



An Atlantic Cod Stock Structure Working Group was formed in early 2018 to inventory and summarize all relevant peer-reviewed information about stock structure of Atlantic cod in U. S. and adjacent waters.
Atlantic cod have been a mainstay of coastal economies around the North Atlantic for hundreds of years. Across its geographic range, the Atlantic cod occurs in many discrete populations, called stocks. In U.S. Atlantic waters, cod have been managed as two stock units since the 1970s. Characteristics like size, growth rate, and even genetics distinguish each stock. As more research accumulates, periodic review of fish stock structure is warranted.
The United States and Canada have long histories of harvesting and trading these fish. Each country manages cod fisheries within their waters. Some cod stocks stay within a country's waters; others straddle the international boundaries. Understanding the number and boundaries of these cod populations is key to improving how we manage and use these fish sustainably. This information also guides decisions about how to rebuild depleted stocks.
U.S. and Canadian researchers monitor and study cod. These scientists may be working for government, universities, or non-profit organizations. They often collaborate with the fishing industry to include local ecological knowledge. A complete and detailed picture of the cod stocks requires an international and interdisciplinary effort. This effort brings together the existing data, studies, and knowledge about stock components.
The Working Group proposes a biological stock structure that includes both an inshore-offshore separation and multiple inshore stocks, including a mixed-stock composition of spring and winter spawners in the western Gulf of Maine. Specifically, they identified five biological stocks in U.S. waters:
The Northeast Fisheries Science Center and the New England Fishery Management Council are organizing two new working groups that will convene in 2021. They will consider the implications of these newly proposed biological cod stocks in terms of: 1) the next research-track assessment for Atlantic cod, scheduled for March 2023, and 2) potential management actions.
A number of engagements with stakeholders, including a peer-review evaluation under the auspices of the New England Fishery Management Council, were key to the working group’s success.
Rich McBride
NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Kent Smedbol
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Ted Ames
Bowdoin College
Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries
Stonington, Maine
Irene Andrushchenk
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada
St. Andrews, New Brunswick
Steve Cadrin
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
School for Marine Science & Technology
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Jamie Cournane
New England Fishery Management Council
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Micah Dean
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Greg DeCelles
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
(present: Ørsted North America)
Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts
Lisa Kerr
Gulf of Maine Research Institute
Portland, ME
Adrienne Kovach
University of New Hampshire
Durham, New Hampshire
Nina Overgaard Therkildsen
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
Greg Puncher
University of New Brunswick
St. John, New Brunswick
Yanjun Wang
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada
St. Andrews, New Brunswick
Doug Zemeckis
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey