Geographic Variation in the Spawning of Gadus morhua, in the Northwest

locations of Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, in the Newfoundland-Labrador region. Offshore, spawners are common on the continental shelf but generally rare on the slope. Relative abundance of spawning individuals on the shelf is comparably high o f i northeast Newfoundland, within 100 km of the Newfoundland coast from Cape Freels to Cape Race, on central Crand Bank, and on St. Pierre Bank. Slope spawning is largely restricted to the eastern slope of Hamilton Bank, a small section of northern Grand Bank, and Flemish Cap. Inshore spawning i s evident in southeastern Labrador and southeastern Newfoundland, particularly in St. Mary's, Placentia, Trinity, and Bonavista bays. Trajectories of satellite-tracked drifter buoys indicate that it i s highly improbable that eggs spawned on the slope of Grand Bank and much of the northeastern Newfoundland slope wil l be transported into shelf and coastal waters. We conclude that cod spawn in areas in which their eggs and larvae are likely to be retained and that inshore spawning popellations may provide a considerably larger contribution to cod recruitment in coastal Newfound land than has previously been be1 ieved. Nous avons analyse les donnbes de recherche recueillies pendant 47 a (1 946-1 992) 21 ['aide de chaluts et celles obtenues sur 5 a (1 964-1 968) avec des filets maillants dans le but de determiner l'ernplacement des fraygres de la m-norue franche, Gadus morhua, dans la region de Terre-Neuve et du babrador. Au large, on trouve beaucoup de geniteurs sur le plateau continental mais generalernent peu sur la pente. O n observe A peu pr&s la meme abondance relative de gkniteurs au large du nord-est de Terre-Neuve, 21 moins de 100 km de la c8te de Terre-Neuv