an endangered species.

Spiny dogﬁsh

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE High Inherent vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure is high, based on a FishBase vulnerability score of 69 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

55 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE Very Low Concern

The spiny dogﬁsh biomass in the Northwest Atlanc has been above the target, SSBMAX (159,288 MT) since 2008 and was esmated to be 169,415 MT in 2011 (Rago & Sosebee 2011). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE Very Low Concern Fishing mortality is below the target (F = 0.2439), with esmated fishing mortalies of 0.113 and 0.093 in 2009 and 2010, respecvely (Rago & Sosebee 2011). Dead discards in the oer trawl fishery were esmated at 2,782 MT (based on a 50% discard mortality rate) in 2010, and were 716 MT in gillnet fisheries in the same year (based on a 30% discard mortality rate) (Rago & Sosebee 2011). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern.

56 UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES 20-40% The majority of discards from the longline fishery are skates and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). There is no post-release survival informaon for this fishery (although there are ongoing studies in this area), so a discard mortality of 100% is assumed. Smaller amounts of cod and haddock are also discarded in this fishery.

Witch ﬂounder

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Medium Witch ﬂounder has a FishBase vulnerability score of 51 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern The most recent assessment of witch ﬂounder was released in 2012 and indicated that, based on 2010 data, SSB was below the minimum biomass threshold (Figure 9); SSB2010 /SSB MSY = 0.408 (NEFSC 2012a). Raonale:

57 Figure 10.Witch flounder spawning stock biomass and fishing mortality (F) esmates during 1982-2007, from GARM III assessment in 2008 (blue circles), along with 80% confidence intervals for 2007 esmates. Projected SSB and F are shown with open squares, along with 80% confidence intervals (Figure from data in NEFSC 2012a).

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern

The latest stock assessment shows that current fishing mortality (F2010 = 0.47) is higher than the target fishing mortality (FMSY proxy = 0.27) (NEFSC 2012a). Although fishing mortality has declined since 1996, it is sll about twice as high as the esmated fishing mortality in the early 1990s. Discards from the large mesh oer trawl make up the majority of discards; however, total discards are considered to be a minor part of the overall catch of witch flounder (NEFSC 2012a). Raonale:

58 Amendment 16 to the NE Mulspecies FMP adopted a broad suite of management measures to achieve fishing mortality targets. Specific to witch flounder, a rebuilding plan has been proposed that would have a 75% likelihood of rebuilding the stock by 2017. To accomplish the reducon in fishing mortality, the amendment expanded the use of sectors that have their catch limited by a quota and implemented Accountability Measures (AMs) to prevent overfishing. In 2010, there was a transion from an effort control fishery to one managed through hard TACs (total allowable catch). In addion, this amendment implemented new requirements for establishing allowable biological catch (ABC), annual catch limits (ACLs), and AMs for the stocks managed under the FMP (Federal Register 2010).

59 Criterion 3: Management Eﬀecveness Management is separated into management of retained species (harvest strategy) and management of non- retained species (bycatch strategy). The ﬁnal score for this criterion is the geometric mean of the two scores. The Criterion 3 rang is determined as follows: Score >3.2=Green or Low Concern Score >2.2 and ≤3.2=Yellow or Moderate Concern Score ≤2.2 or either the Harvest Strategy (Factor 3.1) or Bycatch Management Strategy (Factor 3.2) is Very High Concern = Red or High Concern

Rang is Crical if either or both of Harvest Strategy (Factor 3.1) and Bycatch Management Strategy (Factor 3.2) rangs are Crical.

Criterion 3 Summary Harvest Region / Method Strategy Bycatch Strategy Score United States / Georges Bank / Boom longlines 3.000 3.000 Yellow (3.000) United States / Georges Bank / Handline 3.000 3.000 Yellow (3.000) United States / Georges Bank / Large mesh boom 3.000 3.000 Yellow (3.000) gillnet United States / Georges Bank / Large mesh boom trawl 3.000 3.000 Yellow (3.000) United States / Gulf of Maine / Boom longlines 3.000 3.000 Yellow (3.000) United States / Gulf of Maine / Handline 3.000 3.000 Yellow (3.000) United States / Gulf of Maine / Large mesh boom 3.000 3.000 Yellow (3.000) gillnet United States / Gulf of Maine / Large mesh boom trawl 3.000 3.000 Yellow (3.000)

Criterion 3 Assessment SCORING GUIDELINES

Factor 3.1: Harvest Strategy Seven subfactors are evaluated: Management Strategy, Recovery of Species of Concern, Scienfic Research/Monitoring, Following of Scienfic Advice, Enforcement of Regulaons, Management Track Record, and Inclusion of Stakeholders. Each is rated as ‘ineffecve,’ ‘moderately effecve,’ or ‘highly effecve.’ 5 (Very Low Concern)—Rated as ‘highly effecve’ for all seven subfactors considered 4 (Low Concern)—Management Strategy and Recovery of Species of Concern rated ‘highly effecve’ and all other subfactors rated at least ‘moderately effecve.’ 3 (Moderate Concern)—All subfactors rated at least ‘moderately effecve.’ 2 (High Concern)—At minimum, meets standards for ‘moderately effecve’ for Management Strategy and Recovery of Species of Concern, but at least one other subfactor rated ‘ineffecve.’

60 1 (Very High Concern)—Management exists, but Management Strategy and/or Recovery of Species of Concern rated ‘ineffecve.’ 0 (Crical)—No management exists when there is a clear need for management (i.e., fishery catches threatened, endangered, or high concern species), OR there is a high level of Illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing occurring.

Factor 3.1: Harvest Strategy

Factor 3.1 Summary

FACTOR 3.1: MANAGEMENT OF FISHING IMPACTS ON RETAINED SPECIES Region / Method Strategy Recovery Research Advice Enforce Track Inclusion United States / Moderately Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Moderately Highly Georges Bank / Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Boom longlines United States / Moderately Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Moderately Highly Georges Bank / Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Handline United States / Moderately Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Moderately Highly Georges Bank / Large Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve mesh boom gillnet United States / Moderately Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Moderately Highly Georges Bank / Large Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve mesh boom trawl United States / Gulf of Moderately Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Moderately Highly Maine / Boom Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve longlines United States / Gulf of Moderately Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Moderately Highly Maine / Handline Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve United States / Gulf of Moderately Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Moderately Highly Maine / Large mesh Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve boom gillnet United States / Gulf of Moderately Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Moderately Highly Maine / Large mesh Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve boom trawl

The NEFMC manages the groundfish fishery through a collecve FMP that covers 20 stocks from 13 species. Grouping species together allows the NEFMC to manage these mixed fisheries more effecvely than if individual species FMPs were used. Because of the historical exploitaon that stocks have been exposed to, a number of stocks are depleted or in a state of rebuilding. The NEFMC has recently introduced a new management system that should improve the rate of recovery of stocks. There is a considerable effort to collect data in these fisheries through logbooks and observer coverage; these data (along with fishery- independent data) guide stock assessments. On the majority of occasions, the NEFMC takes into account the scienfic informaon provided by stock assessments; but in some instances, TACs have been set too high in response to social and economic need.

61 Subfactor 3.1.1 – Management Strategy and Implementaon Consideraons: What type of management measures are in place? Are there appropriate management goals, and is there evidence that management goals are being met? To achieve a highly eﬀecve rang, there must be appropriate management goals, and evidence that the measures in place have been successful at maintaining/rebuilding species. UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Moderately Eﬀecve

62 The New England fisheries for cod, haddock, and pollock are managed by the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) through the Northeast Mulspecies Fishery Management Plan (NE Mulspecies FMP), alongside nine other species of flaish and groundfish. Originally enacted in 1985, the NE Mulspecies FMP has been amended a number of mes to improve the management of the relevant fisheries, including the introducon of gear restricons (e.g., mesh size, number of nets/hooks), seasonal closures, spaal closures, minimum landing sizes, trip limits on pounds of fish landed, limited access (a restricon on the number of vessels able to work within the fishery), effort limits based on a days-at-sea (DAS) system, and most recently a system based on transferable quotas set against a hard annual catch limit (ACL) (this replaced the previous effort-based limitaon of the DAS system in 2010). In 2010, Amendment 16 to the NE Mulspecies FMP greatly expanded catch share, or sector-based, management. The sectors funcon essenally as cooperaves because they are self-selecng and largely self- regulang (albeit within a framework designated and closely monitored by federal agencies). The sectors are exempt from many of the effort controls previously used to manage the fishery; instead, they adhere to an overall hard quota known as an annual catch limit (ACL), which is subdivided into annual catch entlements (ACE) allocated to each sector. The shi to output management instead of effort management enables efficiency gains by allowing increased operaonal efficiency. Although it is oponal to join the sectors, the majority of fishers have chosen to parcipate: sector vessels made 65% of all NE Mulspecies landings in 2010, including 98% of groundfish and 54% of non-groundfish (Kis et al. 2011) (Labaree 2012) (Federal Register 2012). Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the ACL must be set less than or equal to the acceptable biological catch (ABC) (to account for management uncertainty), which must be set less than or equal to the overfishing level (OFL) (to account for any scienfic uncertainty in the stock assessment) (Figure 16) (Federal Register 2009a). Fishing mortality targets are set for each stock independently, based on achieving MSY in the long term. Therefore, for stocks that are overfished (and may also be subject to overfishing), the target fishing mortality is set at a level that will have a reasonable probability (>50%) of ensuring rebuilding of the stock within the meline set within the relevant rebuilding program (see “Recovery of Stocks of Concern”, factor 3.1.2). But if a sector were to approach the ACE for one of the target stocks, then the area inhabited by that stock is closed to all gears capable of catching that stock, resulng in a potenal "under-harvest" of more abundant stocks. The sector system allows fishers to share, trade, or lease quota within a fishery, thus reducing the chance of overfishing depleted stocks while targeng more abundant stocks; and if a sector is nearing its quota for a parcular species, it may be possible to lease it from another sector. There have been some concerns with the management strategy in the past, parcularly with respect to depleted stocks (see “Recovery of Stocks of Concern,” factor 3.1.2). In addion, target total allowable catches (TACs) have been set too high because of errors in stock assessments, and there has been a need for increased precauon (see “Scienfic Advice,” factor 3.1.4). But the management system has substanally changed under Amendment 16, which is expected to reduce the race to fish and to improve conservaon outcomes. For example, discarding appears to have been reduced, and the fishery now relies on hard ACLs (which include discards) rather than target TACs—all of which helps reduce the likelihood of exceeding sustainable fishing mortality rates for targeted stocks. In addion, sectors have not exceeded their ACEs, whereas in the past it was possible for target TACs to be exceeded because the regulaons were based on effort control (DAS) rather than output control (Kis et al 2011). The new management regime has not been in place long enough to fully assess its impact. This results in a score of "moderately effecve."

