Ref: 82026 Date: 22 October 2012
Dear Jodi
Greenland Coldwater Prawn (Pandalus borealis ) Fishery – IPI application
Please can you consider this application to approve P. montagui as an IPI stock in accordance with CR 27.4.9.1.
The distribution of P. montagui can overlap with that of P. borealis and, as a result, is liable to be caught in the fishery. Owing to their physical similarities and appearance they are in inseparable during the normal fishing operation and practically inseparable during processing (CR 27.4.9.1 a & b) see figures 1 and 2.
Figure 1 - Pandalus borealis
Figure 2 - Pandalus montagui
Analysis of logbooks from 12 “reliable recorders” (Kingsley 2011) and observer reports indicate that the total catches of P. montagui in the fishery are < 2%, see Table 1 and Figure 3.
Table 1. Showing the total catches of P. borealis and P. montagui between 1995 and 2005
Year Total catch of P. borealis Total catch of P. montagui (t) (t) 1995 85,027 562 1996 81,463 773 1997 77,611 422 1998 79,562 1253 1999 90,152 4 2000 96,378 305 2001 99,301 882 2002 128,925 225 2003 123,036 967 2004 142,326 831 2005 149,978 512 2006 153,188 1,444 2007 142,245 2,003 2008 152,749 88 2009 134,890 53 2010 134,000 2,594
Source: Hammeken Arboe, N. and Kingsley, M., 2010, NAFO/ICES WG Pandalus Assessment Group October 2010 The Fishery for Northern Shrimp ( Pandalus borealis ) off West Greenland, 1970 2010 http://www.nafo.int/publications/frames/publications.html
2 2007
10 yr mean 1.5% 1.6 2006
1.2 1.0% 2010
0.8 2003 2004 2001 0.5% 2005 0.4 Reported catch of P. montagui (Kt) montagui P. of catch Reported 2002 2008 0 2009 80 100 120 140 160 Reported catch of P. borealis, all vessels (Kt)
Figure 3. Pandalus montagui in the West Greenland shrimp fishery: annual and average reported catches of P. borealis and P. montagui between 2001–2010 by all vessels in the West Greenland fishery.
Source: Kingsley, M., 2011, NAFO/ICES WG Pandalus Assessment Group October 2011 Pandalus montagui in the West Greenland shrimp fishery, 2001–2010. http://www.nafo.int/publications/frames/publications.html
The reported catch of P. montagui over the period 2001 10 was near to 0.5% of the reported catch of P. borealis , but with some year to year variation and large deviations in some years. In 2008 and 2009 almost no P. montagui was reported, but in 2007 it was at nearly 1.5% of P. borealis (Fig 3.). The 10 year average ratio was 0.6%.
Because the data used to show the proportion of P. montagui in the total catch is based on the analysis of logbooks of 12 “reliable recorders” and, given there are presently 41 vessels operating in the fishery, there is enough uncertainty to suggest that the proportion of P. montagui could be above 2%. Kingsley (2011) estimates that the value could be as high as 6%. For this reason and the purposes of this request the P. montagui catch is considered to be between 2 15% (27.4.9.1c).
The P. boreali s fishery is the only fishery that uses small enough mesh size to catch P. montagui stock and so it is not subject to any other fishing mortality (CR 27.4.9.1 c).
P. montagui is not an ETP species (CR 27.4.9.1 d).
The P. montagui stock has not been MSC certified (CR 27.4.9.1 e). The Canadian P. montagui stock has been certified in a separate assessment however, there is no formal recognition or inference by the scientific bodies in NAFO, DFO, Greenland Institute that the P. montagui stock is the same on the Canadian and Greenland sides of the Davis Strait.
Because of the distinct depth distribution that P. montagui exhibits (i.e. they do not tolerate depths of approx 300 m or more) the deep water (1 2000 m) of the Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea is therefore thought to give effective geographic separation between the stocks and mixing between them is either zero or else so low that they can be viewed as separate stocks – confirmed by pers. comm. Michael Kingsley of Greenland Institute.
With the above points taken into consideration we are requesting that P. montagui be given the status of an IPI stock in relation to CR 27.4.9.1. In so doing we recognise that this will allow P. montagui to be an IPI stock for one certification period (5 years, CR Annex CH 4.1) after which if the fishery were to be re assessed the IPI stock will have to either be assessed and certified against Principle 1, or, techniques will have to have been developed to effectively separate out the IPI and target stock, or, measure will have been developed to reduce the proportion of IPI stocks to be ≤2%.
Yours sincerely
Paul Knapman