Haddock

Haddock, Scrod

Haddock is a demersal (bottom-dwelling) species in the family Gadidae, which are known as the “true cods”. Like many other gadoids (cod, hake, pollock, whiting), it is a commercially important groundfish species. Haddock is distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean, and in the Northwest Atlantic ranges from Labrador to Cape Charles, Virginia. Haddock are usually found in 45 to 135m of water and in bottom temperatures between 2° and 10°C. Adult Haddock range in size from about 30cm to up to 1m, and most commercially caught Haddock weigh from 1 to 3kg. The maximum known age for Haddock is 14 years, but only a small proportion of animals survive past age 9. Haddock are highly fecund, and adult female egg production increases substantially with age, from a few hundred thousand eggs each year in the youngest spawners up to three million eggs in the oldest spawners. Haddock have a broad diet, which varies by locality. Among other things, they consume echinoderms (mainly brittle stars), crustaceans, polychaetes, bivalve and gastropod mollusks, and fishes (mostly herring eggs). Juveniles are preyed upon by several fish species including other gadoids while adult Haddock are preyed upon by Gray seals.

In Canada, there are several haddock stocks including one in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence and eastern Scotian Shelf, a major one on the eastern Scotian Shelf and Bay of Fundy, and a major transboundary stock on Georges Bank. Although some Haddock stocks undertake seasonal migrations within their areas, there is thought to be relatively little exchange of individuals among the different stocks.

Haddock is an early maturing fish that is inherently resilient to fishing pressure. Heavy fishing pressure, however, has acted as a strong selective force to decrease the size and age at maturity, which may adversely impact recruitment and natural mortality.

Three separate Haddock stocks are currently managed in Canada: the eastern Scotian Shelf & southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (4RST), southern Scotian Shelf and Bay of Fundy (4X/5Y), and a transboundary eastern Georges Bank (5Ze) stock that is co-managed with the U.S. All three haddock stocks have been significantly overexploited and can be considered to be recovering from overfishing.

A small fraction of haddock is caught with hook and line gear. Hook and line fishing is thought to have minimal bycatch impacts, with the exception of undersized target species. Additionally, there have been concerns about bycatch of cod and cusk, but the former has been addressed through setting bycatch limits.

Haddock caught by hook and line has negligible impact on habitat.

Assessments of each Haddock stock are based on long-term standardized trawl surveys, landings data, and other biological information, and consist of a standard age-based population dynamics model. Trawl surveys have been carried out since 1970 on the eastern Scotian Shelf/southern Gulf of St. Lawrence and the southern Scotian Shelf/Bay of Fundy. The Fishery Resource Conservation Council (FRCC) makes annual recommendations on total allowable catches and other management measures related to Atlantic Canada’s groundfish stocks to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Bycatch of cod in the eastern Scotian Shelf/Bay of Fundy groundfish fishery is a concern. Haddock catch in the fishery is essentially limited by the amount of cod bycatch the fleet is allowed. Within the eastern Scotian Shelf/southern Gulf of St. Lawrence management unit, a juvenile haddock closed area was established on the offshore banks (Emerald and Western) in 1987. Catch monitoring and enforcement currently appears to be inadequate in the sense that on-board scientific observer coverage of the fleet is inadequate, and thus information on discards at sea is unknown. Management is facilitating rebuilding of Haddock stocks from the most recent crash, but has not prevented extreme declines of haddock stocks in the past. Until all three stocks are fully recovered and management can demonstrate that it does not allow overfishing it can be considered only moderately effective. In addition, management does not consider the impacts of fishing gear on fish habitat, and is not taking the ecosystem into account when allocating quota.

How was this Haddock caught?

Trawl-caught Haddock should be avoided.

Contaminant levels do not warrant a consumption advisory.

No.