An exceptional haddock year class and unusual environmental conditions on the Scotian Shelf in 1999

The number of settled year-0 haddock on the eastern Scotian Shelf (ESS) in July 1999 was the highest seen since record keeping began in 1970. The average length indicated that most had hatched in late February, well before the historical peak spawning period. In the data record above average year-0 abundance leads to good recruitment, suggesting that early spawning incurs survivability advantages. Conditions may have been particularly favourable for haddock recruitment in 1999: (i) because an unusually large number of adults spawned early and (it) because the earliest larval stages encountered an unusually plentiful supply of food, since the spring bloom and Calanus finmarchicus reproduction peaked in late February, 2-4 weeks earlier than usual.