Science Advisory Report 2018/004

Assessment of Lobster (Homarus americanus) in Lobster Fishing Area 41 (4X + 5Z) for 2016

Summary

• The Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 41 fishery is the only lobster fishery in Canada managed with a total allowable catch (TAC), which has been set at 720 t since the mid-1980s. 
• Primary indicators of stock status for the LFA 41 lobster stock show that the stock is currently in the Healthy Zone, with the commercial biomass for all four survey indices above their respective upper stock indicators.
• Reproductive potential is above the upper bounds, where defined, for all the survey indices with estimates of reproductive potential being at or near the highest values on record.
• The suite of contextual indicators show the current LFA 41 stock and ecosystem are characterized by higher survey abundances, smaller median body size with a lower maximum length, warmer bottom temperatures, expanding suitable lobster habitat, and decreased predator biomass compared to historic levels.
• The number of bycatch samples collected per year has been variable over time; since 2012 at-sea sampling has ranged from 12 to 17% of trips.  The overall estimated non-lobster bycatch has declined from an average of 128.9 t (2008-2010) to an average of 21.6 t (2014-2016), which represented 3% of the total lobster landings.
• At the present time, the long-term TAC of 720 t poses minimal risk to the stock status falling into the Cautious Zone, as the stock has proven resilient to this level of removals across a broad range of biomasses.

This Science Advisory Report is from the September 27, 2017, Stock Assessment of American Lobster in Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 41. Additional publications from this meeting will be posted on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science Advisory Schedule as they become available.

Complete document (PDF, 988 KB)

Accessibility Notice

This document is available in PDF format. If the document is not accessible to you, please contact the Secretariat to obtain another appropriate format, such as regular print, large print, Braille or audio version.