The main fishery prosecuted by the otter
trawl fleet was directed toward winter flounder (Fig. 14). The white
hake directed fishery was active until 1992, but the level of fishing
effort was greatly reduced in 1993, and almost non existent in 1994.
The winter flounder/white hake mixed fishery was active up to 1993,
but almost ceased thereafter. The mixed fishery for plaice and white
hake was an important component of otter trawl fishing effort until
1991, after which it was a very small fishery. Fishing effort in the
plaice and the winter flounder directed fisheries increased in 1994,
and it is possible that fishing effort was displaced away from white
hake towards these other species at that time. This shift of effort
preceded the closure of the white hake fishery by 2 to 3 years.
Figure 14: Numbers of purchase slips in each
fishery type for otter trawl gear in St. Georges Bay, 1985- 1997.
It was possible to examine fishing locations
and reported catches to see if the change in fishing strategy was
accompanied by a shift in the area fished. Otter trawl vessels fishing
from St. Georges Bay ports have supplied logbook information on fishing
locations since 1991. Fishing locations are recorded on a grid system
of 10' of latitude and longitude. Each grid covers approximately 70
square miles of sea bottom. This information was summarized for three
time periods: 1991-92 included fishing before the cod fishery was
closed and before the minimum mesh size was increased; 1993-94 included
the period after the mesh size increase but before the hake fishery
was closed; and 1995-97 included the period after the hake fishery
was closed.
A visual examination of the distribution of
fishing effort indicated very little change in fishing grounds, at
least on the scale at which the information was recorded (Fig. 15).
The fishing grounds included the Bay proper and the area west of Cape
George. There was a slight movement of effort to the east between
time periods, but this was minor in comparison with changes in reported
catches. The hake landings declined considerably between the 1991-92
and 1993-94 time periods, while there was an increase in plaice landings.
Winter flounder landings were similar in the three time periods. Cod
landings by this fleet were very low in all time periods.
Figure 15: Maps of fishing effort (numbers
of slips) and reported catches of cod, plaice, winter flounder, and
hake by otter trawls in St. Georges Bay, 1991-92, 1993-94, and 1995-97.
