Hard to Manage? Dynamics of Soft-Shell Crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador Snow Crab Fishery
Capture of recently molted soft-shell crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) snow crab ( Chionoecetes opilio ) fishery is undesirable due to resource wastage associated with low meat yield and supposed high mortality rates upon discard. This study is intended to formalize best-practice managemen...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 2024-10-06T13:47:58+00:00 Hard to Manage? Dynamics of Soft-Shell Crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador Snow Crab Fishery Mullowney, Darrell R.J. Baker, Krista D. Pantin, Julia R. 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Marine Science volume 8 ISSN 2296-7745 journal-article 2021 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 2024-09-10T04:05:38Z Capture of recently molted soft-shell crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) snow crab ( Chionoecetes opilio ) fishery is undesirable due to resource wastage associated with low meat yield and supposed high mortality rates upon discard. This study is intended to formalize best-practice management advice for avoidance of soft-shell crab in the fishery. The study investigates factors affecting soft-shell incidence in the catch across a large geographic stock range encompassing dynamic habitat and contrasting harvest rate strategies. The results demonstrate an interaction between seasonality and harvest rate in governing soft-shell crab levels in the fishery. Greatest potential for high soft-shell incidence occurs in late-spring or summer (June–July) fisheries in warm water populations subjected to heavy fishing pressure, with warm water populations shown to be associated with earlier molting periods. The study concludes that the optimal time to harvest snow crab is during winter or early spring, and advises that wherever winter or early spring fisheries are not possible, a best-practice management strategy is to minimize wastage by maintaining a strong residual biomass of large hard-shell males in the population at all times. This strategy is easily enabled by consistent application of low exploitation rates. Article in Journal/Newspaper Chionoecetes opilio Newfoundland Snow crab Frontiers (Publisher) Newfoundland Frontiers in Marine Science 8 |
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Capture of recently molted soft-shell crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) snow crab ( Chionoecetes opilio ) fishery is undesirable due to resource wastage associated with low meat yield and supposed high mortality rates upon discard. This study is intended to formalize best-practice management advice for avoidance of soft-shell crab in the fishery. The study investigates factors affecting soft-shell incidence in the catch across a large geographic stock range encompassing dynamic habitat and contrasting harvest rate strategies. The results demonstrate an interaction between seasonality and harvest rate in governing soft-shell crab levels in the fishery. Greatest potential for high soft-shell incidence occurs in late-spring or summer (June–July) fisheries in warm water populations subjected to heavy fishing pressure, with warm water populations shown to be associated with earlier molting periods. The study concludes that the optimal time to harvest snow crab is during winter or early spring, and advises that wherever winter or early spring fisheries are not possible, a best-practice management strategy is to minimize wastage by maintaining a strong residual biomass of large hard-shell males in the population at all times. This strategy is easily enabled by consistent application of low exploitation rates. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mullowney, Darrell R.J. Baker, Krista D. Pantin, Julia R. |
spellingShingle |
Mullowney, Darrell R.J. Baker, Krista D. Pantin, Julia R. Hard to Manage? Dynamics of Soft-Shell Crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador Snow Crab Fishery |
author_facet |
Mullowney, Darrell R.J. Baker, Krista D. Pantin, Julia R. |
author_sort |
Mullowney, Darrell R.J. |
title |
Hard to Manage? Dynamics of Soft-Shell Crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador Snow Crab Fishery |
title_short |
Hard to Manage? Dynamics of Soft-Shell Crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador Snow Crab Fishery |
title_full |
Hard to Manage? Dynamics of Soft-Shell Crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador Snow Crab Fishery |
title_fullStr |
Hard to Manage? Dynamics of Soft-Shell Crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador Snow Crab Fishery |
title_full_unstemmed |
Hard to Manage? Dynamics of Soft-Shell Crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador Snow Crab Fishery |
title_sort |
hard to manage? dynamics of soft-shell crab in the newfoundland and labrador snow crab fishery |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496/full |
geographic |
Newfoundland |
geographic_facet |
Newfoundland |
genre |
Chionoecetes opilio Newfoundland Snow crab |
genre_facet |
Chionoecetes opilio Newfoundland Snow crab |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science volume 8 ISSN 2296-7745 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
8 |
_version_ |
1812176121201950720 |