Research Document - 2004/037
Lobster Stock Monitoring by the Guysborough County Inshore Fishermen's Association
By Miller, R., Boudreau, V.
Abstract
In 2002 and 2003 the Guysborough County Inshore Fishermen's Association measured abundance of six life history stages. This paper describes survey methods, presents results, and reviews successes and failures. Petersen tag-recapture studies during the fishing season estimated absolute abundance of ovigerous females and “window” females (non-ovigerous 114-123 mm CL). Size distributions of ovigerous females from at-sea sampling were combined with abundance estimates to calculate annual egg production for several fishing ports. At-sea samples also provided locations of ovigerous females near the time of hatching. If larval drift modeling is initiated these data will provide the starting locations for the drift. Plankton tows provided indices of early and late larval stages. Larval survival was higher in 2002 than 2003. Out-of-season trapping surveys provided indices of abundance of a first year and two pre-recruit year classes. These are tools for implementing an empirical "probable good" approach to lobster stock management.
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