Assessments of the Gulf of Maine haddock

The Gulf of Maine haddock population is assessed in three ways. The first considers the haddock in this area to be an isolated stock. The other two incorporate movement into that area, either permanent or temporary, by haddock from Georges Bank. The evidence for such movement from these analyses alone is sufficient to point to scenarios involving limited movement being of similar plausibility to that of an isolated stock. Catch projections under constant fishing mortality are found to be sensitive, in particular, to this possibility of limited movement for the case where the movement is permanent. Assessment results for the most recent recruitment are sensitive to the procedure used to shrink this estimate to the mean.