Canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 14
Limiting factors and threats
Fishing, the principal known source of anthropogenic mortality, is managed by harvest quotas by areas. Coastwide harvest quotas have increased somewhat since the mid-1990s but this was due to allocating additional quota in little-exploited areas (5C+D, 5E); quotas in the traditional fishing areas (3C+3D, 5A+5B) have remained essentially constant. Total reported fishery removals have not shown a trend since 1995, varying between about 750t/yr and about 1000t/yr. Catch monitoring and control has improved substantially since 1996 and research surveys and studies initiated recently should help provide better information.
Despite these substantial improvements, there is not a formal risk-based fishery management strategy supported by an analytical stock assessment. The last assessment for this species, in 1999 (Stanley 1999), has provided the biological advice for harvest quotas. A new analytical assessment of this species is being developed which may support better analysis of risks from fishing.
There is no evidence of imminent or changing threat to canary rockfish habitat. The continental shelf is not currently exposed to industrial activities. Fishing gear may have some impact, although trawl activity continues to be concentrated on virtually the same areas for the last few decades and thus may leave other areas relatively undisturbed. Future oil and gas exploration may have some impact, but there is currently a moratorium on this activity.
U.S. fisheries may have had an impact on abundance in Canadian waters, but a number of management measures have been implemented to reduce harvest and fishing effort since the declaration of “overfished” status for canary rockfish for Washington-California waters in 1999 (see “Population trends and assessments in U.S. waters”).
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