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 management...
Published in: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
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2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 https://doaj.org/article/f7ceabb6ab0b43f680f5599cdc3965bb |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f7ceabb6ab0b43f680f5599cdc3965bb 2023-05-15T15:54:09+02:00 Hard to Manage? Dynamics of Soft-Shell Crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador Snow Crab Fishery Darrell R.J. Mullowney Krista D. Baker Julia R. Pantin 2021-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 https://doaj.org/article/f7ceabb6ab0b43f680f5599cdc3965bb EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 https://doaj.org/article/f7ceabb6ab0b43f680f5599cdc3965bb Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 8 (2021) snow crab Newfoundland Labrador soft shell discard mortality Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 2022-12-31T15:37:00Z 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 Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Newfoundland Frontiers in Marine Science 8 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
snow crab Newfoundland Labrador soft shell discard mortality Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
snow crab Newfoundland Labrador soft shell discard mortality Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Darrell R.J. Mullowney Krista D. Baker Julia R. Pantin Hard to Manage? Dynamics of Soft-Shell Crab in the Newfoundland and Labrador Snow Crab Fishery |
topic_facet |
snow crab Newfoundland Labrador soft shell discard mortality Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
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 |
Darrell R.J. Mullowney Krista D. Baker Julia R. Pantin |
author_facet |
Darrell R.J. Mullowney Krista D. Baker Julia R. Pantin |
author_sort |
Darrell R.J. Mullowney |
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 S.A. |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 https://doaj.org/article/f7ceabb6ab0b43f680f5599cdc3965bb |
geographic |
Newfoundland |
geographic_facet |
Newfoundland |
genre |
Chionoecetes opilio Newfoundland Snow crab |
genre_facet |
Chionoecetes opilio Newfoundland Snow crab |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 8 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 https://doaj.org/article/f7ceabb6ab0b43f680f5599cdc3965bb |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.591496 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
8 |
_version_ |
1766389331070550016 |