An Assessment of American Plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) in NAFO Division 3M

The present assessment evaluates the status of the 3M American plaice stock. The catch at age matrix, EU survey abundance at age and the respective mean weights were updated. The XSA and a VPA-type Bayesian model were applied to this stock, but the XSA presented unrealistic results. The surveys and models indicate that the stock suffered a continuous decline, even with catches kept at a low level since 1996. A general decrease is observed in the biomass and abundance estimated by the several surveys. The EU survey and VPA-type Bayesian model indicates only poor recruitment from 1991 to 2005 year class. SSB recorded a minimum in 2009, in recent years SSB indices increase with the income of the strong 2006 year class in the SSB but in 2013 this increase seems to halt mainly as there were fewer older fish (ages 16+). There are no changes in the perception of the stock status from last assessment (2011). This stock continues to be in a poor condition, despite the apparent improvement of the recruitment since 2006 (mainly due to the 2006 year class). Although the level of catches is low since 1996, this stock has been kept at a low level.