Trends in Average Length of Recreational Landings Over Time

As recreational fishers catch and remove cod from the resident population in the Gulf of Maine, their actions continue affect the remaining stock. Just as was the case with the commercial fishers, recreational fishers are fundamentally changing the average individual size of the cod populations as they continue to catch small-to-medium size legal cod. This can be shown in the graph below of the change in average length by age of recreationally-landed cod in the Gulf of Maine since 1982.

Graph created by E. Brazer Jr.

From 1982-2000 data were available for age-1 cod in every year except for 1995 and 2000. The average length of age-1 cod decreased from 34 cm (1982) to 26 cm (1994) and then increased again to 33 cm (1999). During the same time frame the average length of age-2, age-3 and age-4 cod increased from 43 cm to 53 cm, from 50 cm to 57 cm, and from 59 cm to 64 cm, respectively. Age-5 cod decreased in average size during these 18 years from 74 cm to 68 cm. Age-6 cod increased in average size from 80 cm to 84 cm. Age 7+ cod decreased substantially from 98 cm to 72 cm. Averaging this data together we see that the size of an average commercially landed cod has increased from approximately 50 cm in 1982 to approximately 61 cm in 2000. This general trend in increasing average size can also be seen with commercially landed cod and occurs for the same reasons. With recreational fishers catching mostly small-to-medium size legal cod they are inadvertently increasing the average size of the remaining population over time, similar to commercial fishers.

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