NEW ENGLAND FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL. Annual Monitoring Report for Fishing Year 2017

NEW ENGLAND FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL for Fishing Year 2017

1.0 Executive Summary This (AMR) was prepared by Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), and reviewed by the New England Fishery Management Council s Whiting Plan Development Team (PDT) which added conclusions and recommendations (Section 3.0). This report and procedure is mandated by Amendment 19 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan and its implementing regulations, the fourth prepared since 2014. It is the first annual monitoring report prepared since the Council approved the 2018-2020 specifications and covers the terminal year under the 2015-2017 specifications (see discussion in Section 4.1). This year s report consists primarily of a fishery performance report (Section 5.0) that estimates total catch by stock to determine whether they exceed the Annual Catch Limit (ACL) and potentially trigger a post-season accountability measure (AM). Going into more detail than in past reports, this year s AMR includes a description of trends in effort and economics (Section 6.0). Rounding out the report is an update in survey biomass trends (Section 7.0), which can alert the Council to any rapid changes in stock condition that could require pro-active action to prevent overfishing, reduce discarding, and/or promote utilization. Potentially related to increases in squid catch and fishing effort in 2017, landings, catch, and effort generally declined across the board, by about 10 to 20 percent. As a result, catches remain well below the ACLs and trigger no post-season accountability measures. As in last year s report, the low TAL trigger for northern red hake may be hindering landings of red hake and keeping catch well below the ACL. A re-adjustment of the 37.9% TAL trigger may be warranted in a future action, particularly if the stock size remains at current levels or increases. In the northern management area, biomass of northern red hake and silver hake remain high and stable. Northern red hake biomass increased by 13% on an annual basis, but the three-year moving average declined by 7% (dropping a lower 2014 point estimate from the index). The biomass of northern silver hake declined by 27% on an annual basis, but is still well above the target. The three-year moving average declined by 5%. In the southern management area, we were unable to update the southern silver hake biomass trend for 2017 due to incomplete survey coverage. Using the index through 2016, stock biomass declined recently to below the target, but somewhat above the overfished threshold. These results have been considered in setting the 2018-2020 specifications. The stock biomass index for southern red hake uses the spring survey and could be updated through 2018. All three values since the 2015 survey have been below the threshold level that is used to determine stock status. On an annual basis, the survey biomass remained flat at 0.25 kg/tow (about ½ of the threshold reference point). The three-year moving average dropped a higher 2014 biomass index and thus declined by 29% to 0.27 kg/tow. Thus, the status of southern red hake remains in an overfished condition. In January 2018, the Council was notified that it must within two years develop a rebuilding plan for southern red hake. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 1 - September 2018

2.0 Table of Contents 1.0 Executive Summary... 1 2.0 Table of Contents... 2 2.1 List of Tables... 3 2.2 List of Figures... 4 2.3 List of Maps... 4 3.0 Conclusions and Recommendations... 5 3.1 Fishery Performance and Accountability Measures... 5 4.0 Management Background (Peter Burns and Andrew Applegate)... 7 4.1 2017 Small-Mesh Multispecies Management Update... 8 5.0 Fishery Performance Report (Dan Caless and Andrew Applegate)... 11 5.1 Annual Catch Limit Accounting... 11 5.2 Silver hake/whiting... 11 5.3 Red hake... 14 5.4 Bycatch of Small-Mesh Multispecies by Fishery... 16 6.0 Effort and Economic Trends in the Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery (Dr. Naresh Pradhan)... 18 6.1 Landings, Revenues, and Prices... 18 6.2 Fishery Effort... 22 6.3 Fishery Effort by Management Area... 29 6.4 SMS Productivity (CPUE)... 29 6.5 Fishery Income Dependencies from SMS Landings... 32 7.0 Trends in survey biomass indices (Larry Alade)... 38 7.1 Silver hake... 38 7.1.1 Northern silver hake... 40 7.1.2 Southern silver hake... 41 7.2 Red hake... 41 7.2.1 Northern red hake... 42 7.2.2 Southern red hake... 43 8.0 Whiting PDT Members and Contributors to this Document... 43 9.0 References... 44 Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 2 - September 2018

2.1 List of Tables Table 1. Northern area exemption program seasons... 7 Table 2. Mesh size dependent possession limits... 7 Table 3. Initial 2015-2017 small-mesh multispecies specifications... 9 Table 4. Final Red Hake Specifications for the 2016 and 2017 Fishing Years (in metric tons).... 9 Table 5. Revised small-mesh multispecies in-season accountability measure adjustment triggers, effective 2017.... 10 Table 6. Estimated FY 2017 catches of whiting (silver and offshore hakes) by management area, compared to specifications. Data current as of July 20, 2018... 13 Table 7. Estimated FY 2017 catches of red hake by management area, compared to specifications. Data current as of July 20, 2018... 15 Table 8. Reported small-mesh multispecies landings by fishery group. These totals were used as the kept-all for the fishery to estimate discards.... 17 Table 9. Estimated discards of small-mesh multispecies by fishery group, applying the discard to kept-all ratios for red hake and silver hake/whiting on observed trips in FY 2017 to the total... 18 Table 10. Vessels, landings, revenue and prices for small-mesh multispecies.... 20 Table 11. Effort, landings, and revenue by small-mesh multispecies.... 21 Table 12. Effort, landings, and revenue for all trips landing small-mesh multispecies.... 23 Table 13. Effort, small-mesh multispecies landings, revenue and price for all vessels and trips landing >1 lbs. of small-mesh multispecies.... 24 Table 14. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, prices and CPUE for trips TARGETING small-mesh multispecies.... 25 Table 15. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, and prices for trips TARGETING smallmesh multispecies.... 26 Table 16. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, and prices for trips NOT targeting smallmesh multispecies.... 27 Table 17. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, and prices for trips NOT targeting smallmesh multispecies.... 28 Table 18. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, and price by species and management area for vessels landing at least 1 lb. of small-mesh multispecies. Note that vessels may be counted independently in each area.... 30 Table 19. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, and prices by management area for trips targeting small-mesh multispecies.... 31 Table 20. Small-mesh multispecies portfolio analysis with effort, landings, and revenue for all trips landing at least one pound of small-mesh multispecies.... 33 Table 21. Small-mesh multispecies portfolio analysis with effort, landings, and revenue for trips with landing >= 1 lb. small-mesh multispecies... 34 Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 3 - September 2018

Table 22. Small-mesh multispecies portfolio analysis with effort, landings, and revenue for trips TARGETING small-mesh multispecies.... 35 Table 23. Small-mesh multispecies portfolio analysis with effort, landings, and revenue for trips NOT TARGETING small-mesh multispecies.... 36 Table 24. Summary of effort level and small-mesh multispecies revenue to total revenue on trips landing at least one pound of small-mesh multispecies.... 37 2.2 List of Figures Figure 1. 2016 and 2017 weekly landings of northern red hake compared to the Total Allowable Landings (TAL, or quota). Data as of August 15, 2018.... 5 Figure 2. 2016 and 2017 weekly landings of southern red hake compared to the Total Allowable Landings (TAL, or quota). Data as of August 15, 2018.... 6 Figure 3. Small-mesh fishery specification framework adopted and approved in Amendment 19.... 6 Figure 4. Updated survey biomass trend for northern silver hake, compared to biological reference points.... 40 Figure 5. Survey biomass trend for southern silver hake, compared to biological reference point... 41 Figure 6. Updated survey biomass trend for northern red hake, compared to biological reference points.... 42 Figure 7. Updated survey biomass trend for southern red hake, compared to biological reference points.... 43 2.3 List of Maps Map 1. Small-mesh exemption areas in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank... 10 Map 2. Stratum allocation to northern (yellow circles) and southern stocks (black and red circles) of silver and red hakes. In the fall 2017 bottom trawl survey, only strata shown with yellow and red circles were sampled. Strata with black circles were not sampled in 2017.... 39 Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 4 - September 2018

3.0 Conclusions and Recommendations 3.1 Fishery Performance and Accountability Measures Catches and landings of northern silver hake, southern whiting, and northern red hake remained well below their specifications. Catches for northern silver hake were 12.6% of the annual catch limit (ACL), 10.5 percent of the ACL for southern whiting, 44.7 percent of the ACL for northern red hake, and 62.8 percent of the ACL for southern red hake. Because no catches exceed the ACLs, no post-season AM adjustments are warranted. The in-season AM was triggered on August 7 2017 for northern red hake (https://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/nr/2017/august/17nrhposslimit.html), which had been subject to overfishing in 2013. This in-season trigger reduced the northern red hake possession limit from 3,000 to 400 lbs. Final catches for 2017 were estimated to be 464,000 lbs, or 44.7% of the ACL. Although not formally a part of the AMR for the 2017 fishing year, the fishing year 2018 landings for northern red hake appear to be tracking even less than they were for 2017 at this time of year (Figure 1). It is possible that the in-season AM for northern red hake will not be triggered in 2018. Landings of southern red hake in 2018 appear to be tracking the same pace as they were in 2017 (Figure 2). The 2018 specifications were lowered to account for declining stock biomass and overfishing. If the pace of landings continues to be similar as occurred in 2017, the in-season AM for southern red hake could be triggered in early spring 2019. If discarding does not increase relative to the average rate in 2015-2017 (a period used to set 2018-2020 specifications to account for discarding) and the stock biomass does not decline further, it is anticipated that the AM would prevent overfishing. Figure 1. 2016 and 2017 weekly landings of northern red hake compared to the Total Allowable Landings (TAL, or quota). Data as of August 15, 2018. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 5 - September 2018

Figure 2. 2016 and 2017 weekly landings of southern red hake compared to the Total Allowable Landings (TAL, or quota). Data as of August 15, 2018. Figure 3. Small-mesh fishery specification framework adopted and approved in Amendment 19. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 6 - September 2018

4.0 Management Background (Peter Burns and Andrew Applegate) The small-mesh multispecies fishery consists of three species: Silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis), red hake (Urophycis chuss), and offshore hake (Merluccius albidus). There are two stocks of silver hake (northern and southern), two stocks of red hake (northern and southern), and one stock of offshore hake, which primarily co-occurs with the southern stock of silver hake. There is little to no separation of silver and offshore species in the market, and both are generally sold under the name whiting. Throughout the document, whiting is used to refer to silver hake, and combined offshore and silver hake catches. Collectively, the small-mesh multispecies fishery is managed under a series of exemptions from the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. The Northeast Multispecies FMP requires that a fishery can routinely catch less than 5% of regulated multispecies to be exempted from the minimum mesh size. In the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank Regulated Mesh Areas (Map 1), there are six exemption areas, which are open seasonally (Table 1). Table 1. Northern area exemption program seasons May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Cultivator June 15 October 31 GOM * Grate July 1 November 30 Small I July 15 November 30 Small II June 30 January 1 Cape Cod RFT * GOM = Gulf of Maine RFT = Raised Footrope Trawl Sept 1 Nov 20 September 1 December 31 The Gulf of Maine Grate Raised Footrope area is open from July 1 through November 30 of each year and requires the use of an excluder grate on a raised footrope trawl with a minimum mesh size of 2.5 inches. Small Mesh Areas I and II are open from July 15 through November 15, and January 1 through June 30, respectively. A raised footrope trawl is required in Small Mesh Areas I and II, and the trip limits are mesh size dependent. Cultivator Shoal Exemption Area is open from June 15 October 31, and requires a minimum mesh size of 3 inches. The Raised Footrope Trawl Exemption Areas are open from September 1 through November 20, with the eastern portion remaining open until December 31. A raised footrope trawl, with a minimum mesh size of 2.5-inch square or diamond mesh, is required. The Southern New England and Mid-Atlantic Regulated Mesh Areas are open year-round and have mesh size dependent possession limits for the small-mesh multispecies. The mesh size dependent possession limits (Table 2) for all the areas with that requirement are: Table 2. Mesh size dependent possession limits Codend Mesh Size Silver and offshore hake, Northern red hake Southern Red Hake combined, possession limit Smaller than 2.5 3,500 lb 3,000 lb/1500 lb 5,000 lb Larger than 2.5, but 7,500 lb 3,000 lb/1500 lb 5,000 lb smaller than 3.0 Equal to or greater than 3.0 30,000 lb (40,000 lb in Southern Area) 3,000 l/1500 lb b 5,000 lb Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 7 - September 2018

