Terms of Reference

Assessment of the status of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab stock

Regional Peer Review – Gulf Region

January 29 and 31, 2014
Moncton, New Brunswick

Chairperson: Marc Lanteigne (DFO Gulf Region)

Context

In support of DFO Ecosystems and Fisheries Management request for advice, DFO Science Branch Gulf Region undertakes a peer review of the stock status of the snow crab (Chionecetes opilio) biological unit of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (management areas 12, 12E, 12F and 19).

Objectives

Develop science advice for the management of the snow crab fishery for the southern Gulf of Saint Lawrence biological unit for the 2014 and 2015 fishing seasons. The following considerations and items will be on the agenda for this peer review meeting.

• Present for each of the four management areas in the southern Gulf (12, 12E, 12F, 19):
  
  
  • commercial fishery statistics for the 2013 fishing season (catches, landings and effort, sea sampling),
  • indicators of fishery performance: catch per unit of effort,  size and carapace condition of commercial size crab.
• Present the following estimates based on the post-fishery directed snow crab trawl survey for the extended polygon of 20 to 200 fathoms for 2013 and previous years:
  
  
  • the exploitable commercial biomass (adult male crab of carapace width >= 95 mm) for the southern Gulf biological unit and for each of the four management areas (12, 12E, 12F and 19) within the southern Gulf biological unit,
  • the abundance of male crab recruitment for the near future,
  • the present and future abundance of the spawning stock,
  • the size structure of the male and female crab by stage of maturity,
  • the realized exploitation rates and loss rates of the commercially exploitable biomass.
• Present analyses of indicators of snow crab abundance and distribution based on the September multi-species research vessel survey of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.
• Review decision rules prepared by the Southern Gulf Snow Crab Decision Rules Working Group and advise on their compliance with the Precautionary Approach.
• Perform a risk analysis of catch options for the 2014 and 2015 fishery years, including projections with uncertainty of the predicted adult male commercial biomass components (residual biomass, recruitment biomass) for the fishery years 2015 and 2016. This risk analysis will be prepared for the southern Gulf biological unit, relative to the reference points (limit, upper reference), and according to the proposed decision rules developed for this biological unit and fishery.
• Present the information on the environmental factors which may influence the abundance and population dynamic of the snow crab stock of the southern.

Expected publications

• CSAS Science Advisory Report:
  • Status and fisheries advice of the snow crab biological unit of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (management units 12, 12E, 12F, and 19),
  • Assessment of compliance of decision rules to Precautionary Approach.
    
    
• CSAS Proceedings report summarizing the discussions of the science review.
  
  
• CSAS Research Documents.

Participation

• DFO Science Branch
• Other DFO Sectors
• Provinces
• External experts (to DFO)
• Fishing industry
• Aboriginal peoples