Response Statement - Deepwater Redfish, Gulf of St. Lawrence - Laurentian Channel population

December 2, 2010

Common Name: Deepwater Redfish, Gulf of St. Lawrence - Laurentian Channel population Scientific Name: Sebastes mentella

Status assessment by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC): Endangered

How the Minister of the Environment intends to respond to the assessment: The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans will undertake consultations with the governments of Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Aboriginal peoples, stakeholders, and the public on whether or not the Deepwater Redfish, Gulf of St. Lawrence - Laurentian Channel population, should be added to the List of Wildlife Species at Risk (Schedule 1) under the Species at Risk Act as Endangered. The Minister of the Environment will forward the COSEWIC assessment of the Deepwater Redfish, Gulf of St. Lawrence - Laurentian Channel population, to the Governor in Council upon completion of consultations.

Once a species has been assessed by COSEWIC, further steps must be undertaken before it is added to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act. For more information on this process, please view The Species Listing Process Under SARA.

Reason(s) for status designation provided by COSEWIC: As with other members of the family Sebastidae, this species is long-lived (maximum age about 75 yr), late-maturing (generation time 18 yr), and highly vulnerable to mortality from human activities. Recruitment is episodic, with strong year-classes only occurring every 5-12 years. Abundance of mature individuals has declined 98% since 1984, somewhat more than one generation, and the decline has not ceased. Directed fishing and incidental harvest in fisheries for other species (bycatch) are the main known threats. Harvesting in parts of this population (Gulf of St. Lawrence) is currently limited to an index fishery, but commercial fisheries remain open in other areas (Laurentian Channel). Bycatch in shrimp fisheries has been substantially reduced since the 1990s by use of separator grates in trawls, but could still be frequent enough to affect recovery.

Occurrence: Atlantic Ocean

Competent Minister(s): Minister of Fisheries and Oceans

Province(s) and territory (territories) to be consulted: Quebec Newfoundland and Labrador New Brunswick Nova Scotia Prince Edward Island

Applicable federal legislation: Fisheries are managed and fish habitat is protected under the Fisheries Act.

Conservation activities underway: Given their morphological similarities and the significant overlapping of their distribution areas, a number of criteria are needed to distinguish the deepwater redfish from the Acadian redfish. In view of the time and costs involved, it is hard to apply these criteria on a large scale. The "redfish" is therefore considered a single species within the fishing industry. The DFO recently recommended adopting a management strategy for each species (2008), and may soon begin drafting this. In the Northwest Atlantic, the redfish fishery is managed by DFO, NAFO, the U.S. government and certain American states. Since the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Laurentian Channel populations are exclusive to Canadian waters, they are managed by DFO. Further north, the stocks of the Grand Banks (NAFO divisions 3O and 3LN) are managed by NAFO, while those of Labrador (Sub-Zone 2) and northeast Newfoundland (Division 3K) are managed by DFO. The Acadian redfish population of the southern Scotian Shelf and Gulf of Maine is jointly managed by the United States and Canada. Moratoria on directed redfish fishing have been in force in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Unit 1) since 1995, and in the southern Labrador (2J) and northeast Newfoundland (3K) divisions since 1988. The fishery in Grand Banks divisions 3L and 3N was reopened in 2010, after a moratorium that had been in place since 1998. Redfish fishing is subject to quotas on the Scotian Shelf, in the Gulf of Maine, and in Grand Banks Division 3O. In addition to catch limits, restrictions governing minimum catch and mesh sizes are in place to reduce pressure on immature redfish populations. To protect broodstock during spawning season, fishing in the Laurentian Channel is prohibited in May and June. A protected area has also been set aside for young redfish, to protect Acadian redfish populations in the southern sector (Browns Bank in the Gulf of Maine). The Nordmore grate, whose use in the northern shrimp fishery has been mandatory since 1994, considerably reduces redfish bycatches by allowing fish to escape from trawl nets.