Research Document - 2014/032

Rock crab, Cancer irroratus, fishery and stock status in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence: LFA 23, 24, 25, 26A and 26B

By A. Rondeau, J.M. Hanson, and M. Comeau

Abstract

The rock crab (Cancer irroratus) fishery began during the 1960’s as a bycatch in the lobster fishery, some of which was used as bait. A directed exploratory fishery began in 1974 on a small-scale until the late 1980’s, when expanding markets and increased value resulted in substantial increase in effort. While the directed fishery is conducted with defined management measures, the bycatch and bait fisheries taking place during the lobster fishery are only restricted to harvesting male rock crab. The present research document describes the data and analysis in support of the most recent Science Advisory Report on the assessment of the rock crab fishery in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (DFO 2013). The majority of the indicators presented are fishery dependent. New fishery independent indicators are presented. The assessment is based primarily on the examination of abundance, fishing pressure, and production indicators. When possible, temporal fluctuations in the indicators were assessed relative to the previous assessment (DFO 2008). Ecosystem considerations were included in the document mainly to emphasize the importance of rock crab within coastal ecosystems, especially as a prey for several species of fish and for lobster.

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