Sentinel Fisheries - Reports (English, French, PDF)

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Publisher-reported update

2026-09-10

In place since fall 1994, the sentinel fisheries program is the result of a collaboration between Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and Quebec and Newfoundland commercial fishermen's associations. Under this program, contracts are awarded by tender to fishermen’s associations to conduct fishing activities in accordance with scientific protocols developed by DFO. The primary objective of this survey is to collect data used to calculate abundance indices for various fish stocks, including cod, Greenland halibut, Atlantic halibut and rockfish. Description of mobile survey The mobile gear sentinel fisheries program began in 1999. It takes place in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence and is conducted in the sub-division 3Pn and the divisions 4R, 4S and the northern part of the division 4T of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO). This program follows a stratified random survey design based on depth strata, NAFO divisions and bottom substrate type. A standard tow is 30 minutes long and conducted at a speed of 2.5 knots. The fishing gear consists of a 300 Star Balloon trawl mounted on a Rock Hopper footgear. The trawl has a mesh size of 145 mm, with a 40 mm liner in the…

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