63 Raonale:

Figure 11: Relaonship between OFL, ABC, ACL, and ACT as described by the Naonal Marine Fisheries Service. (NOAA 2009)

Subfactor 3.1.2 – Recovery of Species of Concern Consideraons: When needed, are recovery strategies/management measures in place to rebuild overfished/threatened/ endangered species or to limit fishery’s impact on these species and what is their likelihood of success? To achieve a rang of Highly Effecve, rebuilding strategies that have a high likelihood of success in an appropriate meframe must be in place when needed, as well as measures to minimize mortality for any overfished/threatened/endangered species. UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Moderately Effecve

64 There are a number of stocks of concern affected by the fisheries managed under the NE Mulspecies FMP, and the management plan has had varying degrees of success in recovering these stocks. Under the NE Mulspecies FMP, and in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, overfished stocks are subject to rebuilding programs that aim to rebuild the stock within a given meframe (usually 10 years). But for some stocks, in which decreasing the fishing mortality to a level that would allow rebuilding is likely to have negave social and/or economic effects, the melines are extended; for example, Georges Bank cod has a rebuilding target of 2026 (Federal Register 2004). The rebuilding programs are based on meeng fishing mortalies that are likely to allow rebuilding of the stock within the given me period (FREBUILD); these are typically a reducon from the fishing mortalies that the stocks were subjected to when the programs were established in 2003 (implemented in 2004 fishing year). Any reducon in fishing mortality was conducted in one of two ways: through phased reducon strategy, in which the fishing mortality was gradually reduced over the rebuilding period to reach the target biomass with median probability; or through an adapve rebuilding strategy, in which fishing mortality was held at or below FMSY from 2004 to 2009, at which point adjustments would be made in order to achieve the target biomass by the end of the rebuilding period. The most recent stock assessments have shown that a number of stocks of concern have not yet been rebuilt and that the targets set within the rebuilding programs have not been met (e.g., Georges Bank cod, Gulf of Maine cod, and Cape Cod yellowtail flounder) (NMFS 2011a) (NEFSC 2012a). With the recent adopon of a new management system, it is too early to determine whether the rebuilding targets will be met by the end of the rebuilding period. But there are a number of stocks that have rebuilt prior to the end of the rebuilding period (typically due to strong recruitment and good survival of abundant year-classes during periods of reduced exploitaon). These stocks include Georges Bank haddock, Gulf of Maine haddock, Acadian redfish, and pollock (NMFS 2011a) (NEFSC 2012a). Although there is concern that some of the stocks have yet to meet their rebuilding targets, other stocks have rebuilt within the specified melines, and the new management system is likely to improve rebuilding of stocks due to reduced levels of discarding. This is rated as "moderately effecve."

Subfactor 3.1.3 – Scienfic Research and Monitoring Consideraons: How much and what types of data are collected to evaluate the health of the populaon and the fishery’s impact on the species? To achieve a Highly Effecve rang, populaon assessments must be conducted regularly and they must be robust enough to reliably determine the populaon status.

65 UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Moderately Effecve There is a high level of scienfic research and monitoring associated with the Northeast U.S. fisheries, including regular stock assessments and gear modificaon trials (NMFS 2011b). Much of the scienfic research and monitoring is carried out by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), which provides the NEFMC with scienfic advice, including stock assessments, to guide the management of the fishery. A number of independent and academic instuons also conduct research in the region, including tesng gear modificaons and conducng tagging experiments to monitor fish populaons. Stock assessments account for all sources of fishing mortality, including commercial and recreaonal landings and discards (NEFSC 2008) (NEFSC 2012a), as well as environmental factors. Thus there is a wealth of both fishery-dependent and fishery-independent data available to NEFMC and NMFS to ensure that the fishery is managed effecvely. There are concerns about a connued retrospecve paern that overesmates biomass and underesmates fishing mortality in some stocks (for example, Georges Bank cod), and stock assessments are taking account of this paern, which is thought to be caused partly by increased natural mortality rates (NEFSC 2013a). Observer coverage in the fishery comprises two forms: the Northeast Fisheries Observer Program (NEFOP) and the At-Sea Monitoring (ASM) program. The level of observer coverage aims to ensure precision in the catch levels of each managed stock, based on a methodology set out in the Standard Bycatch Reporng Methodolgy (SBRM). The SBRM was vacated by the courts because it contained discreons to be made that allowed observer coverage to be below the amount required to meet an acceptable level of precision (CV < 30), for budget reasons. The quesons surrounding the observer program and the appropriate level of coverage prevent the management system from achieving the highest possible score for scienfic research and monitoring. Thus, it is scored as "moderately effecve." Raonale: Standard bycatch reporng methodology (SBRM) indicates that a simple percentage of observer coverage is not appropriate; instead, SBRM indicates that the appropriate metric of coverage is the coefficient of variaon (CV), or the rao of the square root of the variance of the bycatch esmate (i.e., standard error) to the esmate itself. SBRM establishes a standard level of precision of CV = 0.3 (Federal Register 2008).

Subfactor 3.1.4 – Management Record of Following Scienfic Advice Consideraons: How oen (always, somemes, rarely) do managers of the fishery follow scienfic recommendaons/advice (e.g. do they set catch limits at recommended levels)? A Highly Effecve rang is given if managers nearly always follow scienfic advice.

66 UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Moderately Effecve The NEFMC takes scienfic advice into account when seng quotas and developing management strategies in the majority of cases. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NEFMC has a duty to consider the social and economic consequences of the quotas that it sets, and for some stocks, parcularly cod, there are concerns among environmental groups that the council will follow a less precauonary scienfic opon in order to meet social and economic goals. Although NEFMC is implemenng scienfic advice on a regular basis, there is potenal room for improvement by implemenng a more precauonary approach, parcularly when considering the potenal retrospecve paern (as previously discussed). This factor is scored as "moderately effecve."

Subfactor 3.1.5 – Enforcement of Management Regulaons Consideraons: Do fishermen comply with regulaons, and how is this monitored? To achieve a Highly Effecve rang, there must be regular enforcement of regulaons and verificaon of compliance. UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Highly Effecve

67 A variety of enforcement measures are in place in the New England groundfish fishery. All vessels fishing in the mulspecies fishery are required to be fied with a vessel monitoring system (VMS) (Federal Register 2006), which allows fishery officers to remotely monitor the locaon of each vessel. VMS systems enable fishery managers not only to monitor where catches are being taken, but also to enforce spaal closures, of which there are a number in the Northwest Atlanc. Enforcement of fishery legislaon at sea is a cooperave operaon between coastal states, the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement (OLE), and the United States Coast Guard. OLE officers conduct dockside inspecons and inspect fish processing plants (OLE webpage), and the Coast Guard inspect vessels at sea (Nies 2013). OLE enforces fisheries legislaon, including minimum landing sizes, retenon of prohibited species, and gear restricons. Violaon of such management measures can result in criminal or civil acons as well as fines, loss of quota, or imprisonment for more serious cases. Under Amendment 16 of the Mulspecies Fishery Management Plan, accountability measures (AMs) were established (Federal Register 2010). AMs are required to ensure accountability within the fishery and to prevent overfishing. Proacve AMs are designed to prevent allowable catch limits (ACLs) from being exceeded, whereas reacve AMs are designed to correct any overages if they occur (Federal Register 2012). AMs can result in a reducon or complete loss of quota for a sector that regularly or greatly exceeds its quota (Federal Register 2010). It is thought that loss of a community pool will encourage a greater level of self- management, thus improving compliance throughout the fishery. This factor is scored as "highly effecve."

Subfactor 3.1.6 – Management Track Record Consideraons: Does management have a history of successfully maintaining populaons at sustainable levels or a history of failing to maintain populaons at sustainable levels? A Highly Eﬀecve rang is given if measures enacted by management have been shown to result in the long-term maintenance of species overme. UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Moderately Eﬀecve

68 The fish stocks in the Northwest Atlanc have been subject to fishing pressure for centuries; as a result, many stocks have become overfished or depleted. Management of the fisheries through the NEFMC began in 1977, when the fishery management councils were formed through the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservaon and Management Act (MS Act) (then called the Magnuson Fishery Conservaon and Management Act 1976) (NEFMC website). During the early years of management under the NEFMC, many stocks underwent declines in biomass under increasing fishing mortalies, such as the Acadian redfish, Georges Bank cod, and Gulf of Maine cod (NEFSC 2008). But in more recent years, aer revision of the MS Act and the requirement for fisheries management councils to implement rebuilding programs, there have been increasing biomasses in a number of stocks (NEFSC 2008), and more recent changes in management suggest that these improvements will connue. It is too early to determine whether the sector-based management system will enable stocks to rebuild and stabilize at a sustainable level. This factor is rated as "moderately effecve."

Subfactor 3.1.7 – Stakeholder Inclusion Consideraons: Are stakeholders involved/included in the decision-making process? Stakeholders are individuals/groups/organizaons that have an interest in the fishery or that may be affected by the management of the fishery (e.g., fishermen, conservaon groups, etc.). A Highly Effecve rang is given if the management process is transparent and includes stakeholder input. UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Highly Effecve The New England Fisheries Management Council has a good track record of including stakeholders in the development of legislaon, with oral and wrien comments being invited on each dra amendment or framework adjustment to the FMP. The NEFMC also responds to each comment in the Federal Register documents, to show transparency of process (Federal Register 2010) (Federal Register 2012).

Factor 3.2: Bycatch Strategy SCORING GUIDELINES Four subfactors are evaluated: Management Strategy and Implementaon, Scienfic Research and Monitoring, Record of Following Scienfic Advice, and Enforcement of Regulaons. Each is rated as ‘ineffecve,’ ‘moderately effecve,’ or ‘highly effecve.’ Unless reason exists to rate Scienfic Research and Monitoring, Record of Following Scienfic Advice, and Enforcement of Regulaons differently, these rang are the same as in 3.1.

