Research Document - 2006/055

A Review of Newfoundland and Labrador Region Research on the Effects of Mobile Fishing Gear on Benthic Habitat and Communities

By Gilkinson, K., E. Dawe, B. Forward, B. Hickey, D. Kulka, and S. Walsh

Abstract

Since 1990, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) and Maritimes regions have been involved in collaborative research on the impacts of Canadian mobile bottom fishing gears (MBFG) to habitat and benthic communities. This has included three fishing impact experiments on Grand Bank and the Scotian Shelf. In addition to this research there have been other studies directly and indirectly related to the impacts of MBFG that have been carried out in the NL region. In recent years one of the most important issues has been the contention by crab fishers that shrimp trawling causes excessive damage and mortality to crabs. DFO has carried out a number of studies to investigate this claim. Other research carried out by DFO in the region has included a spatial-temporal analysis of intensity and consistency of commercial trawling in the Canadian Atlantic and Pacific regions, a simulated trawl door scouring experiment and a comparison of mortality rates in Iceland scallops (Chlamys islandica) on a heavily fished ground (scallop dredging) and an area that had not been fished. In 2001 DFO NL region initiated a long-term deep-sea coral research program. This is largely based on corals collected as trawl by-catch in the multispecies surveys and the Observer Program. While there have been no studies examining the effects of trawling on corals in the NL region, an ever expanding database on the geographic and bathymetric distribution of corals should assist in the identification of coral ‘hotspots’ (i.e. high abundances or diversity) and the extent of commercial fishing in these sensitive habitats.

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