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Science Response 2008/017

Biological Basis for the protection of large lobsters in lobster fishing areas 33 to 38

Context

In October 2007, the Regional Director-General (RDG), Maritimes Region, announced a number of priorities for the Maritimes lobster fishery, including improving conservation measures to provide better protection for large mature female lobsters in particular. At a meeting with the lobster industry in September 2008 to discuss potential new measures, industry raised questions about the biological basis for protecting large lobsters. The RDG committed Maritimes Science to a response to the questions. A meeting with industry to revisit the issue is planned for early 2009. Given the short timeframe for the response, the Science Special Response Process was used to produce this report.

While the protection for large female lobsters was recommended in the 2007 Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (FRCC) report, the biological basis for the recommendation was not fully explored. Here we review literature on Homarus americanus and other species to evaluate whether there is a basis for conservation measures to protect large lobsters.

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