69 5 (Very Low Concern)—Rated as ‘highly effecve’ for all four subfactors considered 4 (Low Concern)—Management Strategy rated ‘highly effecve’ and all other subfactors rated at least ‘moderately effecve.’ 3 (Moderate Concern)—All subfactors rated at least ‘moderately effecve.’ 2 (High Concern)—At minimum, meets standards for ‘moderately effecve’ for Management Strategy but some other factors rated ‘ineffecve.’ 1 (Very High Concern)—Management exists, but Management Strategy rated ‘ineffecve.’ 0 (Crical)—No bycatch management even when overfished, depleted, endangered or threatened species are known to be regular components of bycatch and are substatnally impacted by the fishery

FACTOR 3.2: BYCATCH STRATEGY All Region / Method Kept Crical Strategy Research Advice Enforce United States / Georges Bank / No No Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Boom longlines Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve United States / Georges Bank / No No Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Handline Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve United States / Georges Bank / Large No No Moderately Moderately Moderately Moderately mesh boom gillnet Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve United States / Georges Bank / Large No No Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly mesh boom trawl Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve United States / Gulf of Maine / No No Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Boom longlines Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve United States / Gulf of Maine / No No Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly Handline Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve United States / Gulf of Maine / Large No No Moderately Moderately Moderately Moderately mesh boom gillnet Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve United States / Gulf of Maine / Large No No Moderately Moderately Moderately Highly mesh boom trawl Effecve Effecve Effecve Effecve

A number of regulaons are in place that require fisheries managers to reduce the impacts of fishing acvies on non-target populaons. Reporng of bycatch encourages reducon efforts while providing data for scienfic research and stock assessments. The observer program provides considerable data to aid in stock assessments of target and bycatch species. Enforcement is generally good, although there are concerns over the effecveness of the regulaons with respect to the use of pingers on gillnets to reduce the bycatch of cetaceans (e.g., harbor porpoise).

Subfactor 3.2.2 – Management Strategy and Implementaon Consideraons: What type of management strategy/measures are in place to reduce the impacts of the ﬁshery on bycatch species and how successful are these management measures? To achieve a Highly Eﬀecve rang, the primary bycatch species must be known and there must be clear goals and measures in place to minimize the impacts on bycatch species (e.g., catch limits, use of proven migaon measures, etc.).

70 UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

Moderately Effecve The Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) requires fisheries management to prevent overfishing from occurring, and for depleted and overfished stocks to be rebuilt. Marine mammals are further protected under the Marine Mammal Protecon Act (MMPA) of 1972, which requires the maintenance of marine mammal populaons above their opmum sustainable level and the rebuilding of depleted populaons. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 provides protecon for species that are endangered or threatened with exncon, including fish, marine mammals, turtles, and seabirds. These three pieces of legislaon provide a framework directed at ensuring that FMPs are designed and implemented in a way that prevents overfishing and allows recovery of stocks caught within a fishery, whether the stocks are targeted or caught incidentally. The MSA requires that all management measures must minimize bycatch to the extent praccable, and minimize mortality of bycatch when bycatch is unavoidable (Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservaon and Management Act 1976). To comply with the MSA requirement of including a standardized bycatch reporng methodology (SBRM) in all FMPs, and prompted by successful lawsuits by Oceana, the Conservaon Law Foundaon, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the NEFMC and the Mid-Atlanc Fisheries Management Council jointly developed an omnibus amendment, corresponding to Amendment 15 to the NE mulspecies FMP. The SBRM amendment is meant to “establish, maintain, and ulize biological sampling programs designed to minimize bias to the extent praccable, thus promong accuracy while maintaining sufficiently high levels of precision” (Federal Register 2008). The original SBRM was considered inadequate and was vacated by the courts in 2011; the NMFS is currently developing a replacement acon (pers. comm., Brogan 2013). To be approved to operate, sectors must submit an operaons plan to the regional administrator (NEFMC) that details (among other things) how bycatch of regulated species and ocean pout will be avoided to prevent allowable catch entlement overages. To date, this has not occurred because NMFS is currently funding both the Northeast Fisheries Observer Program (NEFOP) and the At-Sea Monitoring program (ASM); sector operaon plans will be required when the financial burden for ASM passes from NMFS to the individual sectors (pers. comm., Litsinger 2013). To address harbor porpoise mortality in gillnet fisheries, NMFS updated its Harbor Porpoise Take Reducon Plan (HPTRP) to reduce mortality below the PBR threshold level. Measures implemented in New England include new areas with acousc deterrent (“pinger”) requirements as well as “consequence” closure areas that would seasonally close certain areas to gillnet fishing if the observed average bycatch rate exceeds the target bycatch rate for two consecuve management seasons. Acousc deterrents, or “pingers,” are highly effecve in reducing harbor porpoise bycatch in gillnets when used properly, with a controlled scienfic study showing a 92% reducon in harbor porpoise bycatch (Kraus et al. 1997). Area closures, if triggered and properly enforced, should be highly effecve, too. But at this me, levels of bycatch remain above 50% of the PBR level for the species, so management is considered uncertain unl data demonstrate that it has fallen below that threshold, parcularly considering recent concerns with regulaons compliance (see “Enforcement,” factor 3.2.5). This factor is scored as "moderately effecve."

Subfactor 3.2.3 – Scienfic Research and Monitoring Consideraons: Is bycatch in the fishery recorded/documented and is there adequate monitoring of bycatch to measure fishery’s impact on bycatch species? To achieve a Highly Effecve rang, assessments must be

71 conducted to determine the impact of the fishery on species of concern, and an adequate bycatch data collecon program must be in place to ensure bycatch management goals are being met UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Moderately Effecve Fishery observers are required in groundfish fisheries (except for handgear) under the Mulspecies FMP and by the MMPA and ESA (NMFS 2011b). Observers are trained biologists who collect data on fishing acvies onboard commercial vessels, to provide robust data to support science and management programs. Observers in the Northeast Fisheries Observer Program (NEFOP) record weights of kept and discarded fish and crustacean species on observed hauls, as well as biological informaon (length, age, sex, and tags) from all species caught, including marine mammals and seabirds. Currently, observer coverage targets are 25% for sector vessels and 17% for common pool vessels. As of March 2013, the average observer coverage on sector vessels was esmated at 20.5% for the 2012–2013 fishing year, with coverage of 11% for the common pool (NEFOP 2013). Observer coverage has decreased since the 2010–2011 season; however, current levels of observer coverage are higher than in 2006–2008, when the average was below 10% for groundfish trawl and gillnet fisheries in the Northeast (NMFS 2011b). Because of the rarity of some bycatch species, the same level of observer coverage that is sufficient for monitoring retained species may not always be sufficient for monitoring bycatch species; similarly, a given level of coverage may be sufficient for a large fishery but not a small one. The level of observer coverage aims to ensure precision in the catch levels of each managed stock, based on a methodology set out in the Standard Bycatch Reporng Methodolgy (SBRM). The SBRM was vacated by the courts because it contained discreons to be made that allowed observer coverage to be below the amount required to meet an acceptable level of precision (CV < 30), for budget reasons. The quesons surrounding the observer program and the appropriate level of coverage prevent the management system from achieving the highest possible score for scienfic research and monitoring. We have scored this factor as "moderately effecve." Raonale: Standard bycatch reporng methodology (SBRM) indicates that a simple percentage of observer coverage is not appropriate; instead, SRBM indicates that the appropriate metric of coverage is the coefficient of variaon (CV), or the rao of the square root of the variance of the bycatch esmate (i.e., standard error) to the esmate itself. SBRM establishes a standard level of precision of CV = 0.3 (Federal Register 2008).

Subfactor 3.2.4 – Management Record of Following Scienfic Advice Consideraons: How oen (always, somemes, rarely) do managers of the fishery follow scienfic recommendaons/advice (e.g., do they set catch limits at recommended levels)? A Highly Effecve rang is given if managers nearly always follow scienfic advice.

72 UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

Moderately Eﬀecve See factor 3.1.4 in the Harvest Strategy secon.

Subfactor 3.2.5 – Enforcement of Management Regulaons Consideraons: Is there a monitoring/enforcement system in place to ensure fishermen follow management regulaons and what is the level of fishermen’s compliance with regulaons? To achieve a Highly Effecve rang, there must be consistent enforcement of regulaons and verificaon of compliance. UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Highly Effecve See factor 3.1.5 in the Harvest Strategy secon.

UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Moderately Effecve Enforcement may be somewhat weaker for bycatch species than for retained species. For instance, when a study demonstrated the effecveness of acousc pingers in reducing harbor porpoise bycatch (Kraus et al. 1997), a take reducon plan was subsequently implemented in the fishery, and harbor porpoise bycatch decreased from above 1,500 animals per year prior to 1996 to below 500 animals per year during 1999–2001. But within several years of implementaon, compliance decreased and bycatch of harbor porpoises started to increase (Orphanides 2012a) (Orphanides 2012b). Outreach acvies increased in 2006–2007 to remind fishers about TRP requirements, so compliance subsequently increased and bycatch started decreasing again (NMFS 2011b), reaching a mean serious injury and annual mortality of 511 animals during 2005–2009 (Waring et al. 2013b). Concerns about compliance remain. Recently published data from 2009–2010 suggest that acousc pinger deployment rates in the Gulf of Maine were just 43%, with full compliance (accounng for funconality as well) at only 6.7% (Orphanides 2012a). Although observed deployment rates were higher in 2011–2012 (73% for Southern New England and 80% for the Gulf of Maine), improvement is sll needed. Target bycatch rates for harbor porpoises connue to be exceeded; this is believed to be the result of inadequate compliance with deployment regulaons as well as malfunconing pingers (Orphanides 2012b).

73 Criterion 4: Impacts on the habitat and ecosystem This Criterion assesses the impact of the fishery on seafloor habitats, and increases that base score if there are measures in place to migate any impacts. The fishery’s overall impact on the ecosystem and food web and the use of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) principles is also evaluated. Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management aims to consider the interconnecons among species and all natural and human stressors on the environment. The final score is the geometric mean of the impact of fishing gear on habitat score (plus the migaon of gear impacts score) and the Ecosystem Based Fishery Management score. The Criterion 2 rang is determined as follows: Score >3.2=Green or Low Concern Score >2.2 and ≤3.2=Yellow or Moderate Concern Score ≤2.2=Red or High Concern

Rang cannot be Crical for Criterion 4.

