There is an extensive research from demographic, recruitment, parasitic, genetic and tag-recaptures studies providing evidence for the identification of haddock stocks (Begg 1998). The major populations divisions occur between Nova Scotia, New England, and Newfoundland waters. Despite some uncertainty due to seasonal variations in the species´ spatial distribution, a number of discrete stocks are defined:

1) Grand Banks (Div.3LNO), 2) St. Pierre Bank (Div. 3Ps), 3) Eastern Scotian Shelf and Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (Div. 4TVW), 4) Western Scotian Shelf (Div. 4X), 5) Georges Bank (Div. 5Zjm - Canada; Div. 5Z - USA), and 6) Gulf of Maine (Div. 5Y).