The exemption areas were implemented as part of several different amendments and framework adjustments to the Northeast Multispecies FMP. In 1991, Amendment 4 incorporated silver and red hake and established an experimental fishery on Cultivator Shoal. Framework Adjustment 6 (1994) was intended to reduce the catch of juvenile whiting by changing the minimum mesh size from 2.5 inches to 3 inches. Small Mesh Areas I and II, off the coast of New Hampshire, were established in Framework Adjustment 9 (1995). The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) established essential fish habitat (EFH) designations and added offshore hake to the plan in Amendment 12 (2000). Also in Amendment 12, the Council proposed to establish limited entry into the small-mesh fishery. However, that measure was disapproved by the Secretary of Commerce because it did not comply with National Standard 4 1 as a result of measures that benefited participants in the Cultivator Shoal experimental fishery and because of the sunset provision that would have ended the limited entry program at some date. The Raised Footrope Trawl Area off of Cape Cod was established in Framework Adjustment 35 (2000). A modification to Framework Adjustment 35 in 2002 adjusted the boundary along the eastern side of Cape Cod and extended the season to December 31 in the new area. Framework Adjustment 37 modified and streamlined some of the varying management measures to increase consistency across the exemption areas. In 2003, Framework Adjustment 38 established the Grate Raised Footrope Exemption Area in the inshore Gulf of Maine area. The Northeast Multispecies FMP was implemented primarily to manage the commercial cod and haddock fisheries in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank 2. The FMP is complicated and has been changed numerous times since 1985 (almost 20 Council amendments and over 50 framework adjustments; not including dozens of emergency, interim, and Secretarial amendments implemented outside of the Council process.) A few of those amendments and several framework adjustments have addressed the small-mesh fishery specifically and are described below. 4.1 2017 Small-Mesh Multispecies Management Update Two management actions were implemented that affected the 2017 small-mesh multispecies fishery; the revised fishery specifications for northern and southern red hake, and an adjustment to the northern red hake possession limit adjustment trigger. Revised Red Hake Fishery Specifications for 2016 and 2017 The Council took action to adopt revised three-year specifications for all four small-mesh multispecies stocks for 2015-2017. Those specifications became effective for the 2015 fishing year which began on May 1, 2015 (Table 3). A data update later in 2015 revealed that northern red hake abundance was increasing and southern red hake abundance was decreasing. In light of this new information, the Council revised the specifications for northern and southern red hake for the 2016 and 2017 fishing years by increasing the limits for northern red hake and decreasing the limits for southern red hake. Table 4 compares the revised specifications to the initial specifications. 1 National Standard 4 states that measures shall not discriminate between residents of different States, and that fishing privileges must be fair and equitable to all such fishermen. 2 The large-mesh species (cod, haddock, pollock, flounders, etc.) were commonly referred to as the regulated species because they were the focus of management originally. That term is confusing as almost all of the commercially viable stocks are now regulated. This document refers to the management of those species as the groundfish fishery or the large-mesh multispecies fishery. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 8 - September 2018

Table 3. Initial 2015-2017 small-mesh multispecies specifications Stock Overfishing Limit (mt) Acceptable Biological Catch (mt) Annual Catch Limit (mt) Total Allowable Landings (mt) N. Silver Hake 43,608 24,383 23,161 19,948.7 N. Red Hake 331 287 273 104.2 S. Whiting* 60,148 31,180 29,621 23,833.4 S. Red Hake 3,400 3,179 3,021 1,309.4 *Southern whiting includes southern silver hake and offshore hake. Table 4. Final Red Hake Specifications for the 2016 and 2017 Fishing Years (in metric tons). Northern Red Hake Southern Red Hake Existing Revised % Change Existing Revised % Change Annual Catch Limit 273 471 +73% 3,021 1,631-46% Total Allowable Landings 104.2 120 +15% 1,309.4 746-43% Northern Red Hake Possession Limit Adjustment Trigger NOAA Fisheries reduced the northern red hake in-season possession limit adjustment trigger from 62.5 percent of the total allowable landings (TAL) to 37.9 percent of the TAL, effective with the 2017 fishing year. Consequently, each year, when 37.9 percent of the TAL is landed, the northern red hake possession limit will be reduced from 3,000 lb per trip to the incidental possession limit of 400 lb per trip. Under the Federal regulations, if the catch (landings and discards) of a small-mesh multispecies stock exceeds the stock s annual catch limit (ACL) in a given fishing year, NOAA Fisheries is required to reduce the in-season possession limit adjustment trigger (formerly 62.5 percent for northern red hake) in a subsequent fishing year by 1 percent for each 1 percent by which the ACL was exceeded. During the fishing year, when NOAA Fisheries projects that the landings have reached the trigger percentage of the TAL, the agency will reduce the possession limit for that stock to an incidental level for the remainder of the fishing year. In fishing year 2015, the northern red hake ACL was 273 mt, with a TAL of 104 mt. Northern red hake commercial catch, including landings and discards, was 340 mt, exceeding the ACL by 67 mt, or 24.6 percent. Accordingly, NOAA Fisheries reduced the possession limit trigger by 24.6 percent, from 62.5 percent of the TAL to 37.9 percent of the TAL. This measure reduced the possession limit for northern red hake from 3,000 lb (1,361 kg) per trip to the incidental possession limit of 400 lb (181 kg) once the fleet landed 45.5 mt in fishing year 2017. The rulemaking action that implemented the reduction of the adjustment trigger also necessitated the removal of the 1,500-lb (680-kg) possession limit at 45 percent of the TAL. The reduced trigger will remain in effect until the Council changes it through specifications or a framework action. This action did not alter the possession limit triggers for any of the other small-mesh multispecies stocks because catch of those stocks did not exceed the respective ACLs in 2015, nor have they since. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 9 - September 2018

