Research Document - 1999/032

The American lobster, Homarus americanus, fishery off of Southwestern Nova Scotia (Lobster Fishing Area 34).

By D. Pezzack, P. Lawton, I.M. Gutt, D.R. Duggan, D.A. Robichaud and M.B. Strong

Abstract

The status of the lobster fishery in Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 34 is reviewed. Estimates of exploitation rate and levels of egg production per recruit (E/R) are presented. Projected impacts of conservation management changes currently in review are evaluated. Landings increased over 3X during the 1980's and remained high and stable since 1990-91. Fishing grounds also expanded during the 1980's to include the deeper water areas outside of 20km and the 55m depth contour, out to the 92km LFA 41 offshore line. Catch rates and size distributions in the nearshore fishery appear to be unchanged over the past decade. Exploitation rates are high and appear to be stable in the nearshore areas but over 70% of the landings are new recruits that have not spawned. Landings may have remained high in part due to increased fishing in the midshore areas and increased effective effort. A higher percentage of the landings are occurring earlier in the season, which is consistent with an increase in effective fishing effort. Size frequencies in deeper water midshore areas like German Bank, indicate a decline in proportion of mature females and exploitation rates appear to be as high as in the nearshore. Since the advent of the midshore fishery in the late 1970s the number of eggs per recruit may have declined by 2 to 8-fold for the entire LFA 34. Based on observation of the numbers of sublegal sized lobsters in traps, the recruitment since the late 1980s appears to be continually high. Results of the egg-per-recruit analysis indicates that the stock is recruitment over fished and increased egg production would help reduce the risk of recruitment failure.

Complete document (PDF, 1141 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.