American lobster: persistence in the face of high, size-selective, fishing mortality — a perspective from the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• Main Authors: Comeau, Michel, Hanson, J. Mark
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2018
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; atlantic cod; Chionoecetes opilio; Gadus morhua; Snow crab
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2017-0374; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjfas-2017-0374; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjfas-2017-0374

The American lobster (Homarus americanus) population in southern Gulf of St. Lawrence has long been subjected to high exploitation, and yet its population is currently at a high and increasing abundance level. The lobster fishery management is based on effort-control, with a short season, mandatory release of egg-bearing females, and strict enforcement of regulations. Another important factor is the high survival of lobster returned to the water. The combination of a minimum legal size limit and either an upper size limit for females or an effective size limit due to entrance-ring size on the traps has resulted in a slot fishery after which the larger, most fecund animals have low vulnerability to the fishery. These efforts to protect large individuals have had a positive effect on lobster larval production, which may lead to even higher adult population numbers. Comparisons with the management of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) quota-based fisheries were made to try to explain the different trajectories that these three species’ populations have taken since the 1960s.