Table 5. Revised small-mesh multispecies in-season accountability measure adjustment triggers, effective 2017. Species In-season Adjustment Trigger (percent) Northern Red Hake 37.9 Northern Silver Hake 90 Southern Red Hake 90 Southern Silver Hake 90 Map 1. Small-mesh exemption areas in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 10 - September 2018

5.0 Fishery Performance Report (Dan Caless and Andrew Applegate) 5.1 Annual Catch Limit Accounting Annual catch limits were implemented for the small-mesh fishery, via Secretarial Amendment, on May 1, 2012, and adopted by the Council through Amendment 19 to the Northeast Multispecies FMP later that year. These catch limits were implemented for fishing years 2012 through 2014, revised catch limits were implemented for 2015-2017. This report contains complete catch accounting information for fishing year 2015. Catch accounting information for fishing year 2016 can be found in the Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Report (http://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/safe-report-for-fishing-year-2016.pdf ). The annual catch limit was derived using the procedure shown in Figure 2. The specifications are listed in Table 3 for silver hake and whiting and Table 4 for red hake. GARFO staff summarized commercial, state water commercial, and recreational landings of whiting and red hake for fishing year 2017. Following existing SBRM procedures to apply discard to kept-all ratios on observed trips to the total (i.e. all species) fleet landings, GARFO staff estimated silver hake and red hake discards. Fleets were defined by the captain s trip declaration on vessel trip reports, but when that information was missing or ambiguous the species group that comprised the majority of the total was applied. Some trips had neither a trip declaration or a majority of revenue attributable to a species group and were assigned to an unknown or other category. These data were also stratified by half-year to estimate discards by fishery group and half year. Estimated discards in each stratum (see Section 5.4) were summed to estimate total discards of silver and red hake below. 5.2 Silver hake/whiting The total estimated northern silver hake catch is 6.4 million pounds, or 12.6% of the annual catch limit (ACL) (Table 6, top panel). Only 6.7% of the catch was discarded. State water landings were 2% of total catch. The total catch of northern silver hake declined by 15% compared to FY 2016. Landings declined by 13% and discards declined by 39%. If 2018 fishing year landings and catches remain at 2017 levels, landings would decrease to 10% of the new TAL specification and 10% of the new ACL specification for 2018-2020, because the new specifications were increased to be consistent with recent increases in stock biomass. The majority (85%) of northern silver hake discards were associated with the large-mesh groundfish fishery (Table 9) and only 11% were associated with squid and/or whiting fishing. The total estimated southern whiting catch is 6.9 million pounds, or 10.5% of the annual catch limit (ACL) (Table 6, bottom panel). Only 12.1% of the catch was discarded. State water landings were 0.6% of total catch. The total catch of southern whiting declined by 19% Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 11 - September 2018

compared to FY 2016. Landings declined by 10% and discards declined by 54%. This decline is probably related to declining stock biomass (see Section 7.0) as well as fewer trips (see Section 6.0). If 2018 fishing year landings and catches remain at 2017 levels, landings would increase to 19% of the new TAL specification and 17% of the new ACL specification for 2018-2020, because the new specifications were lowered to be consistent with recent declines in stock biomass. In contrast to the northern area, most (65%) of the discards of southern whiting were associated with squid fishing (Table 9). This association may be reflective of trip declarations for squid fishing while vessels targeted whiting (see Table 8). The trip declaration would allow vessels that are targeting whiting to land more than 2,500 lbs. of squid, the possession limit for vessels declaring DOF. According to one advisor, it is not uncommon to catch and land 6,000 to 10,000 lbs. of squid while using a 3-inch mesh trawl to target whiting in some parts of Georges Bank. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 12 - September 2018

Table 6. Estimated FY 2017 catches of whiting (silver and offshore hakes) by management area, compared to specifications. Data current as of July 20, 2018 Pounds Metric tons Percent of ACL (23,161 mt) Percent of total catch Northern silver hake commercial landings 5,885,728 2,670 11.5% 91.4% Northern silver hake state-permitted only vessel landings 122,458 56 0% 2% Northern silver hake estimated discard 433,154 196 0.8% 6.7% Northern silver hake recreational catch (MRIP) n/a n/a n/a n/a Northern silver hake catch* 6,441,340 2,922 12.6% 100.0% Pounds Metric tons Percent of ACL (29,621 mt) Percent of total catch Southern whiting landings 5,991,459 2,718 9.2% 87.3% Southern whiting state-permitted only vessel landings 39,675 18 0.1% 0.6% Southern whiting estimated discard 831,848 377 1.3% 12.1% Southern whiting hake recreational catch (MRIP) n/a n/a n/a n/a Southern whiting catch* 6,862,981 3,113 10.5% 100.0% Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 13 - September 2018

