Bio-collectors to Evaluate Lobster Settlement and the Biodiversity of Species Settling in Coastal Habitat
Description
Lobsters sampled using a bio-collector deployed around P.E.I. in 2013 include four young-of-the-year lobsters (at top), which were born that summer, and one "walk-in"—a lobster born the previous summer—sampled in Skinner's Pond.
Credit: DFO
Declines in productivity of the Northumberland Strait ecosystem make it essential to learn more about the Strait and the fisheries it supports, including the most lucrative fishery in the Gulf, American Lobster. To improve knowledge of productivity and gather the data necessary to establish a lobster recruitment Footnote 1 index, 215 post-larval bio-collectors will be deployed at seven different sites around Prince Edward Island in early July for three consecutive years (2014-2016). Building on research started in 2008, this project is being carried out in collaboration with the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association to:
- evaluate annual settlement of post-larval (young-of-the-year) lobster, which can be used to predict future recruitment into lobster fisheries; and
- assess the abundance and size-structure of all large coastal species including fish, crustaceans, gastropods (e.g. snails), bivalves and echinoderms (P.E.I. starfish, sea urchins).
The findings will provide new insights into the biology and recruitment process of exploited coastal marine species—particularly American Lobster and Rock Crab—and inform ecosystem-based management decisions related to these commercial stocks, thus benefitting the industry.
Program Name
Fisheries Science Collaborative Program (FSCP)
Year(s)
2012 - 2015
Ecoregion(s)
Atlantic: Gulf of St. Lawrence, St. Lawrence Estuary
Principal Investigator(s)
Michel Comeau
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
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