Stock status update for American lobster (Homarus americanus) in lobster fishing area 33 for 2021

Abstract

The scientific basis for assessing the status of American Lobster (Homarus americanus) stocks in Lobster Fishing Areas (LFAs) 27–33 was examined at a framework meeting on January 23–24, 2018 (Cook et al. 2020). This was followed by an assessment held on October 1, 2018, that provided advice only for LFA 33, to align timing of science advice with data availability and the fisheries management cycle (DFO 2019). The Framework Review identified and agreed upon primary, secondary, and contextual indicators to be used for the assessment of this stock. Some indicators are directly linked to stock health and status (e.g., abundance), whereas others describe the population characteristics (e.g., size structure) or ecosystem considerations (e.g., temperature). For the purposes of a stock status update, only the primary and secondary indicators are reported. Contextual biological (maximum/median size, sex ratios, etc.) and environmental (bottom temperature) indicators are not presented here. This Science Response Report results from the Regional Science Response Process of October 7, 2021, on the Stock Status Update of American Lobster in Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 33. When this document was written, there were outstanding commercial fishing and recruitment trap project logs. As such, some results are preliminary as detailed below.