Preliminary Results of Studies on Growth and Mortality of Pacific Cod (Gadus macrocephalus) in Hecate Strait, British Columbia

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Abstract
Preliminary results of tagging suggest that the Brody-Bertalanffy growth coefficient, K, of cod in northern Hecate Strait is 0.27 and the asymptotic length, L∞, is 94.0 cm. Life span is relatively short and the fishery appears to be dependent on fish which have completed 3 and 4 years of growth. Estimates of present day instantaneous total mortality rate, based on average length of fish in the catch, range from 1.05 to 1.53 (65–78% on an annual basis) depending on fishing area and length at full recruitment. Mortality rates of 0.83 and 0.99, computed from primitive length composition, may indicate the order of magnitude of the instantaneous natural mortality rate (56 and 63% expressed as an annual rate).