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Research Document - 2004/054

Stock status of the American Lobster, Homarus americanus, in the Lobster Fishing Area 25

By Comeau, M., Hanson, J.M., Mallet, M., Savoie, F.

Abstract

This document presents the most recent information on trends in the fishery and resource status for Lobster Fishing Area 25 (LFA 25). Landings in 2002 were 3,210 t - continuing the declining trend that began in 1985. While 2002 landings were 52% of the peak observed in 1984, they remained substantially above the low level of 1,>800 t recorded from 1965 to 1975. LFA 25 is a recruitment fishery relying on animals in their first molt into the fishery. Effort continues to be extremely high. It required less than 20 days to catch >50% of the total landings in 2002. In addition, the number of empty traps in August (when >60% of landings were taken) has increased from 5% in 1986 to 50% in 2003. The catch per unit effort (CPUE) dropped sharply following the second week of the fishery despite many fishermen hauling traps on alternate days or less often. The at-sea sampling program and recruitment index programs both showed a continued decline in the abundance of pre-recruits and recruits into the fishery in LFA 25, suggesting the 2003 landings would be lower than those in 2002. The proportion of fertilized females that had not extruded eggs was investigated since the female lobster reproductive cycle alternates between mating and spawning on a yearly basis. In addition to being accessible to the fishery following fertilization (as occurs in all LFAs) in a given year, female lobsters in LFA 25 are exposed to the fishery a second time the following year before they can extrude eggs (egg extrusion is normally observed between mid-July and early-September). This represents the better part of two fishing seasons on fertilized females before they become ovigerous and protected from exploitation. Monitoring during the 2002 and 2003 fisheries revealed that >45% of females in their egg-extrusion year are observed in the commercial catch prior to the first week of September. This high level of exploitation on fertilized females negatively affects egg production in LFA 25. Temperature data revealed that LFA 25 operates in the warmest months of the year and that bottom temperature profiles in some years (1995 and 1997 in Escuminac, and 2001 in Shediac) were colder than average. No trend between years has been observed in the bottom temperature profiles. Distribution maps produced from a pre-fishery trawl survey conducted since 2001 indicated there were low densities of market-size lobster and negligible numbers of canner and sub-legal size lobster in the southern zone during August, and very high densities of canner and sub-legal size lobster along the New Brunswick coast in the northern zone of LFA 25. The highest densities of market-size lobster occurred in the central portion of LFA 25. While the location of highest lobster concentrations did not differ between years, the CPUE dropped dramatically (between 27% and >80%) between years for canner-size, market-size and sub-legal size lobsters. In the southern zone, the index of removals was high for both canner-size (57%-66%) and market-size (52%-55%) lobsters. In summary, all indices of stock status and recruitment to the fishery for 2004 indicate a continuation of the negative trend. The prospect for improvement in the status of the lobster population in LFA 25 is negligible for the short-term.

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