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Research Document 1997/07

Status of Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab in 1996

By E.G. Dawe, D.M. Taylor, P.J. Veitch, H.J. Drew, P.C. Beck, and P.G. O'Keefe

Abstract

Data on catch rate, size (carapace width, CW) and molt status (chela allometry) from various sources were used to infer resource status. Data from 1995 and 1996 fall bottom trawl surveys were particularly useful. The more extensive 1996 survey showed that legal-sized males were broadly distributed throughout much of the survey area but were absent north of Div. 2J, as well as on the deep slope of the continental shelf and across most of the shallow southern Grand Bank. All crab sizes generally co-existed offshore, whereas largest crabs tended to be concentrated at greatest depths in inshore areas. Fall bottom trawl surveys indicated a substantial commercial biomass for 1997 throughout Div. 2J3KLN. This was consistent with high 1996 catch rates in two of the three Div. 3L trap surveys and the single Div. 3K trap survey (White Bay). A decline is anticipated in one of the three Div. 3L trap survey areas (Bonavista Bay), probably due to local effects of recruitment and exploitation. The fall bottom trawl surveys indicate no problems with recruitment in the short term throughout Div. 2J3KLN. This contrasts with local Div. 3L trap survey results, especially for Bonavista Bay and Conception Bay. In those areas trap survey catch rates of prerecruits with small claws declined to very low levels. Interpretation of differences in abundance indices of prerecruits between trap and trawl surveys remains unclear because of differences in gear efficiencies and survey design as well as in crab population structure and levels of exploitation between inshore and offshore areas. A great increase in trap survey catch rates of small crabs in White Bay in 1996 suggests that there may be considerable local variation in recruitment dynamics.

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