Criterion 4 Summary Gear Type and Migaon of Gear Region / Method Substrate Impacts EBFM Score United States / Georges Bank / Boom 3.00: Low 0.25: Minimal 3.00: Moderate Yellow longlines Concern Migaon Concern (3.122) United States / Georges Bank / 4.00: Very Low 0.25: Minimal 3.00: Moderate Green Handline Concern Migaon Concern (3.571) United States / Georges Bank / Large 3.00: Low 0.25: Minimal 3.00: Moderate Yellow mesh boom gillnet Concern Migaon Concern (3.122) United States / Georges Bank / Large 2.00: Moderate 0.25: Minimal 3.00: Moderate Yellow mesh boom trawl Concern Migaon Concern (2.598) United States / Gulf of Maine / Boom 3.00: Low 0.25: Minimal 3.00: Moderate Yellow longlines Concern Migaon Concern (3.122) United States / Gulf of Maine / 4.00: Very Low 0.25: Minimal 3.00: Moderate Green Handline Concern Migaon Concern (3.571) United States / Gulf of Maine / Large 3.00: Low 0.25: Minimal 3.00: Moderate Yellow mesh boom gillnet Concern Migaon Concern (3.122) United States / Gulf of Maine / Large 2.00: Moderate 0.25: Minimal 3.00: Moderate Yellow mesh boom trawl Concern Migaon Concern (2.598)

Criterion 4 Assessment SCORING GUIDELINES

Factor 4.1 - Impact of Fishing Gear on the Habitat/Substrate 5 (None) - Fishing gear does not contact the boom 4 (Very Low) - Vercal line gear 3 (Low)—Gears that contacts the boom, but is not dragged along the boom (e.g. gillnet, boom

74 longline, trap) and is not fished on sensive habitats. Boom seine on resilient mud/sand habitats. Midwater trawl that is known to contact boom occasionally 2 (Moderate)—Boom dragging gears (dredge, trawl) fished on resilient mud/sand habitats. Gillnet, trap, or boom longline fished on sensive boulder or coral reef habitat. Boom seine except on mud/sand 1 (High)—Hydraulic clam dredge. Dredge or trawl gear fished on moderately sensive habitats (e.g., cobble or boulder) 0 (Very High)—Dredge or trawl fished on biogenic habitat, (e.g., deep-sea corals, eelgrass and maerl) Note: When mulple habitat types are commonly encountered, and/or the habitat classificaon is uncertain, the score will be based on the most sensive, plausible habitat type.

Factor 4.2 - Migaon of Gear Impacts +1 (Strong Migaon)—Examples include large proporon of habitat protected from fishing (>50%) with gear, fishing intensity low/limited, gear specifically modified to reduce damage to seafloor and modificaons shown to be effecve at reducing damage, or an effecve combinaon of ‘moderate’ migaon measures. +0.5 (Moderate Migaon)—20% of habitat protected from fishing with gear or other measures in place to limit fishing effort, fishing intensity, and spaal footprint of damage caused from fishing. +0.25 (Low Migaon)—A few measures are in place (e.g., vulnerable habitats protected but other habitats not protected); there are some limits on fishing effort/intensity, but not acvely being reduced 0 (No Migaon)—No effecve measures are in place to limit gear impacts on habitats

Factor 4.3 - Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management 5 (Very Low Concern)—Substanal efforts have been made to protect species’ ecological roles and ensure fishing pracces do not have negave ecological effects (e.g., large proporon of fishery area is protected with marine reserves, and abundance is maintained at sufficient levels to provide food to predators) 4 (Low Concern)—Studies are underway to assess the ecological role of species and measures are in place to protect the ecological role of any species that plays an exceponally large role in the ecosystem. Measures are in place to minimize potenally negave ecological effect if hatchery supplementaon or fish aggregang devices (FADs) are used. 3 (Moderate Concern)—Fishery does not catch species that play an exceponally large role in the ecosystem, or if it does, studies are underway to determine how to protect the ecological role of these species, OR negave ecological effects from hatchery supplementaon or FADs are possible and management is not place to migate these impacts 2 (High Concern)—Fishery catches species that play an exceponally large role in the ecosystem and no efforts are being made to incorporate their ecological role into management. 1 (Very High Concern)—Use of hatchery supplementaon or fish aggregang devices (FADs) in the fishery is having serious negave ecological or genec consequences, OR fishery has resulted in trophic cascades or other detrimental impacts to the food web.

75 Factor 4.1 - Impact of Fishing Gear on the Habitat/Substrate UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Low Concern Demersal longline ﬁsheries for haddock take place over sand and gravel seabeds in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank region. This is scored as "low" concern.

UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE Very Low Concern Handline or rod and reel ﬁsheries have minimal contact with the seabed and any negave impacts are expected to be minimal. This is scored as "very low" concern.

UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Low Concern Gillnets are used to target cod and pollock, predominantly over gravel, sand, and silt habitats in inshore areas of the Northwest Atlanc. Impacts on the seabed are expected to be limited to the impact of anchors on the substrate and minimal amounts of scouring during seng and hauling nets. This is scored as "low" concern.

UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Moderate Concern Oer trawls, along with other forms of boom trawl, are known to have a detrimental impact on some seabed habitats, parcularly low energy environments and biogenic reef habitats. The majority of fishing acvity for cod, haddock, and pollock takes place in stascal areas 513–515, 521, 522, 525, and 561–562, with smaller amounts of fish being landed from areas 537–539 (Figure 13). These areas contain a number of seabed types, but the predominant types are sand, gravel-sand, and sand-silt/clay in waters less than 100 m deep; gravel habitats affected by trawling in this region are less than 60 m deep (Figure 12) (NEFSC 2011b) (NEFSC 2011c). These seabed types and the communies they support are generally more resilient to trawling than deep-water biogenic reef habitats. This is scored as "moderate" concern. Raonale:

76 Figure 12: Seabed types in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank region. Taken from Sles et al 2007.

77 Figure 13: Northeast Fisheries Science Center stascal areas. From Shepherd 2004.

Factor 4.2 - Migaon of Gear Impacts UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Minimal Migaon The impacts of the longline ﬁshery on the marine habitat are limited in part by rolling spaal closures, and by the mulspecies closed areas indicated in Figure 14.

UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE Minimal Migaon

78 The impacts of the handline ﬁshery on the marine habitat are believed to be minimal and are further limited in part by rolling spaal closures, and by the mulspecies closed areas indicated in Figure 14.

Raonale:

Figure 14: Year-round spaal closures in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank region which prohibit boom trawling. From Orphanides & Magnusson 2007.

UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Minimal Migaon The impacts of gillnets on the marine habitat are limited partly by rolling spaal closures and by the mulspecies closed areas indicated in Figure 14.

79 UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

Minimal Migaon The alteraon of marine habitats by fishing gear can be reduced through the reducon of fishing effort or spaal closures that protect vulnerable habitats. There are a number of permanent and temporary spaal closures in place in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. There are seven permanent closures in place to protect essenal fish habitat (EFH) from the impacts of boom trawling (Figure 14), established under Amendment 13 of the mulspecies FMP (NEFMC 2004). There are an addional five year-round closures designated through the mulspecies FMP, along with five rolling closures in the Gulf of Maine and a seasonal closure on Georges Bank. These closures are primarily designed to protect important spawning grounds and juvenile fish. Raonale: The requirement for fisheries management plans to minimize to the extent praccable the adverse effects of fishing on essenal fish habitat was set forth in the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996 (SFA). Amendment 11 of the mulspecies FMP established EFH for the species covered by the plan and established areas where boom-tending gears were to be prohibited in order to protect the marine habitats (NEFMC & NMFS 1998). To migate against and minimize potenal damage to EFH, the NEFMC has implemented spaal closures (Figure 19), introduced limited permit schemes, and placed restricons on the gears that can be used when trawling (Orphanides & Magnusson 2007). In addion to the year-round and rolling closures menoned above, there are restricted gear areas (RGAs) that provide protecon from parcular gear types; for example, the Inshore Restricted Roller Gear Area. Approximately 20% of the Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine seabed is protected from trawling acvies through the variety of closures, although only 9.7% of the seabed is permanently protected through EFH closures (NOAA 2013b). Framework Adjustment (FA) 48 to the mulspecies FMP provides sectors with the opportunity to request exempons to year-round fishing mortality area closures, which has raised concerns among fishing industry stakeholders and environmental groups pertaining to impacts on seabed habitat. But the rule set forth in FA48 prevents an exempon from being made to areas that overlap with closures created to protect essenal fish habitat (Federal Register 2013).

Factor 4.3 - Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, HANDLINE UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES / GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Moderate Concern

80 Collecvely, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservaon and Management Act, the Naonal Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protecon Act, and the Coastal Zone Management Act require fisheries managers to take into account the impact of fishery operaons on the ecosystem they are conducted in (NEFMC SSC 2010b). In July 2010, an Execuve Order established the first U.S. naonal policy on the stewardship of the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes. One of the nine naonal priories set out in this policy is the adopon of Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) (NEFMC SSC 2010b). The NEFMC has started the process of developing and implemenng Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM). It is ancipated that the process of moving from the current management system to EBFM will take a minimum of 5 years. The current mulspecies FMP has elements of EBFM within it, because it already considers mulple species rather than using the tradional single-species fisheries management. Moving forward, other EBFM plans will become more holisc and integrated for a given ecosystem region, such as the Western Gulf of Maine (NEFMC SSC 2010b), with predator-prey relaonships, compeon, habitat status and gear impacts, and protected species all considered under one plan. The development and implementaon of these plans is proceeding through three phases: establish goals and objecves, idenfy management and scienfic requirements to implement EBFM in the region, and implement EBFM using quota-based management in all ecosystem producon units.

81 Acknowledgements Scienﬁc review does not constute an endorsement of the Seafood Watch® program, or its seafood recommendaons, on the part of the reviewing sciensts. Seafood Watch® is solely responsible for the conclusions reached in this report. Seafood Watch would like to thank several anonymous reviewers for graciously reviewing this report for scienﬁc accuracy.

