Stephen Smith
Research Scientist, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Bedford Institute of Oceanography

Background
Stephen has worked for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans since 1979 and his research focuses on the design and application of surveys for marine populations, population dynamics models, and spatial analysis of species distribution as a function of characteristics of their environment (oceanographic conditions, geology, etc.).

Abstract
Currently, monitoring and stock assessment of sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) stocks in Canadian waters follow standard practice for most wild fish species. Annual surveys provide abundance indices, sampling of commercial catches estimate size composition of the removals, and either a size-based or an age-based population dynamics model is used to evaluate proposed catch levels against management targets and thresholds. The standard biological reference points used for finfish species defines targets and thresholds in terms of balancing exploitation with the renewal processes of the population being fished and minimizing the risk of recruitment overfishing. However, these reference points as defined rely on dynamic pool assumptions about a unit population which is homogeneous in space with respect to vital rates and the impact of harvesting. As sedentary animals, sea scallops exhibit spatial variation in growth, yield, recruitment, and size composition that is in turn taken advantage of by the fishing industry. In this talk I will discuss how this spatial variation complicates our standard approaches to exploited populations and present a number of the newer technologies that could aid in developing ways of incorporating spatial distribution into fisheries management.