Terms of Reference

Stock status in 2020 and fishery advice for 2021 for Snow Crab from the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence

Regional Advisory Meeting – Gulf Region

February 10 and 11, 2021
Virtual meeting

Chairperson: Mark LaFlamme

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 (Chionoecetes 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 2021 fishing season. 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):
• Available commercial fishery statistics for the 2020 fishing season (landings, effort, catch per unit of effort),
• Present the following estimates based on the post-fishery directed snow crab trawl survey for the extended polygon of 20 to 200 fathoms (defined in 2014) for 2020 and previous years:
• the exploitable commercial biomass (adult male crab of carapace width >= 95 mm, residual and recruitment) 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,
• male recruitment abundances,
• the female spawning stock abundance,
• male and female size frequency distributions by maturity stage,
• the total annual mortality of commercial-sized adult male crab.
• Perform a risk analysis of catch options for the 2021 fishing season, including projections with uncertainty of the predicted adult male commercial biomass for the 2022 fishing season. This risk analysis will be prepared for the southern Gulf biological unit, relative to the reference points (limit, upper reference), and according to the agreed decision rule.
• Present the information on the environmental factors which may influence the abundance and population dynamic of the snow crab stock of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Expected Publications

• Science Advisory Report
• Proceedings
• Research Document

Expected Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) (Ecosystems and Oceans Science, and Ecosystems and Fisheries Management)
• Stakeholders
• External experts
• Aboriginal Aquatic Resource and Ocean Management (AAROM)