Fishing seasons for inshore lobster fisheries

On this page

• Overview
• History
• Informed by science
• Supporting conservation
• Public policy objectives
• For more information

Overview

To support economically valuable and ecologically sustainable lobster fisheries in Eastern Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada manages the fishery on a seasonal basis with specific considerations for each lobster fishing area.

A predictable fishing season plays an important role in conservation by avoiding the main periods when lobsters molt and reproduce, and by removing or limiting fishing pressures. The seasons help coordinate activity across multiple fisheries and distribute benefits across Indigenous and coastal communities.

Fishing seasons contribute to an orderly, well-managed fishery with defined periods of time for commercial activity, and they support consistent data collection to ensure future decisions are based on sound science.

History

Lobster fishery management practices date back almost 150 years, with the first known regulation to protect egg-bearing females developed in 1873.

The roots of Canada’s current approach to lobster management can be traced back to the late 1960s, with the creation of a limited entry licence policy. Prior to that, no restrictions were in place in order to obtain a lobster licence. Along with limiting the number of licences, Canada also introduced trap limits and defined boundaries for most of the modern day lobster fishing areas.

In 1995, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans requested an arms-length, independent review from the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council. Flowing from this review, Canada introduced a number of new management measures to promote the sustainability of the lobster fishery including: voluntary v-notching (marked as having been an egg-bearing, reproductive female); minimum carapace size increase; trap reductions; and shortened fishing seasons.

Today, the suite of lobster management measures in place has supported economically valuable and sustainable lobster fisheries.

Informed by science

Science of lobster life stages and seasons

The timing of lobster fishing seasons varies across different lobster fishing areas in order to minimize negative impacts during important life stages. These stages include egg hatching, lobster molting, egg laying and mating. In most areas, seasons are set to avoid harvesting during these important periods.

Lobster growth occurs through molting which generally takes place during summer to early fall. Following molt, lobsters are soft and their carapace hardens over the following weeks and months. Fishing and handling lobsters while their carapace is not fully hardened can injure or kill those lobsters that are returned to the water. In most lobster fishing areas, the current fishing season aims to avoid these vulnerable times.

Fishing during the summer months and early fall can interfere with other biological processes, such as mating and egg laying. Fishing during these times could negatively affect stock productivity.

Scientific stock assessments

Most lobster stock assessments rely primarily on information from the fishery itself, such as catch rates and landings.

Changes to the seasonal management of the fishery would affect our ability to properly track changes in stock health indicators. Increases in fishing activity or higher mortality rates in lobsters due to a change to fishing seasons or fishing out of season can distort assessments, depending on the timing, the scale of the fishery, and the characteristics of the lobster fishing area.

Supporting conservation

The primary purpose of closed seasons in the inshore lobster fishery is to promote lobster productivity. This is done in two ways:

• allowing important molting and reproductive activities to occur in the absence of commercial fishing
• keeping fishing mortality moderate

Promoting molting and reproductive activities is accomplished by closing the commercial fishery during the months when lobsters typically molt and spawn. This timing depends on location, the temperature of the water in any given year, and other factors. This is also reinforced by other resource management tactics, such as the required release of egg-bearing and v-notched females, release of large size females, minimum legal sizes, etc.

Keeping fishing mortality moderate is accomplished by a number of input controls, meaning placing controls on the amount of effort that may be used to harvest the resource. This includes limiting the number of:

• fishing days
• licences in each lobster fishing area
• traps authorized per licence

Keeping fishing mortality moderate is also accomplished by generally confining the fishery to periods of time when waters are cooler, and when lobster growth for the year is largely complete.

Public policy objectives

While our primary objective is conservation, there are other legitimate public policy objectives we consider:

Orderly fisheries management: Orderly management includes predictability for the lobster industry itself, also predictability for other fleets and industries, and predictability for monitoring, enforcement, and safety operations.

In support of this goal, all commercial fishing activity occurs at the same time in each lobster fishing area. This creates a level-playing field for those fishing within the same lobster fishing area by providing access for the same time-period for all commercial lobster harvesters within that area. 

Lobster seasons also support the timing of different harvesting activities on the water. Lobster is fished with gear that is fixed in place and left passively to fish. During the lobster seasons, there can be many thousands of traps in the water, often close together so that “mobile” fishing activity, such as fishing with dredges and trawls, cannot occur. A predictable lobster fishing season helps allow for other harvests to be sequenced accordingly.

Defined lobster seasons also help us properly deploy resources for monitoring, enforcement, and safety operations.

Economic benefits: Lobster fisheries provide important economic benefits in coastal communities throughout Eastern Canada. In order to provide domestic and international markets with a steady supply of product, the timing of season openings helps ensure that the benefits of the inshore lobster fishery are distributed broadly to Indigenous and coastal communities across Atlantic Canada.

The seasons also help avoid fishing lobsters when they are soft and of lesser quality and value, creating stability in the high quality of product and maintaining the premium reputation that is associated with Canadian lobster. Furthermore, for areas that are certified by an independent auditor for sustainability purposes, such as Marine Stewardship Council, any unilateral modification to the management of the fishery could affect certification and therefore, the access of these products to the market.

For more information

Integrated Fisheries Management Plans (IFMPs) provide detailed information on the management objectives and related measures for each fishery.

Scientific publications on the health of lobster stocks and assessment methods for specific LFAs can be found using the search function on our website.