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84 50. NERO 2012. Northeast Sink Gillnet Fisheries Noce, Harbor Porpoise Consequence Closure Area Update. Northeast Region Bullen. October 2012. 3p. NERO. 2013. Northeast Sink Gillnet Fisheries Reminder: Coastal Gulf of Maine Closure Area. Northeast Fishery Bullen. January 2013. 2p. Nies, T. 2013. New England Fisheries Management Council. Execuve Director. Personal Communicaon. NMFS 2008. Bolenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus): Western North Atlanc Stock. October 2008. Harbor Porpoise Take Reducon Plan Consequence Closure Areas. NOAA Fisheries Service: Protected Resources Division. NMFS 2010b. U.S. Atlanc and Gulf of Mexico Marine Mammal Stock Assessments -2010. Naonal Marine Fisheries Service. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-NE-219. 598p. NMFS 2011b. U.S Naonal Bycatch Report. Naonal Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Department of Commerce. NMFS 2012c. Status of U.S. Fisheries. NOAA Fisheries - Office of Sustainable Fisheries. hp://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/statusoffisheries/SOSmain.htm NMFS 2012d. List of Fisheries: Northeast Sink Gillnet Fishery. hp://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/interacons/lof/final2012.htm NMFS 2012e. Proacve Conservaon Program: Species of concern. hp://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/concern/#list NMFS 2016. Status of U.S. Fisheries. NOAA Fisheries - Office of Sustainable Fisheries. hp://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/fisheries_eco/status_of_fisheries/ NMFS. 1998. Harbor Porpoise Take Reducon Plan, Final Rule. NOAA Fisheries Service. 50 CFR Part 229: 1998 (63). 27 p NMFS 2007. Hooded Seal (Cystophora cristata): Western North Atlanc stock. hp://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/sars/ao2007seho-wn.pdf NMFS. 2009. Species of concern - Altanc halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus. NOAA Naonal Marine Fisheries Service. hp://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/species/atlanchalibut_detailed.pdf NMFS 2011a. Fish Stocks in Rebuilding Plans: A Trend Analysis. NOAA Fisheries: Office for Sustainable Fisheries. 9 pp. NMFS 2012b. Framework Adjustment 47 to the Northeast Mulspecies FMP; Proposed Rule. Pages 331 in N. O. a. A. Administraon, editor. New England Fishery Management Council, Federal Register. NOAA 2009. Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Annual Catch Limits; Naonal Standard Guidelines; Final Rule. In 50 CFR Part 600, Federal Register, Vol.74. NOAA 2012. NOAA Office of Science and Technology, Naonal Marine Fisheries Service, Commercial Fisheries Stascs. Landings Data Request: Mulspecies FMP landings by gear 2007-2011. NOAA 2013a. NE Mulspecies Informaon Sheet – Landing/Possession Limits. February 2013. NOAA. 2013b. Proposed rule; request for comments. Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Commercial Fishing Operaons; Harbor Porpoise Take Reducon Plan Regulaons AGENCY: Naonal Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Naonal Oceanic and Atmospheric Administraon (NOAA), Commerce. OLE Website - hp://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ole/invesgaons.html Orphanides, C.D., 2012a. Update on Harbor Porpoise Take Reducon Plan Monitoring Iniaves: Compliance and Consequenal Bycatch Rates from June 2009 through May 2010. Naonal Oceanic Atmospheric Administraon, Naonal Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 28 Tarzwell Dr., Narraganse RI 02882 USA Orphanides, C.D. 2012b. New England harbor porpoise bycatch rates during 2010-2012 associated with

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86 Appendix A: Extra By Catch Species

Acadian redﬁsh

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Medium FishBase provides a vulnerability score of 44 for Acadian redﬁsh (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Very Low Concern

The latest informaon available on the Acadian redﬁsh stock in the Northwest Atlanc esmates that SSB2010 is 314,780 MT, which is higher than the SSBMSY of 238,000 MT (NEFSC 2012a). This results in a score of "very low" concern.

Total fishing mortality in 2010 was 0.006 compared to FMSY of 0.04 (NEFSC 2012a). This results in a score of "very low" concern. Raonale: The Acadian redfish stock was previously in a rebuilding plan and is now considered to be rebuilt, because management was successful in reaching the FREBUILD target of 0.01 set through Amendment 13 of the NE Mul FMP (NEFMC 2004). Acadian redfish is caught primarily using large mesh oer trawl (93% of landings) and gillnet (6% of landings).

Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL 40-60%

87 Discards from the large mesh oer trawl fishery largely consist of skate species and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). Skate species are believed to have a higher post-release survival rate than other fish species. A recent study revealed that the post-release mortality of the skate complex (species combined) was 19%, with the highest post-release mortality exhibited by smooth skate at 60% (Mandelman et al. 2013). Because of the uncertainty about which skate species are discarded during the groundfish fishery, a precauonary assumpon is made that they are all smooth skate; this results in an overall discard rate of 43%.

Raonale: It is worth nong that, in recent years, fishers have been adopng more selecve gears in an aempt to reduce bycatch of non-target, low abundance species. Separator trawls and Ruhle trawls are designed to take advantage of the different behaviors of different species: catching species such as haddock that tend to swim upward and allowing the release of species that tend to swim down during capture, such as cod and flaish.

White hake

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High The FishBase vulnerability score for white hake is 65 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Low Concern The most recent assessment of white hake was the 56th Stock Assessment Workshop assessment in 2013, which indicated that SSB2011 = 26,877 MT and BMSY proxy = 32,400 MT; the stock was therefore not overﬁshed, with B2011 /B MSY = 0.83 (NEFSC 2013b). This is scored as "low" concern. Raonale:

88 The esmated spawning stock biomass has been increasing in recent years from 14,205 MT in 2007 to 26,877 MT in 2011; during this period, F has been relavely low and recruitment has been around the long- term average. It is believed that this is a genuine increase in abundance and not the result of changing the model used to assess the state of the stock (NEFSC 2013b).

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Low Concern

The most recent assessment of white hake was the 56th SAW assessment in 2013, which indicated that F2011 = 0.130 and FMSY = 0.2 , so overfishing was not occurring, with F2011 /F MSY = 0.65 (NEFSC 2013b). Over the period 1989–2010, landings have exceeded discards by nearly 10:1, with approximately two-thirds to three- quarters of landings made by the boom oer trawl fleet and another 20%–25% of landings from the sink gillnet fishery (NEFSC 2012a). White hake represents approximately 5% of the landings from the groundfish oer trawl fishery (NMFS 2011b). We have scored this as "low"concern.

89 Atlanc white-sided dolphin: Western North Atlanc Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

90 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern The status of the populaon relave to the OSP (opmum sustainable populaon) is unknown. The best esmate of abundance is 48,819, although there is a possibility that seasonal variaons in abundance occur and future studies may improve esmaons (Waring et al. 2016). White-sided dolphin is no longer considered a strategic stock in the Western North Atlanc because average annual human-related mortality does not exceed the PBR (Waring et al. 2016). We have awarded a "high" concern score.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Low Concern The large mesh oer trawl was responsible for an annual average of 82 white-sided dolphin mortalies between 2009 and 2013 (Waring et al. 2016). This represents 27% of the potenal biological removal (PBR) of 304, which is not exceeded by cumulave fishing impacts. The fishery is listed as a Category II fishery. We have awarded a "low" concern score.

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Very Low Concern The average esmated annual mortality rate of white-sided dolphin in the gillnet ﬁshery was 19 between 2009 and 2013 (Waring et al. 2016). This represents 6% of the potenal biological removal (PBR) of 304, which is not exceeded by collecve ﬁshing acvies. Fishery mortality is rated as a "very low" concern.

Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL 40-60% Discards from the large mesh oer trawl fishery largely consist of skate species and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). Skate species are believed to have a higher post-release survival rate than other fish species. A recent study revealed that the post-release mortality of the skate complex (species combined) was 19%, with the highest post-release mortality exhibited by smooth skate at 60% (Mandelman et al. 2013). Because of the uncertainty about which skate species are discarded during the groundfish fishery, a precauonary assumpon is made that they are all smooth skate; this results in an overall discard rate of 43%. Raonale: It is worth nong that, in recent years, fishers have been adopng more selecve gears in an aempt to reduce bycatch of non-target, low abundance species. Separator trawls and Ruhle trawls are designed to take advantage of the different behaviors of different species: catching species such as haddock that tend to swim upwardFactor and2.2 -allowing Abundance the release of species that tend to swim down during capture, such as cod and flaish.

91 UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET 20-40% The main species discarded in the large mesh gillnet fishery is spiny dogfish (41.6% of total landings) (NMFS 2011b). Spiny dogfish has been shown to have a 55% overall mortality rate in gillnet fisheries (Rulifson 2007). Therefore, the overall discard rate was adjusted to account for the survival rate of spiny dogfish, resulng in an overall discard rate of 28%.

92 Harbor seal: Western North Atlanc Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

93 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern Current harbor seal abundance in the Western North Atlanc is esmated to be 75,834 based on 2012 data (Waring et al. 2016). Populaon trend analysis has not been conducted for the stock. Because abundance relave to a sustainable level is unknown and marine mammals are considered highly vulnerable to ﬁshing acvies, abundance is considered a "high" conservaon concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Very Low Concern The Western North Atlanc populaon of harbor seal is not considered a strategic stock (Waring et al. 2016). Total fishery-related mortality and serious injury from 2009 to 2013 was 408, which did not exceed PBR (2,006). A small proporon (< 1% of PBR) was aributed to the boom trawl fishery. We have awarded a score of "very low" concern. Raonale: The large mesh gillnet and large mesh oer trawl are known to interact with harbor seal in the Northwest Atlanc. The average annual fishing mortality and serious injury between 2009 and 2013 that was associated with the gillnet fishery was 358, while 3.2 annually were aributed to the boom trawl fishery (Waring et al. 2016).

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Low Concern The Western North Atlanc populaon of harbor seals is not considered a strategic stock (Waring et al. 2016). Total fishery-related mortality and serious injury from 2009 to 2013 was 408, which did not exceed PBR (2,006). The largest poron (18% of PBR) was aributed to the Northeast sink gillnet fishery. Raonale: The large mesh gillnet and large mesh oer trawl are known to interact with harbor seal in the Northwest Atlanc. The average annual fishing mortality and serious injury between 2009 and 2013 that was associated with the gillnet fishery was 358, while 3.2 annually were aributed to the boom trawl fishery (Waring et al. 2016).

Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL 40-60%

94 Discards from the large mesh oer trawl fishery largely consist of skate species and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). Skate species are believed to have a higher post-release survival rate than other fish species. A recent study revealed that the post-release mortality of the skate complex (species combined) was 19%, with the highest post-release mortality exhibited by smooth skate at 60% (Mandelman et al. 2013). Because of the uncertainty about which skate species are discarded during the groundfish fishery, a precauonary assumpon is made that they are all smooth skate; this results in an overall discard rate of 43%.

Ocean pout

Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern

The 3-year average survey index for ocean pout in 2010 was 0.41kg/tow, which was 8% of the BMSY proxy (4.94 kg/tow) (NEFSC 2012a). This is scored as "high" concern.

95 Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Moderate Concern

The most recent assessment of ocean pout was published in 2012, which indicated F2010 = 0.31 and FMSY proxy = 0.76, so F2007 /F MSY = 0.41 and overfishing was not occurring (NEFSC 2012a). Even though catch and exploitaon raos remain at, or near, record-low levels, the stock size has not increased from its record-low level, suggesng that it may be in a depensatory state. Discards are believed to exceed landings, due mainly to a lack of market (NEFSC 2012a), and are less than 1% of landed weight in the oer trawl and longline fisheries (NMFS 2011b). This results in a score of "moderate" concern. Raonale: Historically, the majority of ocean pout landings have been taken using oer trawl gear; however, in 2010, oer trawl landings dropped down to less than one percent of all landings, with fish and lobster pots contribung over 85% of landings for the year (NEFSC 2012a). Over the period 2006 to 2010, large-mesh oer trawl fisheries also accounted for 62%–93% of ocean pout discards (NEFSC 2012a). In recent years, discards have exceeded landings, and may be sufficiently high to hinder stock recovery; nevertheless, the lack of response to reduced exploitaon suggests that the stock’s dynamics have been so severely affected by historical overfishing that the stock is unlikely to rebuild, even in the absence of fishing mortality (NEFSC 2008).