5.3 Red hake The total estimated northern red hake catch is 464 thousand pounds, or 44.7% of the annual catch limit (ACL) (Table 7, top panel). Estimated discards were 59.4% of the total catch. State water landings were 0% of total catch. The total catch of northern red hake declined by 48% compared to FY 2016. Landings declined by 47% and discards declined by 48%. This recent trend is consistent with a decline in survey biomass in 2017 (see Section 7.0). If 2018 fishing year landings and catches remain at 2017 levels, landings would decrease to 31% of the new TAL specification and 31% of the new ACL specification for 2018-2020, because the new specifications were increased to be consistent with recent increases in stock biomass. Most (53%) of the northern red hake discards were associated with large mesh groundfish trips (Table 9), followed by 33% of total discards from the squid and whiting fisheries. The total estimated southern red hake catch is 2.3 million pounds, or 62.8% of the annual catch limit (ACL) (Table 7, bottom panel). Estimated discards were 62.8% of the total catch. State water landings were 1.0% of total catch. The total catch of southern red hake declined by 6% compared to FY 2016. Landings declined by 1% and discards declined by 10%. This decline is also probably related to declining stock biomass (see Section 7.0) as well as fewer trips (see Section 6.0). If 2018 fishing year landings and catches remain at 2017 levels, landings would increase to 107% of the new TAL specification and 102% of the new ACL specification for 2018-2020, because the new specifications were lowered to be consistent with recent decreases in stock biomass and the stock s overfished status. Unlike northern red hake, a large portion (43%) of discards were associated with the small-mesh squid fishery, followed by 23% from the lobster/crab fishery (Table 9). It should be recognized that the estimated southern red hake discards arose from peculiar circumstances that require further investigation (See Section 5.4). Only 4% of southern red hake discards were associated with whiting fishing, but it appears that a substantial number of whiting trips may have been declared as a squid trip to avoid being subject to a 2,500 squid possession limit for trips that are DOF. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 14 - September 2018

Table 7. Estimated FY 2017 catches of red hake by management area, compared to specifications. Data current as of July 20, 2018 Pounds Metric tons Percent of ACL (471 mt) Percent of total catch Northern red hake commercial landings 188,247 85 18.1% 40.6% Northern red hake state-permitted only vessel landings 6 0 0% 0% Northern red hake estimated discard 275,627 125 26.5% 59.4% Northern red hake recreational catch (MRIP) 40,987 18.6 n/a n/a Northern red hake catch* 463,880 210 44.7% 100.0% Pounds Metric tons Percent of ACL (1631 mt) Percent of total catch Southern red hake landings 720,171 327 20.0% 31.9% Southern red hake state-permitted only vessel landings 23,650 11 0.7% 1.0% Southern red hake estimated discard 1,514,678 687 42.1% 67.1% Southern red hake recreational catch (MRIP) 288,818 131 n/a n/a Southern red hake catch* 2,258,499 1,024 62.8% 100.0% Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 15 - September 2018

5.4 Bycatch of Small-Mesh Multispecies by Fishery GARFO s Data Matching and Imputation System (DMIS) attempts to categorize trips by fishery based on a number of business rules. Generally trips are categorized by trip declaration (either Vessel Monitoring System or Interactive Voice Response system) if available, else by species revenue combined with gear and permit type, else left as uncategorized. In fishing year 2017, trips categorized based on declaration include northeast multispecies, scallop, monkfish, herring, surf clam/ocean quahog, mackerel, and squid. Categories generally based on maximum species revenue, when there was no trip declaration or the declaration was declared out of fishery (DOF), include squid again, whiting, squid/whiting, shrimp, lobster/crab, whelk/conch, hagfish, menhaden, summer flounder, etc. Other categories are identified by federal permits held or trip data including Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, outside the Exclusive Economic Zone, state, party/charter, recreational, carrier, and research. Trips that cannot be categorized into any of the above are considered uncategorized. In addition, for this small mesh mults analysis a butterfish category was added if butterfish had the highest revenue by species landed on the trip and the trip was not already categorized by a trip declaration and was not a state trip. In general whiting trips did not catch as much small-mesh multispecies as did squid or squid whiting trips due to the business rules for categorizing trips. Many squid trips were categorized by declaration declared longfin or illex trips - but many of them targeted small mesh multispecies based on revenue. In general, for trips declared DOF or without a declaration, if the vessel had a limited-access longfin or illex permit but no small mesh groundfish permit (no limited-access groundfish permit and no groundfish category K permit) and squid was the highest revenue by species then the trip was also categorized as squid. If after applying the above rules a non-declared trip was still uncategorized, if the vessel had a limited-access longfin or illex permit and did have a small mesh groundfish permit, and the combined revenue of squid and whiting was the highest revenue by species, then the trip was categorized as squid/whiting. Only if the vessel had a small mesh groundfish permit and no limited-access longfin or illex permit, then if whiting was the highest revenue by species the trip was categorized as a whiting trip. Generally, the above rules also required the trip to use small mesh bottom otter trawl gear. Landings and estimated discards of the four small mesh multispecies stocks were attributed to the above categories as displayed in Table XX. A bit over half of northern red hake catches were on groundfish trips and squid/whiting trips. The groundfish fishery catches were almost all discards while the squid/whiting catches were fairly evenly split between landings and discards. Southern red hake was mostly caught on squid, lobster/crab, and squid/whiting trips. Most of the squid fishery catch was discard, almost all of the lobster/crab fishery catch was discard, and most of the squid/whiting catch was landings. The high lobster/crab estimated discards of southern red hake need to be caveated. These discards were driven by New York state observed lobster pot trips which discarded and did not land their red hake catch. Northeast Fisheries Observer Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 16 - September 2018

