The Technical Sub-committee of the Canada/US Groundfish committee (TSC) met May 6, 7, and 8, 1997 in Tiburon, California. Representatives from the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Washington Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Department of Fish and Game, and the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission attended. Bill Barss (Oregon Department of Fisheries and Wildlife), served as Chair, and Dave Thomas, CDFG served as Secretary.

During the 1997 meeting, the TSC exchanged information on research, stock assessment and management activities conducted during 1996 and work planned for 1997. The agency reports and TSC working groups reports have been collated in the accompanying document. The report contains additional information that scientists and managers may find useful including agency publication and staff lists.

Background

The Canada/US Groundfish Committee (Parent Committee) was established in 1959 by the Second Conference on Coordination of Fisheries Regulations Between Canada and the United States and is sanctioned as an advisory group by the State Departments of both nations. The TSC was established at the first Parent Committee meeting as a technical advisory group to the Parent Committee. It is the only coast-wide forum for official exchange of information on the status of groundfish stocks and groundfish research among US federal and state agencies and the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The terms of reference for the TSC, which are reviewed and approved at each annual meeting, are as follows:

1. Exchange information on the status of Groundfish stocks of mutual concern and to coordinate, whenever possible, desirable programs of research.
2. Recommend the continuance and further development of research programs having potential value as scientific basis for future management of the groundfish fishery.
3. Review the scientific and technical impacts of existing or proposed management strategies and their component regulations relevant to conservation of stock or other scientific aspects of groundfish conservation and management of mutual interest.
4. Transmit approved recommendations and appropriate documentation to appropriate sectors of Canadian and US governments to encourage implementation of these recommendations.

The TSC discusses issues of concern regarding west coast groundfish with emphasis on trans-boundary stocks. Although the TSC is has no regulatory authority, the group makes recommendations both to itself and to the Parent Committee. The Parent committee has one member from each country who have the authority to contact appropriate officials in their respective countries urging them to act on recommendations made by the Parent Committee and/or the TSC.

Working Groups

Once the TSC identifies an issue, a working group is formed to further research the issue and, if possible, recommend a solution. Three such groups are currently active. The Committee of Age Reading Experts (C.A.R.E.) is an on-going working group which meets biennially to discuss groundfish age reading issues. Their primary objective is to promote coast-wide consistency and precision in groundfish age reading. The other two are stock assessment working groups formed to address trans-boundary stock issues regarding Pacific whiting, and yellowtail rockfish.

The sablefish working group is not currently active. Mark Wilkins reported that galley proofs of the proceedings of the 1993 Sablefish Symposium are going out. He expects that the document will be published and distributed by the end of the summer (1997).

Working group reports are appended to the 1997 meeting minutes.

Discussion

The agency overviews, stock status, and agency research and management discussions were abbreviated this year in accordance with the recommendations made during the 1994 meeting. The agency reports are appended to the minutes in the form in which they were submitted to the secretary except for slight changes for consistency. Much of the meeting was spent discussing stocks, research, management and "Other Topics for Discussion" as follows:

1. Estimating the potential yield of Pacific whiting was discussed. Closer coordination of yield estimates is planned and research on the contentious issue of target strength continues.
2. The successful lingcod workshop in March 1997 was discussed. The TSC supports a CARE focus on lingcod including an exchange of structures for ageing. The representative from Washington would like to determine if the decrease in size at age is the result of fish growth or changes in age determination. Discussion continued on moving to official Working Group Status because of transboundry issues, the advantage of a single voice for recommendations and to avoid management conflicts between agencies.
3. Yellowtail assessment is being redone early because of concerns for bycatch in the Pacific whiting fishery. WDFW and DFO are cooperating and developing new assessment models.
4. Representatives from California discussed the status of mackerel and sardine stocks and research on those stocks. Concern was expressed on the uncertainty for stocks in the area north of the traditional Southern California fishing grounds. TSC supports continued and increased cooperation on assessment and research. The TSC recognizes the importance of transboundry pelagic issues including issues involving Canada, US and Mexico. TSC recommends that CARE include mackerel and sardine in their work.
5. TSC discussed establishing a TSC and CARE web site with funding coordinated between agencies.
6. The representative from DFO discussed the status of the revised CARE manual. The manual is about done, but needs a few changes including improved reproduction of photographs.
7. The TSC began exchanging information on logbook programs. ADFG uses a Lingcod Fishery Logbook. CDFG requires an H&L logbook for commercial fishers fishing in certain areas, and requires a logbook for charter vessels. ODFW requires a logbook for commercial Limited Entry, fixed gear fishers and uses a voluntary logbook for Open Access, fixed gear fishers. NMFS at Auke Bay will manage a new voluntary sablefish logbook program which was requested by fishers. Copies of the ADFG logbook, ODFW logbooks and the Washington-Oregon-California Trawl Logbook will be scanned and appended to the 1997 TSC report.
8. TSC discussed the growing fisheries for skates and Pacific grenadier. TSC is concerned with discard from grenadier targeting by Open Access fishers and the resulting degradation of landing data from that fishery.
9. The TSC discussed the progress on the issue of management of nearshore rockfishes. TSC encouraged the PSMFC representative to promote a logbook for charter boats, to update the collection of available literature on nearshore rockfishes, and to seek additional SK funding .
10. The TSC discusses the recovery of Pacific Ocean perch (POP) stocks in the Gulf of Alaska and the modest increase of Canadian POP stocks.
11. TSC discussed cooperative projects between industry and agencies including projects to get biological data on large deep water sable from the fixed gear fishery, projects to conduct surveys with smaller local trawlers, and for an industry project to take biological samples from lingcod landings.
12. TSC discussed introducing its function to the Marine Science Panel of the Puget Sound /Georgia Basin International Task Force. Reference to TSC recommendations regarding the issue of conflicting management of Pacific cod in the central Gulf of Alaska by the State of Alaska and the NPFMC will be used to accomplish this introduction.
13. TSC requests that in future agency reports, they report material available through GIS programs.
14. TSC agreed on an April 1 deadline date for completion and distribution of drafted agency reports and lists of topics of interest and concern for the annual meeting.

