Science Advisory Report 2021/008
Assessment of American Lobster in Newfoundland
Summary
- As in previous assessments, LFAs 3-14C were grouped into geographical regions: Northeast Coast (LFAs 3-6), Avalon (LFAs 7-10), South Coast (LFAs 11-12), and West Coast (LFAs 13-14).
- Summer sea surface temperature has increased since 1981 over the four geographical regions, characterized by a low in the early 1990s and a high in the early 2010s. This has led to more favourable oceanographic habitat conditions for American Lobster.
- A diver survey in 18 sites over various substrates during September/October of 2017-18 showed that juvenile lobster densities were low in Placentia Bay sites, compared to those in Port Saunders and Fortune Bay. Juvenile distributions indicated a selection for shallow depths compared to adult lobsters, but little evidence of selection for specific substrate and vegetation types.
- The current assessment is limited to fishery-dependent data and would benefit from the addition of fishery-independent data, as well as more comprehensive fishery-dependent data (i.e., at-sea sampling data and modified trap surveys).
- Total reported landings in 2019 were at their highest level in a century (4,400 t); this reflects increasing trends in the South and West regions, while reported landings in the Northeast and Avalon regions remain near historic lows.
- Since 2004, the CPUE index (unstandardized) has steadily increased to recent highs in the South and West Coast regions, while it has remained unchanged at low levels in the Northeast and Avalon regions.
- Size frequency distributions suggest higher fishing pressure on the South and West Coast regions, relative to the Northeast and Avalon regions.
- V-notching was shown to have a high level of efficacy at protecting egg-bearing females from fishing mortality. In all four regions, the majority of large surviving lobster in the population were v-notched females.
This Science Advisory Report (SAR) is from the Newfoundland and Labrador Regional Peer Review Process on the Assessment of American Lobster in Newfoundland held on October 16, 2019. Additional publications from this meeting will be posted on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science Advisory Schedule as they become available.