Program (NEFOP) trips did not display this behavior. If catch from this category is a potential driver of management actions it should be further investigated and confirmed. Table 8. Reported small-mesh multispecies landings by fishery group. These totals were used as the kept-all for the fishery to estimate discards. Fishery group Primary mesh or gear Norhern red hake (lb, % of total) Southern red hake (lb, % of total) Northern silver hake (lb, % of total) Southern whiting (lb, % of total) Butterfish Small 400 0.2 14,906 2.1 567 0.0 71,993 1.2 Summer flounder Large - - 7,488 1.0 - - 16,011 0.3 Groundfish Large 4,882 2.6 10,766 1.5 229,422 3.9 24,080 0.4 Hagfish Other - - - - - - - - Herring Small 30,479 16.2 81 0.0 196,423 3.3 1,266 0.0 Lobster/crab Traps - - 21,745 3.0 15 0.0 - - Mackerel Small - - 346 0.0 - - 2,928 0.0 Menhaden Small - - - - - - - - Monkfish Large - - 12 0.0 272 0.0 634 0.0 Other Other - - 23 0.0 - - 2 0.0 Research Research 40 0.0 - - 6,375 0.1 - - Scallop Dredge - - 31 0.0 - - 30 0.0 Scup Small 345 0.2 27,519 3.8 4,680 0.1 117,599 2.0 Shrimp Small - - 460 0.1 - - 1,210 0.0 Squid Small 19,086 10.1 220,241 30.6 1,825,790 31.0 2,605,668 43.5 Squid/Whiting Small 53,626 28.5 309,185 42.9 3,095,248 52.6 2,906,028 48.5 Surf clam Dredge - - - - - - - - Unknown Unknown 16,127 8.6 103,073 14.3 53,022 0.9 235,984 3.9 Whelk/Conch Dredge - - - - - - - - Whiting Small 63,262 33.6 4,294 0.6 473,913 8.1 8,025 0.1 Total 188,247 100.0 720,171 100.0 5,885,728 100.0 5,991,459 100.0 Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 17 - September 2018

Table 9. Estimated discards of small-mesh multispecies by fishery group, applying the discard to kept-all ratios for red hake and silver hake/whiting on observed trips in FY 2017 to the total Fishery group Primary mesh or gear Norhern red hake (lb, % of total) Southern red hake (lb, % of total) Northern silver hake (lb, % of total) Southern whiting (lb, % of total) Butterfish Small 60 0.0 15,587 1.0 31 0.0 9,272 1.1 Summer floundelarge - - 5,001 0.3 - - 9,648 1.2 Groundfish Large 147,374 53.5 9,274 0.6 369,027 85.2 17,306 2.1 Hagfish Other - - - - - - - - Herring Small 9,503 3.4 85,210 5.6 4,897 1.1 45,638 5.5 Lobster/crab Traps 9,926 3.6 347,728 23.0 26 0.0 0 0.0 Mackerel Small - - 354 0.0 0 0.0 261 0.0 Menhaden Small 1 0.0 - - - - - - Monkfish Large 1 0.0 381 0.0 71 0.0 804 0.1 Other Other - - 2 0.0 - - 1 0.0 Research Research 43 0.0 45 0.0 115 0.0 45 0.0 Scallop Dredge 5,789 2.1 162,366 10.7 4,366 1.0 42,579 5.1 Scup Small 80 0.0 51,328 3.4 172 0.0 33,055 4.0 Shrimp Small 34 0.0 17,774 1.2 22 0.0 12,063 1.5 Squid Small 32,173 11.7 652,318 43.1 16,815 3.9 538,570 64.7 Squid/Whiting Small 48,350 17.5 59,718 3.9 25,645 5.9 43,121 5.2 Surf clam Dredge - - 2 0.0 - - - - Unknown Unknown 11,103 4.0 107,390 7.1 6,185 1.4 79,346 9.5 Whelk/Conch Dredge - - - - - - - - Whiting Small 11,189 4.1 200 0.0 5,782 1.3 140 0.0 Total 275,627 100.0 1,514,678 100.0 433,154 100.0 831,848 100.0 6.0 Effort and Economic Trends in the Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery (Dr. Naresh Pradhan) This analysis includes trends in small-mesh multispecies (SMS) effort (no. of trips and no. of vessels), landings, revenues, and prices for 2012-2017. Trends in these variables are also summarized by management area and targeting. Catch per unit of effort (CPUE) analysis has been carried out on the SMS targeted trips (defined as trips landing at least 2000 lbs. of whiting OR 400 lbs. of red hake). Also analyzed is income dependency from SMS landings for the permits (vessels) or trips with SMS landings. 6.1 Landings, Revenues, and Prices Small-mesh multispecies landings consist of whiting (silver and offshore hakes) and red hake, the majority being silver hake. Whiting landings in recent years (2014-2016) averaged 14.47 mil pounds. But, landings in 2017 decreased by about 20 percent the recent average (Table 10 and Table 11). The 2017 whiting landing was about 11.57 mil pounds. Similarly, red hake landing averaged 1.145 mil pounds during 2014-2016. Red hake landings also declined to about 0.83 mil pounds in 2017, 27 percent less than the recent average level. The recent years average real revenue (in 2017 dollar) for whiting and red hake were $10.32 mil and $0.5 mil, respectively. But, they both declined to $8.86 mil (whiting) and $0.45 mil (red hake) in 2017. The 2016 prices for whiting and red hake were at $0.74 and $0.47, respectively, but the prices for whiting and red hake increased slightly by few cents to $0.77 and $0.54, respectively, in 2017 (Table 12). Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 18 - September 2018

Major volume of the whiting and red hake landings has been primarily from SMS targeted trips (i.e., a trip with 2000 lbs. of whiting OR 400 lbs. of red hake). For example, about 77 percent of whiting landings and 67 percent of red hake landings in 2017 were from the SMS targeted trips (Table 13 to Table 17). SMS landings differ by management areas. Until 2015, whiting landings used to be largely from southern area. Whiting landings were near even in both management area in 2016, but landings from the northern area have outweighed the landings from southern area in 2017. In the other hand, red hake landings so far have been largely from the southern area (Table 18 and Table 19). Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 19 - September 2018

Table 10. Vessels, landings, revenue and prices for small-mesh multispecies. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 20 - September 2018

Table 11. Effort, landings, and revenue by small-mesh multispecies. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 21 - September 2018

