Application of the British Columbia Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) management procedure for the 2024-25 fishing year

Abstract

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the British Columbia (BC) Sablefsh (Anoplopoma fmbria) fshing industry collaborate on a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) process intended to provide a transparent and repeatable harvest strategy. Total allowable catch (TAC) advice is provided annually to DFO Fisheries Management based on the application of a Management Procedure (MP) to updated stock index and landings data. The Sablefsh MP is a specifc, repeatable algorithm for computing a recommended annual catch limit (‘MP catch limit’). Criteria for selecting an MP are defned based on specifed management objectives. Performance statistics are compiled during simulation testing of candidate MP options, where each statistic summarizes a fshery outcome related to a specifc management objective. Uncertainty and robustness are considered by testing each candidate MP against alternative scenarios for Sablefsh stock and fshery dynamics defned by operating models (OMs). MPs that do not meet imperative objectives related to conservation are rejected from consideration. For MPs that do meet conservation objectives over a range of alternative scenarios, the fnal selection of an MP is based on examining trade-offs among management outcomes linked to socio-economic objectives. The Sablefsh MP calculates a recommended catch limit, which has been adopted as the TAC in most years (Appendix, Table 1). Each year, under the terms of a Collaborative Agreement, DFO Science and the Canadian Sablefsh industry work together to collect annual abundance and landings data and apply the selected MP to those data in order to calculate the MP catch limit for the upcoming fshing year. Deviation from the selected MP should be avoided since conclusions about MP acceptability based on simulation results are predicated on adherence to the MP. However, the MP may be revised when OM scenarios are updated based on new information, or when changes are made to fshery management objectives. The MP is not used to evaluate stock status and serves only as a means of calculating a recommended catch limit based on monitoring data. DFO Fisheries Management has requested that Science Branch evaluate the MP response to updated stock and fshery data and resulting harvest advice for 2024-25. This Science Response applies the Sablefsh MP to data updated to the end of 2023. The resulting MP catch limit informed the TAC for the 2024-25 fshing year. This document also provides background on the Sablefsh MSE process, as well as stock summary information on sustainability elements required by DFO’s Fishery Decision-Making Framework Incorporating the Precautionary Approach (‘PA Policy,’ DFO 2009). The coastwide Sablefsh stock in BC has been prescribed under the Fish Stocks provisions (FSP) of the Canadian Fisheries Act (Fisheries Act R.S.C., 1985, c. F-14, as amended by Bill C-68, June 21 2019). Alignment of the Sablefsh management system with the FSP and the DFO PA Policy is achieved via the Sablefish MSE process. This Science Response Report results from the regional peer review of January 26, 2024 on the Application of the Sablefish Management Procedure in British Columbia for 2024-2025.