Logging lobster

Lobster season is winding to a close on the southwest coast, but for researchers collecting data on the crustaceans though the fishing season, the work is just beginning.

Monty Way, science coordinator with the Fish Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) said lobster is probably one of the least researched species on the eastern seaboard.

In response to the lack of data, the FFAW instituted a program of recruitment traps to collect data on young lobsters.

"Our membership was really concerned there was nothing being done on lobster - after the moratorium, that's what many had to make their living from," said Mr. Way.

The program began in 2006 when they asked a number of fishers to disable escape hatches on a set number of their lobster pots. Fishers then kept a log of the size of lobsters showing up in their traps, including the length of juveniles.

Since then the program has evolved. Mr. Way said they ended up providing participating fishers with standardized traps across the province. Each participating fisher has only one modified trap and a log book where they record the size and sex of each lobster, number of v-notched lobsters, and number of spawning lobsters, among the other data.

About 12 fishers between Cinq Cerf Bay and Cape Ray are taking part in the recruitment study according to Mr. Way.

The FFAW has launched a second program to record lobster data as well. People are hired to accompany fishers out on the water over several days and take measurements and other data from a fisher's entire catch in a single day.

"That's probably the best way because you've got a record every day of the fishery," he said.

Mr. Way said the data is freely shard with DFO. He has yet to see a report from DFO on the data collected, but said their scientists like to have three to five years worth of data, and it has only been two years since the use of standardized traps came into effect.

The union hopes having accurate data will lead to better management practices.

Memorial University researchers are also collecting data on lobsters, often with the help of local fishers.

Kate Wilke is a research assistant at the Ocean Sciences Centre in Logy Bay. She was recently in Port aux Basques to work with local fisher Charlie Riles on tagging lobsters.

"Instead of growing continuously like a human, they shed their shell. We want to know the growth increment. How much do they grow when they shed their shell?" said Ms. Wilke.

To do this, the researchers inserted a plastic tag into the flesh of lobsters where the tail meets the body. By putting the tag into the flesh, it remains after the lobster has moulted.

The researchers will be back in the fall, looking to capture some of the 1,500 lobsters they tagged off Port aux Basques to get after-molt measurements.

While hoping to catch the same lobsters seems like a bit of a long shot, the researchers mainly tagged undersized and v-notched lobsters in hopes that they would survive the season.

Ms. Wilke said other lobster research programs underway involve studying how many eggs lobsters produce based on their size, and studying the effectiveness of v-notching.

The researchers are also collecting data off Port au Choix, which is about the northernmost range of the species.

She said this data will be important because it can be compared and contrasted against information from warmer, southern waters.

"In Newfoundland in particular, there hadn't been much research done in years," she said. "I definitely thing lobster is important to fishermen in Newfoundland and it's something we should be putting much more time and effort into."

reporter@gulfnews.ca