American plaice

Our lab has done a variety of research understand American plaice life-history and population dynamics on the Newfoundland Grand Banks. Concurrent to the collapse of Atlantic cod (the early 1990s), the American plaice population's around Newfoundland and Labrador collapsed and have still yet to recover, almost 40 years later. Our research has identified that American plaice life-history traits (maturity, body condition, natural mortality) have varied over time and space. American plaice's collapse was driven in large part by overfishing, however, starvation mortality, likely driven by changes in the oceanic environment, also appears to have played a large role in the collapse and lack of recovery of American plaice.