ALBERTON, P.E.I. — The minimum carapace size for catches in Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 24 is increasing.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has accepted a recommendation of the LFA 24 lobster advisory committee, and will be moving the minimum carapace measurement to 74 millimetres this spring.
The move follows a similar notice to Prince Edward Island’s other spring lobster fishery, LFA 26A.
Fishermen in both areas had earlier voted in favour of a one-millimetre increase in the measure, and the respective advisory committees subsequently presented the size increase recommendation to DFO. Both districts had implemented a one-millimetre increase in 2018 and then took a year off.
David Lewis, chairman of the LFA 24 (P.E.I.’s north shore) lobster advisory committee, said he had expected the federal department would accept the recommendation.
The size increase will also require fishermen to adjust the size of the escape panels on their lobster traps. Each trap will require two panels that have an opening of at least 43 mm.
Lewis said the requirement of two escape panels went into effect last year, and some fishermen might have gone with 43 mm panels at that time in anticipation of a carapace increase.
He said there will be some work involved for fishermen who still have 42 mm panels. He said the questionnaire concerning a carapace increase made fishermen aware that escape panels would have to be larger if a carapace increase was the preferred approach.
“We’re pleased with the engagement of fishers in Area 24,” Lewis said, reporting that 76 per cent of the 603 fishers returned their questionnaire, and 60.1 per cent of the respondents were in favour of an increase.
Lewis said fishermen have agreed to a size increase, not only for conservation, but because they’re seeing the benefits of increased landings.
Even in 2018, when the carapace size increased by one millimetre, Lewis said landings increased, just not at the same rate as before the carapace increase. He said they took a bigger jump last year, about 10 per cent.
As the size increases, the percentage of higher-priced markets in the catch also increases.
“You may land the same amount of animals, but it’s the weight volume you gain,” Lewis said, adding that data suggests the market percentage would overtake the canner percentage with a minimum measure of 75 mm.
At a recent annual meeting of the Prince County Fishermen's Association, which takes in lobster fishermen from LFA 25 (the fall fishery, where the minimum measure is at 77 mm), P.E.I. Fishermen's Association president Bobby Jenkins suggested further movement on the spring measure is possible.
He said LFA 26A "is getting ready to do a follow-up mailout to try to arrive at something after 2020 regarding carapace size" and said LFA 24 will have further discussions following the spring season.
