Report of the Technical Subcommittee of the Canada-United States Groundfish Committee Forty Seventh Annual Meeting of the TSC May 2-3, 2006 Inn at Otter Crest Otter Rock, Oregon Appointed by the Second Conference on Coordination of Fisheries Regulations between Canada and the United States Compiled by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission History of TSC meeting locations, hosts, and chairpersons. YEAR DATES LOCATION HOST CHAIR 1969 June 17-19 Seattle, WA Kauffman Forrester 1970 July 22-24 San Francisco, CA Jow Forrester 1971 Late June Vancouver, BC Forrester Meehan 1972 June 28-30 Newport, OR Meehan Meehan 1973 June 20-22 Seattle, WA Dark Humphreys 1974 June 19-21 Millbrae, CA Jow Forrester 1975 June 25-27 Vancouver, BC Forrester DiDonato 1976 June 23-25 Newport, OR Robinson DiDonato 1977 June 15-16 Seattle, WA Dark Leaman 1978 June 14-15 Menlo Park, CA Jow Westrheim 1979 June 20-21 Parksville, BC Beamish Dark 1980 June 18-20 Petersburg, AK Rigby Dark 1981 June 10-11 Bend, OR Demory Cass 1982 June 9-10 Port Ludlow, WA Pederson Cass 1983 June 15-17 Palo Alto, CA Jow Rigby 1984 June 20-22 British Columbia Westrheim Rigby 1985 June 25-27 Juneau, AK Morrison Westrheim 1986 June 19-19 Ashland, OR Demory Westrheim 1987 June 9-11 Seattle, WA Jagielo Demory 1988 June 7-9 Carmel, CA Henry Demory 1989 June 6-9 Ladysmith, BC Saunders Jagielo 1990 June 5-7 Sitka, AK Bracken Jagielo 1991 June 4-6 Newport, OR Barss Wilkins 1992 May 5-7 Seattle, WA Jagielo Wilkins 1993 May 5-7 Point Lobos, CA Thomas Saunders 1994 May 3-5 Nanaimo, BC Saunders Saunders 1995 May 2-3 Seattle, WA O’Connell Bracken 1996 May 7-9 Newport, OR Barss O’Connell 1997 May 6-8 Tiburon, CA Thomas Barss 1998 May 5-7 Olympia, WA Jagielo Barss 1999 May 4-6 Seattle, WA Methot Barnes 2000 May 9-10 Nanaimo, BC Saunders Barnes 2001 May 8-10 Newport, OR Schmitt Schmitt 2002 May 7-8 Point Lobos, CA Barnes Methot 2003 May 6-7 Sitka, AK O’Connell Jagielo 2004 May 4-5 Coupeville, WA Wilkins Jagielo 2005 May 3-4 Parksville, BC Stanley Stanley 2006 May 2-3 Otter Rock, OR Parker Stanley i REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE CANADA-UNITED STATES GROUNDFISH COMMITTEE Table of Contents HISTORY OF TSC MEETING LOCATION ........................................................................... Inside ....................................................................................................................................................................... Front ....................................................................................................................................................................... Cover A. OVERVIEW AND TERMS OF REFERENCE......................................................................1 B. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................3 C. MINUTES OF THE TECHNICAL SUB-COMMITTEE......................................................6 D. PARENT COMMITTEE MINUTES.................................................................................... 19 E. AGENCY REPORTS ............................................................................................................. 21 1. Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service ......................................... 22 2. Committee on Age Reading Experts (Care) ...................................................................................... 98 3. Fisheries and Oceans Canada ............................................................................................................... 110 4. International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC).......................................................................... 132 5. Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service................................... 157 6. Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service ................................... 174 7. State of Alaska, Alaska Department of Fish and Game.................................................................. 190 8. State of Oregon, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife ........................................................... 229 9. State of Washington, Washington Department of Fish and Game .............................................. 