6.2 Fishery Effort While nearly all SMS landings are made with trawl gear, but other gears such as gillnet and mid-water trawl also make very small volume landing. Majority of the landings are made with mesh size between 2 and 3-inch. 3 Those vessels that land SMS generally hold one of the limited access (Categories A-F) Northeast Multispecies permit or an open access Category K permit. The efforts for SMS landings have been analyzed in terms of the number of active vessels and trips. During 2012-2017, the number of vessels that landed one or more pounds of SMS (any one of the silver hake, red hake or silver hake) ranged between 321 and 356 (Table 13). Averaged during 2012-17, there were about 286 vessels that landed whiting and 191 vessels that landed red hakes. In 2017, there were 287 vessels (with 6,068 trips) that landed whiting and about 186 vessels (with 3468 trips) that landed red hake (Table 12). However, only smaller number of vessels targeted SMS. The number of vessels that targeted SMS ranged between 95 and 113 during 2012-17 (Table 15). In 2017, there were 51 vessels (with 487 trips) that targeted SMS landed whiting, and 61 vessels (with 543 trips) that targeted SMS landed red hake 4. The effort level (number of vessels or trips) in 2017 targeting SMS has declined by 35 percent or more from its high in 2012. Between 2016 and 2017, SMS efforts, landings and revenues from targeted trips have all declined, but with a slight increase in the prices of both species. The effort level landing both species in 2017 has remained to its lowest level for the period 2012-2017 (Table 14). The number of vessels that had incidental or non-targeted SMS landings ranged between 319 and 353 during 2012-2017 (Table 17). The number of vessels that landed whiting from non-targeted SMS trips ranged from 271 to 291 (with trips ranging between 4796 and 7032) during 2012-2017. Similarly, the number of vessels that landed red hake from non-targeted SMS trips ranged between 174 and 207 (Table 16). Between 2016 and 2017, SMS efforts, landings and revenues from non-targeted trips have all increased with a noticeable decline in the price of whiting. However, red hake price for incidental landing has increased slightly (Table 16). 3 Prior to 2001, mesh sizes of less than 2 and greater than 5.5 used to land a good volume of silver hake. 4 The number of vessels and trips that landed whiting and red hake are not mutually exclusive. Many vessels land both species in the same trip, but some trips may not have both species. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 22 - September 2018

Table 12. Effort, landings, and revenue for all trips landing small-mesh multispecies 5. 5 Where vtr_live>1 and fishname IN ( whiting, red hake ) Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 23 - September 2018

Table 13. Effort, small-mesh multispecies landings, revenue and price for all vessels and trips landing >1 lbs. of small-mesh multispecies. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 24 - September 2018

Table 14. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, prices and CPUE for trips TARGETING small-mesh multispecies 6. 6 Where ((vtr_live>=2000 and fishname= whiting ) OR (vtr_live>=400 and fishname= red hake )) Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 25 - September 2018

Table 15. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, and prices for trips TARGETING smallmesh multispecies 7. 7 Where ((vtr_live>=2000 and fishname= whiting ) OR (vtr_live>=400 and fishname= red hake )) Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 26 - September 2018

Table 16. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, and prices for trips NOT targeting smallmesh multispecies 8. 8 Where ((vtr_live between 1 and 1999.99 and fishname= whiting ) OR (vtr_live between 1 and 399.99 and fishname= red hake )) Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 27 - September 2018

Table 17. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, and prices for trips NOT targeting smallmesh multispecies 9. 9 Where ((vtr_live between 1 and 1999.99 and fishname= whiting ) OR (vtr_live between 1 and 399.99 and fishname= red hake )) Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 28 - September 2018

6.3 Fishery Effort by Management Area The number of vessels fishing in northern and southern management area with their corresponding trips are presented in Table 18 and Table 19. In the northern area, 132 to 162 vessels fished whiting and 38 to 55 vessels fished red hake during 2012-2017. In the southern area, 111 to 128 vessels fished whiting and 87 to 97 vessels fished red hake in the same period (Table 18). However, only a small number of vessels targeted SMS in these areas. There also appears a reversal on the trends of vessel participation in SMS targeted trips between the areas in recent years. For example, 19 to 24 vessels had whiting from targeted trips during 2012-2014 against 25 to 36 vessels during 2015-2017 in the northern area. Similarly, 35 to 41 vessels had whiting from targeted trips during 2012-2015 against 18 to 29 vessels during 2016-2017 in the southern area (Table 19). Both the number of trips and whiting landings for targeted trips declined in 2017 in both areas compared 2016. Despite a noticeable increase in the number of boats in southern area, whiting landing didn t increase from targeted trips in 2017 compared to 2016 indicating a decline in the catch per unit effort. While whiting prices from the targeted trips in both areas were not much different in 2012-14 and 2017, but were different between the areas in 2015 and 2016 (Table 19). 6.4 SMS Productivity (CPUE) SMS productivities measured with CPUEs were analyzed in terms of the landings per trip and annual landing per boat for the SMS directed trips (Table 14). CPUEs in 2017 were all lower compared to the CPUEs in 2016 as well as the averages during 2012-2017. In 2017, whiting CPUEs were 18,107 lbs./trip and 172,907 lbs./boat. Red hake CPUEs were 998 lbs./trip and 8,887 lbs./boat (Table 14). Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 29 - September 2018

Table 18. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, and price by species and management area for vessels landing at least 1 lb. of small-mesh multispecies. Note that vessels may be counted independently in each area. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 30 - September 2018

Table 19. Small-mesh multispecies effort, landings, revenue, and prices by management area for trips targeting small-mesh multispecies 10. 10 Where ((vtr_live>=2000 and fishname= whiting ) OR (vtr_live>=400 and fishname= red hake )) Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 31 - September 2018

