Comeau and Savoie: Movement of Homaivs amencanus in the southwestern Gulf of St, Lawrence 



191 



distances. The main concern of fishermen in the south- 

 western GSL was the minimal legal size (MLS) disparity 

 between LFA 24 (MLS of 63.5 mm CD located on the 

 north side of Prince Edward Island and the other LFAs 

 (MLSs from 65.1 to 70.0 mm CL). More precisely, they 

 were interested in lobster movements in relation to time. 

 i.e. if lobsters released in a given area in one season would 

 be recaptured in the same area in future seasons. From 

 our findings, lobsters do not move farther if they are at 

 large for a longer period. Distances traveled by lobsters 

 were not time-dependent for lobsters at large between 200 

 (with at least one winter season) and 1102 days. Results of 

 our tagging studies were consistent with results from ear- 

 lier studies carried out in the southwestern GSL and dem- 

 onstrated that lobsters in their benthic stages have little 

 long distance interaction. Hence, lobster movements in the 

 southwestern GSL should have minimal consequences in 

 terms of lobster management. 



Acknowledgments 



The authors wish to thank all fishermen from the south- 

 western Gulf of St. Lawrence who returned lobster tags. 

 We also want to thank Bruno Comeau, Daniel Ferron, Marc 

 Lanteigne, Wade Landsburg, Manon Mallet. Pierre Mallet. 

 Donald R. Maynard. Gilles Paulin and Guy Robichaud for 

 their technical assistance in the field and during tag col- 

 lection. We especially thank J. Mark Hanson. Marc Lan- 

 teigne. and David Robichaud for critically reviewing the 

 manuscript and three anonymous reviews for thoughtful 

 suggestions that improved the quality of this manuscript. 



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