Atlanc halibut

96 Atlanc halibut has a FishBase vulnerability score of 88 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

The most recent assessment of Atlanc halibut was published in 2012, and it indicated B2010 = 1,700 MT and BMSY = 49,000 MT. Therefore, the stock is not considered overﬁshed, with B2010/BMSY = 0.0347 (NEFSC 2012c). Atlanc halibut is considered a species of concern by NMFS (NMFS 2012c). We have scored this as "high" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Moderate Concern Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank Atlanc halibut is in year 8 of a 52-year rebuilding plan (NMFS 2012c). Since 2009, NMFS also had a possession limit of one fish per trip for Atlanc halibut (NEFSC 2012a). The most recent assessment of Atlanc halibut indicated F2010 = 0.032 and FMSY = 0.0731, so F2010/FMSY = 0.438 and overfishing was not occurring (NEFSC 2012a). But FREBUILD, the target fishing pressure if the stock is to be rebuilt by 2056, is 0.044 (Col & Legault 2009); thus, although F2010/FREBUILD = 0.73, fishing mortality exceeded FREBUILD in 6 of the last 10 years for which data were available, and the average value of F for this me was 0.0504, slightly above FREBUILD (NEFSC 2012a). Also, FREBUILD is likely to be highly opmisc (see “Detailed Raonale” below). Discards of halibut are a low proporon of the landings for all the gears assessed here (< 0.1%) (NMFS 2011b). But discards of halibut have been increasing and now outweigh landings, partly because of the increase in minimum landing size in 1999 and 2004, and the introducon of the retenon limit (NEFSC 2012a). This factor is scored as "moderate" concern. Raonale:

97 No directed fishery exists for halibut in federal waters, although a limited halibut fishery is permied in Maine’s state waters. Amendment 9 to the NE Mulspecies FMP permits a one-fish possession limit (NMFS 2009).

FREBUILD and the rebuilding meframe may be highly opmisc for three reasons. First, the populaon model makes the unrealisc assumpon that the populaon grows at its maximum rate, even though there are currently no indicaons that this is the case. Second, the model does not incorporate age structure; thus, because the mean age of maturity for females is 7.3 years, there will be a lag me of inial response to management measures and a slower rebuilding trajectory than projected. Third, the currently assessed Gulf of Maine-Georges Bank stock is likely a small poron of a larger U.S.-Canadian Atlanc halibut stock, because there is strong evidence that halibut is capable of long-distance movements and of crossing U.S.-Canada boundaries in substanal numbers, and this dynamic is unaccounted for by the current model (Col & Legault 2009).

98 Short-beaked common dolphin: Western North Atlanc Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

99 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern The minimum populaon size for the short-beaked common dolphin was believed to be 173,486 in 2007 (Waring et al. 2016). The opmum sustainable populaon (OSP) has not been calculated for this stock, so it is not possible to determine whether abundance is at a sustainable level. This is scored as "high" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Very Low Concern The average annual mortality of common dolphins due to the large mesh trawl was 53.4 between 2009 and 2013 (Waring et al. 2016). This is <5% of PBR (1,125), and cumulave ﬁshing impacts are 32% of PBR (Waring et al. 2016). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern.

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Very Low Concern The average annual mortality in the gillnet ﬁshery from 2009--2013 was 70 animals, which is <10% of the PBR of 1,125 (Waring et al. 2016). Cumulave ﬁshing impacts are 32% of the PBR (Waring et al. 2016). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern.

100 UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET 20-40% The main species discarded in the large mesh gillnet fishery is spiny dogfish (41.6% of total landings) (NMFS 2011b). Spiny dogfish has been shown to have a 55% overall mortality rate in gillnet fisheries (Rulifson 2007). Therefore, the overall discard rate was adjusted to account for the survival rate of spiny dogfish, resulng in an overall discard rate of 28%.

101 Minke whale: Canadian east coast Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

102 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern The status of the Canadian east coast populaon of minke whale relave to the opmum sustainable populaon (OSP) is unknown. Best esmates of the populaon suggest that there are 20,741 whales (Waring et al. 2016). This is scored as "high" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Very Low Concern The average esmated annual mortality of minke whale aributed to all U.S. fisheries between 2009 and 2013 was 7.5 whales, which is <5% of PBR (162) (Waring et al. 2016). Gear from entanglements was not idenfied specifically to a fishery. We have awarded a score of "very low" concern.

103 Harp seal: Western North Atlanc Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

104 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

High Concern The Western North Atlanc harp seal populaon is believed to be at around 7.1 million individuals, although the proporon of the populaon residing in U.S. waters is unknown. The opmum sustainable populaon (OSP) has not been calculated for this populaon, so it is unclear whether the populaon is at a sustainable level, although it does appear to have stabilized (Waring et al. 2016). This is scored as "high" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Very Low Concern The PBR for Western North Atlanc harp seal is unknown; however, mortalies and serious injuries due to interacons with fishing gear are low and believed to be insignificant and approaching zero relave to populaon size (Waring et al. 2013a). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern. Raonale: The large mesh gillnet and large mesh oer trawl are known to interact with harp seals to some degree. The average annual mortality and serious injury rate associated with the gillnet fishery was 208 seals from 2009 to 2013 (Waring et al. 2016). Average annual impact rates are 0.4 for the trawl fishery during the same period (Waring et al. 2016).

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Very Low Concern The PBR for Western North Atlanc harp seal is unknown; however, mortalies and serious injuries due to interacons with fishing gear are low and believed to be insignificant and approaching zero relave to populaon size (Waring et al. 2013a). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern. Raonale: The large mesh gillnet and large mesh oer trawl are known to interact with harp seals to some degree. The average annual mortality and serious injury rate associated with the gillnet fishery was 208 seals from 2009 to 2013 (Waring et al. 2016). Average annual impact rates are 0.4 for the trawl fishery during the same period (Waring et al. 2016).

Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL 40-60%

105 Discards from the large mesh oer trawl fishery largely consist of skate species and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). Skate species are believed to have a higher post-release survival rate than other fish species. A recent study revealed that the post-release mortality of the skate complex (species combined) was 19%, with the highest post-release mortality exhibited by smooth skate at 60% (Mandelman et al. 2013). Because of the uncertainty about which skate species are discarded during the groundfish fishery, a precauonary assumpon is made that they are all smooth skate; this results in an overall discard rate of 43%.

106 Harbor porpoise: Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

107 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern The best populaon esmate for the harbor porpoise is 79,833; the current populaon trend is unknown (Waring et al. 2016). It is listed as a species of special concern for the Northeast sink gillnet fishery (NMFS 2012d). This is scored as "high" concern. Raonale: The Northeast sink gillnet fishery is listed as a Category I fishery in the 2016 LOF (List of Fisheries) because the annual mortality and serious injury to harbor porpoise stock (Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy) exceeds 50% of the PBR level of harbor porpoise (Waring et al. 2016).

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Very Low Concern The esmated average annual mortality of harbor porpoise in the Northeast boom trawl ﬁshery between 2009 and 2016 was 2.6 (Waring et al. 2016). This is less than 1% of the PBR of 706. We have awarded a score of "very low" concern.

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Moderate Concern The Northeast sink gillnet fishery is listed as a Category I fishery and removes more than 50% of the PBR (706) (Waring et al. 2016). Some management acons are in place (me/area closures and pingers) and are believed to be effecve. But because of low compliance with pinger requirements, the target bycatch rate was exceeded in 2011 and 2012 (NERO 2013). More recent data indicate that the PBR is no longer exceeded, and that compliance is improving. Because the current cumulave fisheries mortality does not exceed PBR, fishery mortality is considered a "moderate" concern. Raonale:

108 The total annual esmated average fishery-related mortality or serious injury of harbor porpoise in the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy is 564, compared to a potenal biological removal (PBR) of 706. Of those instances, 521 per year are from U.S. fisheries (using observer and Marine Mammal Authorizaon Program data), with an annual average of 385.5 serious injuries and mortalies aributable to the Northeast gillnet fishery between 2009 and 2013 (Waring et al 2016). The 1994--1998 average esmated harbor porpoise mortality and serious injury rate in the NE gillnet fishery (mesh size unspecified) was 1,163 animals per year, so there has been a decrease in serious injuries and mortalies since the introducon of the Take Reducon Plan. But total U.S. fishery-related mortality and serious injury for this stock exceeded the PBR, so the stock qualified as a Strategic stock. The Harbor Porpoise Take Reducon Plan (HPTRP) was implemented in 1998 to reduce interacons between harbor porpoise and commercial gillnet gear capable of catching mulple species in the Gulf of Maine and Mid-Atlanc coasts (NMFS 1998). The plan includes four complete me/area closures, and me/area closures unless pingers are used (see Appendix A1). Also included in the HPTRP are historically high areas of harbor porpoise bycatch. These areas are considered "consequence closure areas" that will seasonally close if the average bycatch rates of two consecuve management seasons are greater than the specified bycatch rate of 0.031 harbor porpoise per metric ton. If the rate is exceeded, the Coastal Gulf of Maine Consequence Closure Area will be closed during October and November to gillnet fishing (See Appendix A2; (NMFS 2010a)). These measures have decreased the average esmated harbor porpoise mortality and serious injury by 49% from 1994--1998 (before the HPTRP) to 2004--2008 (aer the HPTRP) (NMFS 2010b). Unfortunately, because of low compliance with pinger requirements, bycatch rates for the monitoring seasons in 2010--2011 (0.078) and 2011--2012 (0.043) exceeded the target rate (0.031) and prompted the area closure (NERO 2012) (NERO 2013). Aer a request from the fishing industry and a review of the conservaon benefit to harbor porpoise, the area was closed from February 1–March 31, 2013 instead of October and November 2012 (NERO 2012) (NERO 2013). Recent data suggest that compliance is improving and that PBR is no longer exceeded, but the gillnet fishery is sll contribung to a mortality rate greater than 50% of the PBR based on 2013 data (Waring et al. 2016) (NERO 2013) (NOAA 2013b).

109 UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET 20-40% The main species discarded in the large mesh gillnet fishery is spiny dogfish (41.6% of total landings) (NMFS 2011b). Spiny dogfish has been shown to have a 55% overall mortality rate in gillnet fisheries (Rulifson 2007). Therefore, the overall discard rate was adjusted to account for the survival rate of spiny dogfish, resulng in an overall discard rate of 28%.

Smooth skate

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Medium Smooth skate has a FishBase vulnerability score of 49 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

B/BMSY = 0.55 (NMFS 2012c); current abundance is between the biomass target and limit reference points (Figure 15). This is scored as "low" concern.

