Research Document - 1999/136
Status of the Newfoundland and Labrador Snow Crab Resource in 1998.
By E. Dawe
Abstract
Data on catch rate, size (carapace width, CW) and molt status (chela allometry) from various sources were used to infer resource status of Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab (Chionecetes opilio). Data from 1995 to 1998 fall bottom trawl surveys were particularly useful. These surveys, conducted near the end of the fishing season, indicated an apparent northward shift of the population over the past 3 years. Legal-sized males were broadly distributed throughout much of the survey area but were absent across much of the shallow southern Grand Bank. A substantial commercial biomass was indicated for 1999 throughout Div. 2J3KLNO, comparable to that of the previous year. Continued strong recruitment was indicated for 1999 but longer-term prospects are uncertain. Biomass estimates from 1996-1998 spring Div. 3Ps bottom trawl surveys were unrealistically low, highly variable, and unreliable. A trap survey in White Bay (NAFO Div. 3K) showed that males were segregated by size in inshore strata, with small males predominantly in the shallowest strata. A great increase in trap survey catch rates of intermediate-sized crabs in White Bay during 1994-98 suggests that there may have been density-dependent and size-related changes in distribution patterns in recent years. Incidence of bitter crab disease (BCD) has increased, especially in Div. 3K, since 1994.
Accessibility Notice
This document is available in PDF format. If the document is not accessible to you, please contact the Secretariat to obtain another appropriate format, such as regular print, large print, Braille or audio version.
- Date modified: