Comeau and Savoie: Movement of Homaius amencanus in the southwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence 



185 



the Northumberland Strait (Fig. 1, sites 26 and 27). The 

 longest average distances traveled (9.3-19.4 km, Table 21 

 were observed in the immediate vicinity of Miramichi Bay 

 (Figs 1 and 6, sites 10 and ll),Malpeque Bay andTracadie 

 Bay in northern Prince Edward Island (Fig 1, sites 14, and 

 15), St. Georges Bay (Fig. 1, site 28) and central Northum- 

 berland Strait (Figs 1 and 7, sites 19, 22, and 23). 



Lobster movements in the Northumberland Strait were 

 related to whether the site was located toward the center 

 or at either extremity (either end) of the Strait. Lobsters 

 at sites close to the external boundaries (Fig. 1, sites 17, 

 18, 20, 21, 26, and 27) traveled on average shorter dis- 

 tances (5.4-8.6 km) than those located in the center of the 

 Strait (Fig. 1, 12.2-19.4 km, sites 19, 22, and 23). Although 

 tags were recovered in the western portion of Northum- 

 berland Strait (LFA 25) at a different time (a different 

 fishing season) compared with tag recoveries at the other 



LFAs, movements seemed to be related to the extent of 

 shallow waters (<20 m) rather than the time of the recov- 

 ery period. 



Discussion 



Lobster movements in the southwestern GSL are related 

 to the local bottom topography and are depth-dependent, 

 i.e. lobsters traveled on average longer distances in areas 

 where the shallow waters (<20 m) extended farther from 

 shore. We observed that on the narrow coastal shelf of 

 western Cape Breton and in some areas in Baie des Chal- 

 eurs, lobsters traveled on average less than 5 km compared 

 with distances ranging from 9.3 to 19.4 km in the grad- 

 ually sloping bottom of the Northumberland Strait and 

 some shallow bays. Similarly, Templeman (1935) reported 