6.5 Fishery Income Dependencies from SMS Landings Also analyzed are fishing income dependency from SMS landings for the trips or permits (vessels) during 2012-2017. Fishery income dependency from SMS landings is measured using the ratio of SMS revenue to trip revenue or annual vessel (permit) revenue from all fishes. Revenue from SMS averaged about 0.93 percent of the total fish value from all trips by all fleets in the GARFO region (Table 10 and Table 24 (Panel 1)). For the vessels (or permits) that landed SMS, revenue from SMS ranged between five and eight percent of their annual income from fishing with an average 6.52 percent during 2012-2017 (Table 20 and Table 24 (Panel 2)). In the other hand, SMS revenue ranges from about 14 to 22 percent of the trip value when a trip had SMS landing during 2012-2017 (Table 21 and Table 24 (Panel 3.1)). However, the ratio of SMS revenue to trip value is much higher on the SMS targeted trips, i.e., SMS revenue ranged from about 49 to 54 percent of the trip value when targeted trips had SMS landing during 2012-2017 (Table 22 and Table 24 (Panel 3.2)). In the non-targeted trips, the SMS revenue ranged from about 7 to 11 percent of the trip value (Table 23 and Table 24 (Panel 3.3)). Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 32 - September 2018

Table 20. Small-mesh multispecies portfolio analysis with effort, landings, and revenue for all trips landing at least one pound of small-mesh multispecies. (Aggregation by Permits) Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 33 - September 2018

Table 21. Small-mesh multispecies portfolio analysis with effort, landings, and revenue for trips with landing >= 1 lb. small-mesh multispecies (Aggregation by Trips). SMS portfolio analysis with efforts, landings, revenues, and prices in all trips filter: where trip_sms_vtrlbs >=1 -- All trips with SMS landings Group by: trips, permits, year CYEAR Calendar year 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 TRIPS No. of trips 8726 8103 7903 6589 6293 6891 BOATS No. of boats 356 357 352 321 324 335 SMS$ Revenue (SMS) 11,128,165 9,012,030 11,706,895 10,868,237 11,062,665 9,318,578 TRIP$ Revenue (Trip) 50,165,897 48,871,348 60,318,871 57,946,780 62,903,156 64,351,673 SMS_DLRLBS SMS landings lbs. (dealer) 17,315,441 14,434,314 16,992,085 14,985,351 14,958,678 12,416,900 SMS_VTRLBS SMS landings lbs. (VTR) 16,857,188 14,261,999 16,969,855 14,929,933 14,998,282 12,296,952 TRIP_LBS Trip landings lbs. 53,198,246 52,715,207 64,250,094 59,378,500 63,786,039 64,420,917 SMS_PRICE Price (SMS) $/lb 0.6427 0.6243 0.689 0.7253 0.7395 0.7505 SMS$_TO_TRIP$ Ratio of sms$_to_trip$ 0.2218 0.1844 0.1941 0.1876 0.1759 0.1448 WHITING$ Revenue (Whiting) 10,176,538 8,442,023 11,148,641 10,354,847 10,541,099 8,863,524 WHITING_DLRLBS Whiting landings lbs. (dealer) 15,539,305 13,305,857 15,625,272 13,941,931 13,869,609 11,572,644 WHITING_VTRLBS Whiting landings lbs. (VTR) 15,328,496 13,174,383 15,688,073 13,866,813 13,883,434 11,469,804 WHITING_PRICE Price (whiting) $/lb 0.6549 0.6345 0.7135 0.7427 0.76 0.7659 WHITING$_TO_TRIP$ Ratio of whiting$_to_trip$ 0.2029 0.1727 0.1848 0.1787 0.1676 0.1377 REDHAKE$ Revenue (Red hake) 951,626 570,007 558,254 513,390 521,566 455,054 REDHAKE_DLRLBS Red hake landings lbs. (dealer) 1,776,136 1,128,457 1,366,813 1,043,420 1,089,069 844,256 REDHAKE_VTRLBS Red hake landings lbs. (VTR) 1,528,692 1,087,616 1,281,782 1,063,121 1,114,847 827,148 REDHAKE_PRICE Price (Red hake) $/lb 0.5358 0.5051 0.4084 0.492 0.4789 0.539 REDHAKE$_TO_TRIP$ Ratio of RedHake$_to_trip$ 0.019 0.0117 0.0093 0.0089 0.0083 0.0071 file: sms_prtflo_trp_lndrevprtrbnpc_all Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 34 - September 2018

Table 22. Small-mesh multispecies portfolio analysis with effort, landings, and revenue for trips TARGETING small-mesh multispecies. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 35 - September 2018

Table 23. Small-mesh multispecies portfolio analysis with effort, landings, and revenue for trips NOT TARGETING small-mesh multispecies. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 36 - September 2018

Table 24. Summary of effort level and small-mesh multispecies revenue to total revenue on trips landing at least one pound of small-mesh multispecies. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 37 - September 2018

7.0 Trends in survey biomass indices (Larry Alade) 7.1 Silver hake Following procedures established in the 2010 benchmark assessment, silver hake biomass and exploitation are derived from stratified mean biomass from the fall bottom trawl survey, converted to RV Albatross units using established length-based conversion coefficients. Strata are assigned to a northern and southern stock as shown in Map 2. The 2017 survey was conducted aboard the RV Pices instead of the RV Bigelow and was delayed from the customary sampling time frame, with reduced sampling capabilities. Georges Bank and offshore Gulf of Maine strata were completed but the inshore Gulf of Maine strata were only partially sampled. No stations in Southern New England or the Mid-Atlantic were planned, however seven Georges Bank strata assigned to the southern stock were sampled. The PDT considered the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank to be adequately sampled to provide a reliable estimate of survey biomass to indicate trends. Although three imputation methods were explored by NEFSC staff, the PDT did not feel that these methods were adequate to reliably estimate biomass, because only seven of thirty-one strata were sampled. Thus, the biomass for southern silver hake could not be updated and the three-year moving average used 2014-2016 survey data. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 38 - September 2018

Map 2. Stratum allocation to northern (yellow circles) and southern stocks (black and red circles) of silver and red hakes. In the fall 2017 bottom trawl survey, only strata shown with yellow and red circles were sampled. Strata with black circles were not sampled in 2017. Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery - 39 - September 2018