Abstract
The American lobster (Homarus americanus) population in southern Gulf of St. Lawrence has long been subjected to high exploitation, and yet its population is currently at a high and increasing abundance level. The lobster fishery management is based on effort-control, with a short season, mandatory release of egg-bearing females, and strict enforcement of regulations. Another important factor is the high survival of lobster returned to the water. The combination of a minimum legal size limit and either an upper size limit for females or an effective size limit due to entrance-ring size on the traps has resulted in a slot fishery after which the larger, most fecund animals have low vulnerability to the fishery. These efforts to protect large individuals have had a positive effect on lobster larval production, which may lead to even higher adult population numbers. Comparisons with the management of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) quota-based fisheries were made to try to explain the different trajectories that these three species’ populations have taken since the 1960s.
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