Winter Flounder Catch Rates
Winter flounder were fished almost exclusively
by otter trawlers in the St. Georges Bay area. The commercial fishery
operated in each year and it was possible to calculate an annual catch
rate index for the entire time period. The fishery was concentrated
in the months of July to October and there was little variation in
catch rate among months.
Figure 23: Average annual catch rates for winter
flounder in St. Georges Bay. The estimates are from an analysis of
purchase slip data from otter trawls. The error bars indicate the
approximate 95% confidence intervals of the averages.
There was a downward trend in winter flounder
catch rates in the St. Georges Bay area (Fig. 23). The average catch
per purchase slip was around 550 kg in 1985-86 and this declined to
about 300 kg per slip in 1995-97.
There were a total of 88 different vessels
that participated in the winter flounder fishery in the period 1984-97.
The catch rate trends of vessels with a relatively long history in
the fishery (5 years and more) were compared with those with a shorter
history. There were 29 vessels that submitted purchase slips for the
winter flounder fishery for 5 or more years, and the remainder had
landings in 4 years or less. The catch rate trend for the vessels
with a longer history was very similar to the overall average (Fig.
24). The trend for vessels with the shorter history was comparable
to the overall average in the first 4 years of the study, but then
increased to over 900 kg per trip in 1989. The catch rates then declined
to about 300 kg per trip in 1997, a level again comparable to that
of the remainder of the fleet.
Figure 24: Comparison of annual winter flounder
catch rates in St. Georges Bay estimated for vessels with 4 or less
years participation in the fishery with those with 5 or more years
in the fishery.
