Effects of closing bottom trawling on fisheries, biodiversity, and fishing communities in a boreal marine ecosystem: the Hawke Box off Labrador, Canada

Abstract

The Hawke Box is an offshore area (8610 km2) of the boreal Northwest Atlantic that at the request of local fishers was closed to trawling and gillnetting in 2003, but remained open to seasonal snow crab (Chionocetes opilio) pot fishing. Closure was a precautionary management measure primarily to sustain the crab fishery and secondarily to conserve cod known to aggregate there. Fall (1996–2013) and spring (1996–2003, 2015) surveys indicated that biological community assemblages changed significantly before–after and inside–outside the closure (PERMANOVA P < 0.01). Crab fishery data (1996–2013) indicated that landings and relative production declined throughout the region after closure, but was significantly more outside than inside. Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) increased inside and outside the closure, and several other demersal species increased significantly more inside. The Hawke Box provides a unique boreal area for the study of restrictions on trawling and gillnetting in an area with historically strong fisheries, restrictions that are strongly supported by local fishers. The overall evidence suggests that within a decade the Hawke Box has benefited fisheries communities, fisheries production, and biodiversity conservation.