Crab stocks remain strong in most N.L. fishing zones, according to latest Fisheries and Oceans assessment
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In a year when the snow crab industry in Newfoundland and Labrador faces some market challenges, there is at least one piece of good news for the fishery.
Snow crab stocks are doing well in most of the province’s fishing regions.
Julia Pantin, a snow crab biologist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), told reporters at a news conference Monday, Feb. 27 that stocks in fisheries around the island of Newfoundland meet precautionary criteria and are considered healthy.
The main crab fishing areas in the province are three zones – 3-L, N and E – stretching from Bonavista Bay in the northeast to St. Mary’s Bay off the Avalon Peninsula.
In these areas, the usable biomass — the estimated total weight of male crabs with a shell width greater than 94 mm — has remained constant or increased over the past four years.
The same is true of other fisheries around the island, stretching from Notre Dame Bay in the northwest to Placentia Bay on the south coast.
However, the situation is different in the fisheries along the coast of Labrador.
In this region, DFO has given snow crab stocks a “cautious” rating. The growth of usable biomass was slow.
The polls
The only thing missing from this year’s snow crab assessment is data from DFO trawl surveys.
As in many other fisheries, the 2022 department was unable to conduct its own research at sea on the snow crab.
However, Pantin said data was collected in other ways.
In recent years, post-season surveys have been conducted in conjunction with the Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) union and the Torngat Joint Fisheries Board.
It puts out a handful of fishing boats to gather information for DFO science.
The torngat work covered a smaller area, using one vessel to survey 20 stations (fishing spots), Pantin said.
The FFAW survey is more comprehensive, she added.
“There are 1,250 stations for this survey spread across all fishing regions,” Pantin said.
Fast crab facts
Female snow crabs are not fished.
Male snow crabs take around 9-12 years to reach a usable size. After entering the fishery, an additional year is required to transition from a soft-shelled to a hard-shelled state.
Male and female snow crabs finally molt (stop growing) at 40–150 mm and 30–70 mm shell width, respectively.
Source: Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Using small-mesh and large-mesh traps in coastal and offshore areas, she explained, they not only fish for the larger male crabs to get an idea of the usable biomass, but also for female and smaller male crabs, which produce the new recruits become available for commercial fishing after a few years of growth.
Pantin said they also use information from logbooks submitted by fishermen after the fishing season.
However, this system can be slow and information incomplete.
“In a given year, not all logs may be collected at the time the inventory is taken,” Pantin said. “That’s why the current year is often seen as tentative, and that’s the case with snow crabs.
“In some areas there is a lot of returns of logbooks,” she said, “while in some areas the logbooks may be slow to arrive or they may contain errors or missing information and would need to be returned (to the harvester) for correction.”
In 2024, the fishing industry in Atlantic Canada will switch to electronic logbooks. DFO announced last year that it was phasing out paper logs in favor of an electronic system that would allow harvesters to enter their fishing data into an app on a computer or mobile phone and upload it to the DFO system after each fishing trip. Harvesters are instructed to use the electronic system.
A British Columbia company has developed an app, and a representative from Veritech is currently traveling across Atlantic Canada to meet with fishermen to teach them how to use the system.
According to Pantin, switching to e-logs could result in a faster process in collecting, entering and evaluating data from snow crab fisheries.
For one thing, it would take less time to transfer data from paper logs to a computer.
“As I understand, it would (also) be more difficult to enter incorrect information. So that would avoid sending them back for correction,” she said.
Other indicators
Another formula DFO science uses to assess crab stocks is the CPU measure (catch per unit).
It is used to calculate how many crabs were caught using how many pots.
Looking at how long it takes to catch crabs and comparing this data to previous years can be an indicator of crab abundance.
As part of this CPU equation, DFO also takes into account how long the pots had to sit in the water—“soaking time” in fishing terminology—to make that catch.
Pantin said, “I’ve been looking at exposure time recently and there has certainly been an overall increase in exposure time.
“They leave their traps in the water longer. We have seen an increase.”
This metric also helps to draw a comparative picture between different fisheries.
“On the west coast of Newfoundland, they actually had decreasing soak times in 4R3Pn,” she said, “while in some other areas soak times have increased quite a bit.”
Still, she said, other factors play a role, like weather preventing harvesters from coming back to haul their pots, or the industry’s decision to use travel restrictions to manage production.
“So (soaking time) doesn’t necessarily mean it’s harder to catch crab, and that’s why you had to leave the gear in the water longer. It could be more about the dynamics of the fisheries.”
On whether there will be DFO trawl surveys this year, Pantin said, “The department is working very hard with the Coast Guard to ensure that we can safely continue our trawl time series.”
Next Steps
The annual snow crab assessment is the first step in the process to help the department determine catch quotas for the season.
The next step in this process is science-industry meetings, where fish harvesters and fish processors have the opportunity to speak up and offer their own information.
After that, the minister responsible for DFO will review the science and industry input to set quotas for the 2023 fishing season.
Based on the assessments, DFO decided last year to increase the total NL quota by 32 percent to 50,470 tons.
Based on the latest assessment, could the stock handle another rate hike this season?
Pantin can’t tell.
You and the other scientists studying snow crabs for DFO can only present information. They don’t suggest quotas.
“I really can’t speak to the decisions that resource managers would make,” she said, adding that the quota decision takes into account “quite a lot of things” like the pension framework, to name just one.
The big question this season is also whether it would make sense to take more crabs out of the water when they are more difficult to sell.
REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
Highlights of the latest crab rating for NL
• Total usable biomass increased from historic lows in 2016-18 to near long-term averages in the past two years.
• Although overall stock status is positive, changing environmental conditions, including water temperatures, may limit stock growth in the short term. This will be monitored in future valuations of that stock.
• Under the Snow Crab Precautionary Framework, all Assessment Divisions are projected to be in the Healthy Zone in 2023, with the exception of Assessment Division (AD) 2HJ (Labrador) which is projected to be in the Caution Zone.
• This is the first year that the new precautionary approach will be applied.
SOURCE: Department of Fisheries and Oceans