Report of the Technical Subcommittee of the Canada-United States Groundfish Committee 51st Annual Meeting of the TSC May 5-6, 2010 Nanaimo, British Columbia 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 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 2007 April 24-25 Santa Cruz, CA Field Brylinsky 2008 May 6-7 Seattle, WA Wilkins Brylinsky 2009 May 5-6 Juneau, AK Clausen Clausen 2010 May 5-6 Nanaimo, BC Stanley Clausen Table of Contents HISTORY OF TSC MEETING LOCATIONS .......................................... Inside Cover A. OVERVIEW AND TERMS OF REFERENCE ...............................................................1 B. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................3 C. MINUTES OF THE TECHNICAL SUB-COMMITTEE ...............................................5 D. PARENT COMMITTEE MINUTES ................................................................................18 E. AGENCY REPORTS ..........................................................................................................20 1. ALASKA FISHERIES SCIENCE CENTER, NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE ..........................................................................................................21 2. CANADA, BRITISH COLUMBIA GROUNDFISH FISHERIES .......................................108 3. INTERNATIONAL PACIFIC HALIBUT COMMISSION (IPHC) .....................................130 4. NORTHWEST FISHERIES SCIENCE CENTER, NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE ..........................................................................................................148 5. SOUTHWEST FISHERIES SCIENCE CENTER, NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE ..........................................................................................................212 6. STATE OF ALASKA – ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME .....................233 7. STATE OF OREGON – DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE ...............................277 8. STATE OF WASHINGTON – DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE .....................292 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 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 1 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 5-6, 2010 in Nanaimo, British Columbia. The meeting was hosted by DFO Pacific Biological Station and held at the Nanaimo Convention Center. The meeting was chaired by Dave Clausen, AFSC Auke Bay Lab. As is done each year, participants reviewed previous year (2009) research achievements and projected current year (2010) research for each agency. The TSC again noted the ongoing work of the Committee of Age Reading Experts (CARE) (http://care.psmfc.org), a long-standing TSC Working Group that was originally created by TSC in 1982. Shayne MacLellan (DFO), representing CARE, reviewed CARE activities that followed the CARE 2009 workshop. The results of the workshop were summarized during the previous TSC meeting. During the workshop, seven CARE to CARE recommendations were developed. Related to these, CARE subsequently assembled and presented a poster on the mission, history, and accomplishments of CARE at the August 2009 International Otolith Symposium in Monterey, California. CARE has tasked itself with updating the CARE manual and exploring the possibility of a meeting in 2010 to review results of the sablefish otolith exchange study. There were no outstanding TSC to CARE recommendations that required action and no outstanding recommendations from CARE to TSC. Shayne noted that Moss Landing has not sent a representative to the last two CARE meetings. With the retirement of Greg Cailliet and Allen Andrews moving to Hawaii, future MLML representation may be in question. There was no Trawl Survey Working Group Report meeting in 2009; however the committee endorsed a meeting for early 2011. TSC suggested that the format be expanded to include hook- and-line surveys (see TSC to TSC recommendations below). Discussion topics for the meeting would include survey design issues, operational issues, and updates concerning at-sea methods of data acquisition. Members from most of the agencies contributed to a discussion on developing methodologies for data poor assessments. Steve Ralston mentioned that at the NMFS National Stock Assessment Workshop this year, data poor assessments will be a major discussion topic and that a WG will produce a document with recommendations. There was a suggestion that TSC sponsor a workshop on data poor assessment methods or create a WG but the overall committee noted that there already appeared to be lot of activity in this field with numerous conferences and publications including books dedicated to the issue. The TSC did not endorse any specific recommendations on this issue. Greg Workman noted that the process to formally ratify the hake treaty between the U.S. and Canada has slowed and that each country has submitted “competing” assessments for the last three years. He