Science Advisory Report  2010/010

Rock Crab of the Coastal Waters of Quebec in 2009

Summary

• Landings of rock crab in Quebec totalled 1,813 t in 2009 and were almost exclusively from the directed fishery. Directed fishery landings have remained stable since 2006. In 2009, landings came in almost equal proportions from the southern part of the Gaspé Peninsula (36%) and Magdalen Islands (34%), the northern part of the Gaspé Peninsula and the North Shore accounting for 21% and 9% respectively.
• Catch rates have remained above or close to historical averages in the Gaspé Peninsula and North Shore since 2006. They declined in the Magdalen Islands and in 2009, they were about 20% below the 1998-2008 average. It is therefore recommended to lower quotas in the Magdalen Islands.
• In most regions, the size structures and average sizes have remained stable for several years. Decreases in average size and abundance of large crabs were observed locally, suggesting an overly high fishing pressure in some sectors.
• For all of Quebec, it is recommended not to increase the intensity of the directed fishery given the context of uncertainty associated with the possibility for lobster fishermen to conserve and land rock crab by-catches without them being controlled.
• In addition, the directed fishery effort currently deployed is significantly lower than the effort permitted by the existing management measures. The deployment of latent effort would increase the exploitation rate, with unknown consequences on the stability observed until now. To eliminate this latent effort, it is recommended to set the effort or catch level to that from years when the resource’s productivity was sustained.

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