110 Raonale: The fishing mortality reference points for skates are based on changes in survey biomass indices. If the 3-year moving average of the survey biomass index for a skate species declines by more than the average coefficient of variaon (CV) of the survey me series, then fishing mortality is assumed to be greater than FMSY and overfishing is occurring for that skate species (Sosebee 2006).

111 Monkﬁsh

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Monkﬁsh has a FishBase vulnerability score of 77 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Low Concern The northern monkﬁsh stock biomass is believed to be somewhere around the amount of 66,000 MT (NEFSC 2010), which is above the target biomass of 52,930 MT. But incomplete informaon on the life history of monkﬁsh and a lack of discard informaon from the 1980s lead to uncertaines in the stock assessment. We have awarded a score of "low" concern. Raonale:

112 For management purposes, the monkfish populaon in the Northwest Atlanc is divided into two stocks, northern and southern, although biological indicators suggest that the populaon is in fact one large stock (NEFSC 2010). The cod, haddock, and pollock fisheries of the Northeastern United States are likely to encounter the northern stock. Monkfish biomass esmates in both management areas are currently above BTARGET , although the stocks in the northern management area have fluctuated around that level since the late 1990s (Figure 13).

Figure 15 Figure 13: Esmated stock biomass for the northern and southern ﬁshery management areas, with associated target and threshold biomass esmates (Figure from NEFSC 2010).

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Low Concern

Fishing mortality for both the northern and southern stocks is below the target reference points, with F2009 at 0.1 in the north (FTHRESHOLD = 0.43) (NEFSC 2010). But there is uncertainty in the model used to assess the monkfish stock. Discarding of monkfish has decreased in recent years, and the average discard/kept rao between 2005 and 2009 of 0.17 is close to the longterm average of 0.15 (NEFSC 2010). Monkfish discards amount to 1% of total landings in the groundfish trawl fishery (NMFS 2011b) and are not considered significant in the other gears discussed in this report. We have awarded a score of "low" concern. Raonale:

113 Overall ﬁshing mortality is believed to be below threshold targets in both the northern and southern stocks (Figure 14); however, there is uncertainty in the stock assessment.

Rosee skate

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Medium Rosee skate has a FishBase vulnerability score of 54 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

114 B/BMSY = 0.83 (NMFS 2012c); current abundance is approaching the limit reference point, and the 3-year average abundance has recently dropped below the benchmark target, aer ﬂuctuang around this level for the last decade (Figure 15). This is scored as "low" concern.

115 UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET 20-40% The main species discarded in the large mesh gillnet fishery is spiny dogfish (41.6% of total landings) (NMFS 2011b). Spiny dogfish has been shown to have a 55% overall mortality rate in gillnet fisheries (Rulifson 2007). Therefore, the overall discard rate was adjusted to account for the survival rate of spiny dogfish, resulng in an overall discard rate of 28%.

Winter skate

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES High Winter skate has a FishBase vulnerability score of 62 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Low Concern The 2015 update to the skate stock assessment indicates that the winter skate average biomass index (5.06 kg/tow) is above the biomass threshold reference point of 2.83 kg/tow, but below the BMSY proxy (5.66 kg/tow) (Sosebee 2015). Hence, winter skate is not overﬁshed, but is currently below BMSY. Therefore, abundance is scored as “low” concern. Raonale:

116 Biomass reference points are based enrely on NEFSC survey data because reliable landings and discard informaon are not available by species. For all skate species but barndoor, the BMSY proxy is deﬁned as the 75th percenle of the appropriate survey biomass index me series for that species (Brown et al. 2013).

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Moderate Concern The 2015 update to the skate stock assessment indicates that the 2012–2014 NEFSC autumn average biomass index for winter skate is above the 2011–2013 index by 2% (Sosebee 2015). We have scored fishing mortality of the stock as “moderate” concern, because there is uncertainty in the biomass assessment (based on the 3-year average survey biomass) that results in unknown fishing mortality relave to fishing at maximum sustainable yield (FMSY). Raonale: The fishing mortality reference points for skates are based on changes in survey biomass indices. If the 3-year moving average of the survey biomass index for a skate species declines by more than the average coefficient of variaon (CV) of the survey me series, then fishing mortality is assumed to be greater than FMSY and overfishing is occurring for that skate species (Sosebee 2015).

117 It is worth nong that, in recent years, fishers have been adopng more selecve gears in an aempt to reduce bycatch of non-target, low abundance species. Separator trawls and Ruhle trawls are designed to take advantage of the different behaviors of different species: catching species such as haddock that tend to swim upward and allowing the release of species that tend to swim down during capture, such as cod and flaish.

Lile skate

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Medium Lile skate has a FishBase vulnerability score of 44 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Very Low Concern

B/BMSY = 1.16 (NMFS 2012c); current abundance and the 3-year average abundance are both above the biomass target (Figure 15). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern.

118 Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES Low Concern The 2008–2010 average survey index (8.15 kg/tow) was 33% higher than the 2007–2009 average (6.12 kg/tow), therefore NMFS did not consider overfishing to be taking place (NEFMC 2012). In the fourth quarter of 2012, overfishing was not occurring (NMFS 2012c). We have awarded a score of "low" concern. Raonale: The fishing mortality reference points for skates are based on changes in survey biomass indices. If the 3-year moving average of the survey biomass index for a skate species declines by more than the average coefficient of variaon (CV) of the survey me series, then fishing mortality is assumed to be greater than FMSY and overfishing is occurring for that skate species (Sosebee 2006).

119 Gray seal: Western North Atlanc Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

120 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

High Concern The current status of the Western North Atlanc populaon of gray seal is unknown relave to the OSP; abundance is unknown but is believed to be increasing in U.S. and Canadian waters (Waring et al. 2016). Because abundance is unknown relave to sustainable levels and marine mammals are highly vulnerable to ﬁshing acvity, Seafood Watch considers gray seal abundance to be a "high" conservaon concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Very Low Concern A potenal biological removal (PBR) has not been esmated for the Western North Atlanc gray seal populaon; however, indicaons that the stock is increasing suggest that the impact of U.S. fisheries on the populaon is insignificant and approaching zero relave to the size of the populaon (Waring et al. 2016). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern. Raonale: The gillnet and large mesh trawl fisheries are known to have interacons with gray seal in the Northwest Atlanc. Between 2009 and 2013, the average annual mortality and serious injury to gray seals in the gillnet fishery was 1,076 seals (Waring et al. 2016). The large mesh trawl fishery has a lower impact, with 33.4 interacons annually (Waring et al. 2016).

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Very Low Concern A potenal biological removal (PBR) has not been esmated for the Western North Atlanc gray seal populaon; however, indicaons that the stock is increasing suggest that the impact of U.S. fisheries on the populaon is insignificant and approaching zero relave to the size of the populaon (Waring et al. 2016). We have awarded a score of "very low" concern. Raonale: The gillnet and large mesh trawl fisheries are known to have interacons with gray seal in the Northwest Atlanc. Between 2009 and 2013, the average annual mortality and serious injury to gray seals in the gillnet fishery was 1,076 seals (Waring et al. 2016). The large mesh trawl fishery has a lower impact, with 33.4 interacons annually (Waring et al. 2016).

Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL 40-60%

121 Discards from the large mesh oer trawl fishery largely consist of skate species and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). Skate species are believed to have a higher post-release survival rate than other fish species. A recent study revealed that the post-release mortality of the skate complex (species combined) was 19%, with the highest post-release mortality exhibited by smooth skate at 60% (Mandelman et al. 2013). Because of the uncertainty about which skate species are discarded during the groundfish fishery, a precauonary assumpon is made that they are all smooth skate; this results in an overall discard rate of 43%.

Summer ﬂounder

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Medium Summer ﬂounder has a FishBase vulnerability score of 47 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Low Concern In 2011, summer ﬂounder spawning stock biomass (SSB) was esmated to be 57,020 MT, just below the target reference point of SSBMSY = SSB 35% = 60,074 MT (Terceiro 2012a); in 2010, SSB had been slightly higher than SSBMSY . As of March 29, 2012, NMFS listed Mid-Atlanc coast summer ﬂounder as rebuilt (NMFS 2012c). We have scored abundance as "low" concern.

122 Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High Concern The 2015 update assessment of summer flounder indicates that fishing mortality is above the fishing mortality at maximum sustainable yield (FMSY ), which means that overfishing is occurring. Fishing mortality was esmated to be 0.36 in 2014 (90% confidence interval = 0.27 to 0.44), which is 16% above the FMSY proxy of 0.31 (Terceiro 2015). The previous 2013 assessment of summer flounder indicated that overfishing on summer flounder was not occurring, but there has been a tendency in recent years to underesmate fishing mortality and to overesmate abundance (NEFSC 2013c) (Terceiro 2015). In 2014, commercial landings of summer flounder were 4,900 MT and recreaonal landings were 3,400 MT (MAFMC 2015b). An addional 800 MT of summer flounder were discarded at sea in the commercial fishery and 900 MT were discarded in the recreaonal fishery (Terceiro 2015). Although catches have equaled or been only slightly above the specified catch limits in recent years, there is evidence of substanal illegal and unreported fishing of summer flounder, which is likely contribung to the overfishing of this species (ASMFC 2015). To address the overfishing of summer flounder, managers reduced the total allowable catch by 29% for the 2016 fishing season (MAFMC 2015a). Because overfishing of summer flounder is occurring, we have awarded a "high" concern score.

American plaice

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL High American plaice has a FishBase vulnerability score of 63 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

123 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

Low Concern In 2010, the esmated spawning stock biomass (SSB) of American plaice was 10,805 MT, which was above the SSBTHRESHOLD of 9,199 MT but only 59% of the biomass target (SSBMSY = 18,398 MT) (NEFSC 2012a). Spawning stock biomass has been below SSBMSY since the early 1980s, but has shown an increasing trend over the last decade (Figure 16). This results in a score of "low" concern. Raonale:

Figure 16 Figure 6. Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank American plaice spawning stock biomass and fishing mortality (F) esmates during 1980-2007, along with 80% confidence intervals for 2007 esmates, from GARM III assessment in 2008 (blue circles). Green diamond shows 2007 SSB and F esmates adjusted for retrospecve paern, and open squares show projected SSB and F, along with 80% confidence intervals (Figure from data in NEFSC 2012a).

124 Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Very Low Concern Fishing mortality on American plaice reached a historical low in 2010 at 0.13, which is below the benchmark of FMSY = 0.18. The Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank American plaice populaon is a transboundary stock; however, since the mid-1970s, 95%–100% of landings have come from U.S. fisheries (NEFSC 2012a). Oer trawls account for the majority of landings of American plaice. Discards from the groundfish oer trawl fisheries are less than 1% of landings (of all species), with discards from other gears being insignificant (NMFS 2011b). This results in a score of "very low" concern.

