"The Atlantic Canadian swordfish and other tunas longline fishery incidentally catches species that must be discarded. Under an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management it is necessary to be able to control the incidental mortality of non-harvested species and the discard mortality of undersized harvested species. Before one can affect controls, however, accurate and precise estimates of the discarded amounts must be available. The purpose of the work presented here, then, is to review the sampling methodology on which current estimates of discard amounts are based with a view to determining how the degree of observer coverage affects the precision of the estimates. Factors that affect the accuracy of estimates, such as bias in the sampling, are also considered. Lastly, how the choice of a scaling variable affects the estimated discard amount is investigated.--Document."

"Observer coverage of the Atlantic Canadian swordfish and other tuna longline fishery an assessment of current practices and alternative methods = Présence d'observateurs dans la pêche à la palangre de l'espadon et des autres thonidés du Canada atlantique : évaluation des pratiques actuelles autres méthodes"