Research Document - 2014/084

The 2013 assessment of the snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) stock in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (Areas 12, 19, 12E and 12F)

By M. Hébert, E. Wade, P. DeGrâce, J.-F. Landry, and M. Moriyasu

Abstract

The 2013 assessment of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (sGSL) snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio, stock (Areas 12, 19, 12E and 12F) is presented. Snow crab management Areas 12, 19 12E and 12F comprise a single biological population and the sGSL stock is considered as one unit for assessment purposes. The 2013 assessment was conducted as per the recommendations of the Snow Crab Assessment Methods Framework Science Review held in November 2011. The major changes to the assessment methodology in 2013 from 2012 were the change of the trawl survey vessel and a revised sampling design that distributed sampling effort equally among 355 sampling grids. The exploitation rate of the 2013 fishery in the sGSL was 34.7%. The 2013 post-fishery survey biomass of commercial-sized adult male crabs was estimated at 65,868 t (95% confidence intervals 56,283 to 76,610 t), a decrease of 12.2% from 2012. The available biomass for the 2014 fishery, derived from the 2013 survey, is within the healthy zone of the PA Framework. The residual biomass (26,886 t) from the 2013 survey is comparable to 2012. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of the 2013 survey biomass, available for the 2014 fishery, is composed of new recruitment (38,981 t). The recruitment to the commercial biomass from the 2013 survey decreased by 20.4% relative to the previous year. The predicted recruitment of commercial-sized adult male crab for the 2015 fishery was estimated at 37,893 t (28,568 to 49,114 t). Risk analyses of catch options relative to reference points for the 2014 and 2015 fisheries are provided.

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