125 Bolenose dolphin: Western North Atlanc, oﬀshore Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

126 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET High Concern In 2011, the bolenose dolphin populaon in the Western North Atlanc was believed to consist of a minimum of 77,532 individuals (Waring et al. 2016). But the opmum sustainable populaon (OSP) has not been calculated for this stock, so it is not possible to determine whether the current populaon is at a sustainable level. Bolenose dolphin is not considered to be an endangered or threatened species (NMFS 2008). This factor is scored as "high" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Very Low Concern Mean annual mortality from 2009 to 2013 for the Northeast sink gillnet fishery is 5.2 and for the Northeast boom trawl is 6.4 (Waring et al. 2016). Mortality from each fishery is <10% of PBR (561), and the cumulave fishery mortality does not exceed PBR; thus, fishery mortality is rated as a "very low" concern.

127 Fin whale: Western North Atlanc Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

128 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET

Very High Concern The status of the stock relave to the OSP is unknown; however, fin whale is listed as "Endangered" under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) and by the Internaonal Union for the Conservaon of Nature (IUCN). We have scored this as "very high" concern. Raonale: The best available abundance esmate for fin whale in the North Atlanc is 1,618 individuals (Waring et al. 2016). There is insufficient informaon available to assess trends in this populaon.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Low Concern The large mesh gillnet fishery is the only fishery within the scope of this report that is known to interact with fin whale in the Northwest Atlanc (NMFS 2012d). The potenal biological removal (PBR) for fin whale is 2.5 whales per year (Waring et al. 2016). Between 2009 and 2013, minimum annual human-caused mortalies and serious injury to fin whales from entanglement was 1.75 per year, with 0.95 occurring in the U.S. (38% of PBR). Entanglement could not be aributed to a parcular fishery. Cumulave fishery mortality does not exceed the PBR, thus fishery mortality is considered a "low" concern.

129 Risso's dolphin: Western North Atlanc Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

130 Factor 2.2 - Abundance

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET

High Concern The best abundance esmate for Risso’s dolphin in the Western North Atlanc is 18,250 individuals based on a 2011 survey. There is uncertainty over the current populaon size relave to sustainable levels, and there is insuﬃcient data to assess trends (Waring et al. 2016). We have scored this as "high" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Very Low Concern The PBR for the Western North Atlanc populaon of Risso’s dolphin is 126, and between 2009 and 2013, total esmated mortalies due to human causes were 54 (Waring et al. 2016). There were 5.8 mean combined annual mortalies and serious injuries aributable to the Northeast gillnet ﬁshery, which is <5% of PBR (Waring et al. 2016). This results in a score of "very low" concern.

131 Hooded seal: Western North Atlanc Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

132 Factor 2.2 - Abundance

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET

High Concern The latest stock assessment of hooded seal in the Western North Atlanc was conducted in 2007, which leads to a degree of uncertainty in the current situaon. The 2007 assessment produced a best esmate abundance of 592,100 (NMFS 2007). An OSP was not derived; however, the populaon appeared to be increasing. We have scored this as "high" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Very Low Concern The average esmated fishing mortality of hooded seal as a result of the large mesh gillnet fishery was 25 between 2001 and 2005. Total human-caused mortalies were 5,199 over the same period, relave to a PBR of 15,360 seals (NMFS 2007). Thus, fishery mortality is rated a "very low" concern.

Barndoor skate

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES High The barndoor skate has a FishBase vulnerability score of 77 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

133 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES

Low Concern

B/BMSY = 0.69 (NMFS 2012c); current abundance is believed to be between the biomass target and the limit reference point (Figure 17). NMFS classiﬁes the stock as not overﬁshed and rebuilding. We have awarded a score of "low" concern. Raonale:

Figure 17: NEFSC survey biomass indices (kg/tow). Thin lines are annual indices, thick lines are three-year moving averages, the red line represents the biomass limit reference point, and the blue line represents the biomass target. From NEFMC 2012.

134 Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES

Low Concern The 2008–2010 average survey index (1.11 kg/tow) was 10% higher than the 2007–2009 average (1.01 kg/tow), indicang that the populaon was undergoing rebuilding (NEFMC 2012). In the fourth quarter of 2012, NMFS considered there to be no overfishing occurring on barndoor skate in the Northwest Atlanc (NMFS 2012c). We have awarded a score of "low" concern. Raonale: The fishing mortality reference points for skates are based on changes in survey biomass indices. If the 3-year moving average of the survey biomass index for a skate species declines by more than the average coefficient of variaon (CV) of the survey me series, then fishing mortality is assumed to be greater than FMSY and overfishing is occurring for that skate species (Sosebee 2006).

135 It is worth nong that, in recent years, fishers have been adopng more selecve gears in an aempt to reduce bycatch of non-target, low abundance species. Separator trawls and Ruhle trawls are designed to take advantage of the different behaviors of different species: catching species such as haddock that tend to swim upward and allowing the release of species that tend to swim down during capture, such as cod and flaish.

Clearnose skate

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET High Clearnose skate has a FishBase vulnerability score of 57 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Very Low Concern

B/BMSY = 1.43 (NMFS 2012c); current abundance is at or around the biomass target, with the 3-year average above this benchmark (Figure 15). This is scored as "very low" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, BOTTOM LONGLINES UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM GILLNET Low Concern The 2008–2010 average survey index of 1.10 kg/tow was not 40% lower than the 2007–2009 average of 1.16 kg/tow, so NMFS did not consider overﬁshing to be occurring (NEFMC 2012). In the fourth quarter of 2012, overﬁshing was not occurring on the clearnose skate populaon (NMFS 2012c). This factor is scored as "low" concern. Raonale:

136 The fishing mortality reference points for skates are based on changes in survey biomass indices. If the 3-year moving average of the survey biomass index for a skate species declines by more than the average coefficient of variaon (CV) of the survey me series, then fishing mortality is assumed to be greater than FMSY and overfishing is occurring for that skate species (Sosebee 2006).

UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL 40-60% Discards from the large mesh oer trawl fishery largely consist of skate species and spiny dogfish (NMFS 2011b). Skate species are believed to have a higher post-release survival rate than other fish species. A recent study revealed that the post-release mortality of the skate complex (species combined) was 19%, with the highest post-release mortality exhibited by smooth skate at 60% (Mandelman et al. 2013). Because of the uncertainty about which skate species are discarded during the groundfish fishery, a precauonary assumpon is made that they are all smooth skate; this results in an overall discard rate of 43%. Raonale: It is worth nong that, in recent years, fishers have been adopng more selecve gears in an aempt to reduce bycatch of non-target, low abundance species. Separator trawls and Ruhle trawls are designed to take advantage of the different behaviors of different species: catching species such as haddock that tend to swim upward and allowing the release of species that tend to swim down during capture, such as cod and flaish.

137 Winter ﬂounder: Gulf of Maine Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Low Winter ﬂounder (a.k.a. blackback) has a FishBase vulnerability score of 34 (Froese & Pauly 2012).

Factor 2.2 - Abundance

UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Moderate Concern Based on the most recent assessment of Gulf of Maine blackback in 2015, the stock biomass of ﬁsh larger than 30 cm is B2014 = 4,655 MT (NEFSC 2015b). But the Stock Assessment Review Commiee (SARC) rejected the analycal model, and a biomass reference point could not be esmated, leaving the stock status unknown (NEFSC 2011) (NEFSC 2015). As of December 31, 2015, NMFS listed Gulf of Maine blackback as not undergoing overﬁshing (NMFS 2015c). Because of the unknown stock status, we have scored abundance as "moderate" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality

UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Low Concern The most recent assessment of Gulf of Maine blackback in 2015 indicated that the exploitaon rate in 2014 was 0.06, which is 26% of the overfishing exploitaon threshold proxy (EMSY proxy = 0.23) (NEFSC 2015) (NMFS 2015c). As of December 31, 2015, NMFS listed Gulf of Maine blackback as having an “unknown” fishing mortality (NMFS 2015c). Even though it is highly likely that fishing mortality is at or below a sustainable level and will not reduce stock producvity, a score of "low" concern has been chosen because of the NMFS lisng. Raonale: A proxy value of the overfishing threshold was derived from a length-based yield per recruit analysis that assumes all fish above 30 cm are fully recruited to the fishery and that natural mortality is 0.3.

Factor 2.4 - Discard Rate

138 It is worth nong that, in recent years, fishers have been adopng more selecve gears in an aempt to reduce bycatch of non-target, low abundance species. Separator trawls and Ruhle trawls are designed to take advantage of the different behaviors of different species: catching species such as haddock that tend to swim upward and allowing the release of species that tend to swim down during capture, such as cod and flaish.

139 Long-ﬁnned pilot whale

Factor 2.1 - Inherent Vulnerability

UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

High Seafood Watch considers all marine mammals to have a high vulnerability to ﬁshing pressure (Seafood Watch 2013).

140 Factor 2.2 - Abundance UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL

High Concern The best available esmate of abundance in the western North Atlanc is 5,636 (Waring et al. 2016). Because of uncertainty regarding populaon trends and this species' high inherent vulnerability, abundance is rated as a "high" concern.

Factor 2.3 - Fishing Mortality UNITED STATES/GEORGES BANK, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL UNITED STATES/GULF OF MAINE, LARGE MESH BOTTOM TRAWL Low Concern The cumulave average fishery-related mortality or serious injury from 2008 to 2012 was 35 individuals, which did not exceed the potenal biological removal (PBR) of 199 (Waring et al. 2016). The Northeast boom trawl fishery was responsible for 31 of those incidents (15.6% of PBR). The stock is not considered strategic, thus fishery mortality is considered a "low" concern.

141 Appendix B: Harbor Porpoise Take Reducon Plan

Figure 18 : New England Harbor Porpoise Take Reducon Plan (HPTRP) Management Areas for Gillnet Gear. From NMFS 1998.

142 Figure 19 : Harbor Porpoise Take Reducon Plan (HPTRP) Consequence Areas. From NMFS 2010c.

143 Appendix C: Update Summary This report was updated in July 2016 to note the status change of haddock in the Gulf of Maine which is no longer subject to overfishing. Fishery mortality concern was changed to low concern for this stock. The thorny skate was also updated to reflect that it is no longer subject to overfishing. Fishery mortality scores for thorny skate and winter skate were updated based on recent stock status updates. Stock abundance and fishing mortality scores were updated for winter flounder (blackback) and summer flounder to reflect recent stock assessment informaon resulng in a downgrade for these scores. All marine mammals were updated with the latest stock assessment informaon from 2015. Stock status secons for cod and pollock were not updated because there were no status changes.

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