FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 74, NO. 3 



further expansion expected only in Newfound- 

 land. The fishery operates in depths of 40 to 70 

 fathoms in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and 90 to 200 

 fathoms in Newfoundland. Only Canada is en- 

 gaged in this fishery and there is no sport fishery. 

 Regulations for this fishery have only recently 

 been implemented, so, although they have cleared 

 public service and political hurdles, they have yet 

 to be tested by performance. 



Conservation 



Any specified area may be closed to the fishery 

 at any time for conservation reasons. Justifica- 

 tions could be an abundance of soft-shelled or 

 sublegal-sized crabs in the catches. Periodicity of 

 soft-shelled abundance is not predictable enough 

 to set annual seasons. 



Fishing is permitted only by traps to exclude the 

 wasteful bottom trawl and tangle net gears. A 

 minimum mesh-size regulation allows escapement 

 and eliminates handling of a large portion of the 

 sublegal-sized crabs. A minimum crab size is set 

 (Newfoundland only) in hope of maximizing the 

 yield per recruit, to ensure the presence of enough 

 mature males for mating success, and to satisfy 

 processing requirements. The minimum size ex- 

 cludes all females. 



A regulation requires that soft-shelled crabs be 

 returned to the water on the fishing ground. They 

 are unacceptable for processing because of low 

 meat yield, poor quality meat, and poor survival 

 while being held for processing. If landed, they are 

 discarded by processors. 



Allocation of Landings Among 

 Commercial Fishermen 



Trap limits in the Gulf of St. Lawrence limit the 

 fishing effort per boat. 



Any new boats entering the fishery after 1974 

 must be recommended by a crab management 

 committee composed of representatives from 

 fishermen, processors. Provincial governments, 

 and the Federal government, and approved by a 

 Regional Director of Fisheries. New entrants are 

 considered for underexploited areas only. 



Stability of Landings 



A single quota for all of Newfoundland is in- 

 tended to dampen the effects on landings of 

 variable recruitment to commercial size. 



Processing Economics 



With present technology and product prices, 

 crabs smaller than the legal minimum cannot be 

 processed economically. 



Administration 



Crab boats must be licensed specifically for crab 

 fishing to control entry and to provide economic 

 data on the fishery. In Newfoundland, boats must 

 report their fishing area to provide a history of 

 yields by area. 



East Coast Blue Crab 

 {Callinectes sapidus) 



This species has supported a commercial fishery 

 since at least 1890 (Newcombe 1945). Landings 

 have been about 140 million pounds annually in the 

 1970's (footnote 3). The fishery operates along 

 most of the U.S. Atlantic coast and all of the Gulf 

 of Mexico coast, but the bulk of the landings and 

 the most extensive fishery regulations are from 

 the mid-Atlantic States. The depth range of the 

 fishery is between less than 1 to 10 fathoms and 

 the fishery is prosecuted entirely from the United 

 States. 



Conservation 



Generally, egg-bearing females must be re- 

 turned to the water to allow them to release their 

 progeny. This is requested by the fishing industry 

 (Delaware, Maryland, Florida, Texas) although 

 there may be no biological evidence establishing a 

 relationship between the size of the parent stock 

 and strength of the resulting year-classes 

 (Delaware, Florida, Texas). 



To allow escapement of small crabs, Maryland 

 requires that the wire mesh covering traps be a 

 minimum of 1 by 1 inch, Florida requires that an 

 escape hole near the bottom of traps be a minimum 

 of 2 by 2 inches, and Texas requires that crab 

 trawls have a minimum mesh size of 5 inches 

 (stretch measure). 



Seines must be hauled up in the water rather 

 than on shore in Maryland to help ensure that 

 unwanted animals such as small crabs and fish are 

 returned to the water rather than left on the 

 beach. 



Hard-shelled crabs must be a minimum of 5-inch 



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