Progress on 1996 Recommendations

Progress was made on 1996 Recommendations from TSC to Itself. O’Connell provided a brief report regarding the evaluation of age determination using lingcod otoliths compared to spines. A successful lingcod stock assessment workshop was conducted in March 1997. Methot plans to attend the next CARE meeting to discuss ageing precision information in stock assessment models. Some agencies provided information and examples of ongoing logbook programs, and additional agencies are planning to contribute.

1997 Recommendations

A. TSC to itself

1. The TSC requests that each agency include short descriptions on the following topics in their 1998 report:
1. New logbook programs including details on
1. Status of collection
2. Stage of data entry (years entered and backlog)
2. GIS programs including details on:
1. Available base maps and baseline data
2. Software
3. Bathymetric data source
2. The TSC notes that separate Canadian and U.S. assessments are conducted for transboundary stocks of yellowtail and lingcod. The TSC recommends that authors of these assessments produce joint reports to the TSC summarizing the basis for any discrepancies in estimates of stock status an/or yield options between the two assessments. Recommendations for joint research that could resolve issues should be included.
3. The TSC recommends that it continue to review and support work on mackerel and Pacific sardines for the next two years. It further recommends review of its level of continued involvement with these species at its 1999 meeting.
4. The TSC recommends that agency reports be drafted and distributed to other agency representatives by April 1, and that a list of topics to be considered for addition to the annual meeting be included with the report. The TSC also recommends that its Chair alert members of their report deadline on or about the first of March, and that PSMFC initiate a telephone conference with TSC representatives on or about April 16, to discuss the agenda and arrangements for the annual TSC meeting.
5. It is recommended that prior to the 1998 meting, that the TSC develop a report format for CARE age-structure exchanges.

B. TSC to Parent Committee

1. The TSC recommends that the Parent Committee investigates the possibility of having PSMFC establish and maintain CARE and TSC home pages under the PSMFC web site. The CARE page will require technology and software to post and retrieve high quality images.
2. The TSC suggests that a letter be written by the parent committee to the Puget Sound/Georgia Basin International Task Force explaining TSC’s mission, objectives, and terms of reference.
3. The TSC notes that the combined Canadian/US harvest of hake continues to exceed the adopted yield option and recommends to the Parent Committee that the bilateral negotiations be encouraged to arrive at a solution.
4. TSC concerns with jack mackerel, Pacific (chub) mackerel and Pacific sardine include fishery development and possible adverse maltispecies interactions in the Washington-British Columbia area. These issues demonstrate that the international/transboundry nature of these resources spans Canada, the United States, and also Mexico. National Marine Fisheries Services’ present policy of relying on the west coast states individually to manage these species fails to address the scope of the management problem and need for international coordination. The TSC recommends that the Parent Committee consider urging the U.S. NMFS to support development and adoption of a multispecies FMP including mackerels and Pacific sardine.
5. The TSC observes a growing need for synoptic oceanographic data. Current efforts appear to be poorly coordinated and inadequate in both spatial coverage and frequency of observation. The TSC recommends that the Parent Committee pursue development of a formal coordinated physical and biological oceanographic monitoring program for the west coast of North America.
6. The TSC requests that the Parent Committee continue to pursue support for separate catch monitoring, research, and management initiatives for nearshore rockfish.
7. The TSC requests that the parent committee draft a letter to the PFMC and the PacFIN Data Committee stating concern regarding the impact of restrictive single species trip limits on discard in multi-species fisheries. For example, the recent, unrestricted increase in the grenadier catch by central California hook and line fishermen likely results in high levels of sablefish and thornyhead bycatch with unknown levels of discard. Furthermore, these single species restrictions on landed catch create an incentive for misrepresentation of catch on fish landing receipts and a high enforcement burden.

C. TSC to CARE

1. The TSC recommends that CARE add lingcod to the list of species to be reviewed at its spring, 1998 meeting. Inter-agency calibration is needed for stock assessment work. which utilizes age data from WDFW, NMFS-Tiburon, and DFO. WDFW has agreed to take the lead in coordinating a 300 fish age structure exchange among these agencies and will summarize the between-lab age reading results.
2. The CARE submitted a preliminary report of its April 30-May 3, 1995, Biennial Meeting to the 1996 TSC annual meeting. The TSC appreciated this timely report, submitted within a week of the CARE meeting. To date, however, the TSC has not received a final report of the 1995 CARE Biennial Meeting and would appreciate receiving one as soon as it becomes available.

1998 Meeting

The 1998 TSC meeting will be May 5-7, in Olympia, Washington. Mr. Barss will serve as TSC Chair.

If you wish further information regarding the TSC call Bill Barss (1998 TSC Chair) at (541) 867-4741 or other TSC members listed in the attached minutes.