239 ii A. Overview and Terms of Reference During the Conference on Coordination of Fisheries Regulations Between Canada and the United States (April 1959, Vancouver B.C.), the Ad Hoc Committee on Trawl Fishery Regulations recommended that the governments of Canada and the United States establish a continuing group made up of administrative and technical representatives of Oregon, Washington and Canada to review trawl regulations, to exchange information of status of bottom fish stocks, and to continue, enhance and coordinate bottom fish research programs. The Technical Sub-committee (TSC) was then created by the Committee on Trawl Fishery Regulations (now the Canada-U.S. Groundfish Committee) at the trawl committee meeting held in Seattle, Washington, on November 4, 1959. The TSC first met in Portland, Oregon, on January 19-20, 1960. Dr. K.S. Ketchen (Canada) served as Chairman. Member agencies at the time were the Fisheries Research Board of Canada (now the Department of Fisheries and Oceans), Washington Department of Fisheries (now the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife), Fish Commission of Oregon (now the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife), and the California Department of Fish and Game. In 1972, two more agencies became members – the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries (now the National Marine Fisheries Service). The TSC has met at least annually since 1960 and submitted a processed report of each meeting to its Parent Committee. These terms of reference did not apply to Pacific halibut, whose research and management are the responsibility of the International Pacific Halibut Commission: 1. Exchange information on the status of groundfish stocks of mutual concern and coordinate, whenever possible, desirable programs of research. 2. Recommend the continuance and further development of research programs having potential value as scientific basis for future management of the groundfish fishery. 3. Review the scientific and technical aspects of existing or proposed management strategies and their component regulations relevant to conservation of stocks or other scientific aspects of groundfish conservation and management of mutual interest. 4. Transmit approved recommendations and appropriate documentation to appropriate sectors of Canadian and U.S. governments and encourage implementation of the recommendations. The TSC has exhibited considerable flexibility in reacting to the diverse problems of the dynamic groundfish fishery off western Canada and the United States. It has coordinated coastwide fishery statistics and research projects; created working groups to deal in depth with specific problems; scheduled workshops at which appropriate specialists met to jointly deal with specific problems and exchange data and information; and provided an on-going forum for exchange of data, procedures, and regulations. The TSC has identified problems associated with the utilization and management of groundfish resources of importance to both countries; often well in advance of public or agency awareness. The concerns expressed in 1962 by the TSC 1 over the development of foreign fisheries and recommendations for stock assessments were significant. TSC-coordinated Canada-U.S. research on Pacific Ocean perch provided the basis for negotiation of bilateral fishing agreements between the United States and Japan and the USSR. Furthermore, the continually updated information provided the basis for quotas imposed in 1977 by Canada and the United States when they both promulgated their 200-mile zones of extended jurisdiction. 2 B. Executive Summary The TSC met May 2-3, 2006 in Otter Rock, Oregon. The meeting was hosted by the Newport labs of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. As is done each year, participants review previous year (2005) research achievements and projected current year (2006) research for each agency. The TSC again noted the ongoing work of the Committee of Age Reading Experts (CARE) (http://care.psmfc.org/index.htm). These activities are conducted under the auspices of the TSC. CARE and TSC noted that the spring 2006 CARE meeting greatly benefited from the new addition of the Ageing Group at Moss Landing Marine Laboratory in the person of Dr. Greg Cailliet. At the 2005 TSC meeting, it was suggested that CARE consider a rotational scheduling of species specific ageing workshops in order to assure comparability of methods among labs. Further discussion indicated that the impetus for such workshops should probably come from the principal investigators for the species and be held on an as-needed basis. Nevertheless, the TSC noted that sometimes there is a lack of communication between age reading experts and assessment staff regarding between-lab variation in ageing techniques. TSC encouraged CARE members, by letter, to communicate such concerns to users of the data. The TSC noted that plans for the Sablefish Symposium have been changed. The working group has decided that rather than one comprehensive symposium, they would support several smaller focused workshops. This would make more efficient use of the limited resources. For instance, CARE is considering a sablefish otolith