Eastport Marine Protected Area: Protecting Newfoundland's lobster

Victoria Howse: The lobster is an important part of the fabric of life for harvesters on the Eastport Peninsula, and protection of the local lobster population and its habitat became a priority for local harvesters following the decline of the Groundfish stocks in the early 1990s.

Gord Janes: Well years ago when people didn't have as much to do the cod fishery was shut down, so every lobster license become active, and when all the lobster licenses are active, of course, there is more effort put into it, and more effort means more abuse on the lobster stocks themselves.

To curb the fact that people were taking undersized lobsters and just abusing it in different ways, this committee was formed. Some member of the committee recognized that if there was a problem in a certain area with different fishermen, a member of the committee would go and talk to that fisherman, and you'd just basically tell them to either smarten up or the next call would be from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Well once we got, you know, got everything straightened out, got our closed area and everything done, we realized then that we needed actually enforcement in this closed area and we also needed science work done as well.

In the fall now when, you know, when the lobster traps are out in the closed area of course, and in the adjacent area, Fisheries and Oceans always provides patrol, and you know, we have not had any problems with any traps being hauled, so obviously Fisheries and Oceans are doing their job.

Victoria Howse: The Eastport Marine Protected Area is a joint conservation effort between local harvesters of the Eastport Peninsula and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

We have two programs in order to determine the performance of the Marine Protected Area. The first is an at-sea sampling program that happens during the commercial fishery. And in the fall of the year we have a tagging program that happens inside and surrounding the Marine Protected Area.

The tagging program is carried out by local harvesters using traps designed to capture lobster of all sizes, and to track changes in the size and movement of lobster around the protected area.

Captured lobsters are tagged, measured, and released at each monitoring area.

Patricia Janes: It's already tagged from last year or the year before, so I will record the number in this logbook, and the size of the lobster, and then release it.

Victoria Howse: When fishing effort is high, few lobster survive to grow beyond commericial size, typically a little over a pound.

In the fall of the year after the commercial fishery, local harvesters conduct a tagging program.

Gord Janes: You see, when lobster moult, the tag, well I say 80% of the time will stay with the lobster, but if you put a tag on any part of the shell, once the lobster moults, the tag is lost.

Victoria Howse: The data collected by harvesters is sent to Fisheries and Oceans for analysis to help manage the protected area. The monitoring data we receive helps us understand the population growth and movement of local lobster.

The Marine Protected Area provides a refuge from fishing and allows more lobster to reach a larger size

Gord Janes: He is between four and four and a half pounds

Victoria Howse: We have seen significant increases in the lobster size inside the protected area. Larger lobster have a higher survival rate and produce more eggs than smaller lobsters.