New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Impact of minimum legal size increases on egg-per-recruit production,
size structure, and ovigerous females in the American lobster (Homarus
americanus) population off the Magdalen Islands (Quebec, Canada): a case
study
Louise Gendron
Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Maurice Lamontagne Institute
Mont-Joli, Quebec G5H 3Z4
Canada
email: gendronl@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Abstract In the mid 1990s, American lobster (Homarus
americanus) from Canadian waters was considered overfished based on estimated
levels of egg-per-recruit production (EPR). In 1997, the Department of Fisheries
Oceans responded by adopting a goal of doubling the level of EPR from its
1996 level. In the Magdalen Islands (Quebec), results from a simulation model
indicated that doubling EPR could be reached by increasing the minimum legal
size (MLS) from 76 mm to 83 mm carapace length. This was done at a pace of
1 mm per year from 1997 to 2003. Following the increase of MLS, the size
structure, mean size, and the abundance of ovigerous females improved significantly
in the catches. However, levels of fishing effort are still very high. This
could cause undesirable effects such as altering sex ratios and size structure
of males, which could lead to sperm limitation, and reducing the contribution
of multiple spawners to egg production, which could become an issue if egg
quality is important. Consideration of these issues leads to the recommendation
of a multidimensional approach to lobster conservation.
Keywords American lobster; Homarus americanus;
egg-per-recruit production; management; conservation
M04082; Online publication date 8 June 2005 Received 31 March 2004; accepted
1 October 2004
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2005, Vol. 39:
661-674
0028-8330/05/3903-0661 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005
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