Gone to shell: Removal of a million tonnes of snow crab since cod moratorium in the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery

Abstract

Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) replaced northern cod (Gadus morhua) as the primary social and employment fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) during the 1990s. For nearly three decades snow crab has supported thousands of fishing enterprises and enabled the NL fishery to prosper to unprecedented economic status. Following a growth phase in the early 1990s, and despite gradually declining for two decades, the snow crab resource remained relatively strong until recent years. Since 2012, there have been repeated warnings given about an imminent large decline in the NL snow crab resource, which has now come to fruition throughout the stock range. A 2014 review of factors associated with the decline concluded that temperature had been the over-arching factor contributing to dampened recruitment, but warned that top-down fishing control was likely to become dominant if harvest levels did not sufficiently adjust to the forthcoming decline. Recent stock assessments have found the stock biomass to be at historically measured lows and highlighted a major biological concern of broad-scale reductions in size-at-maturity associated with recent cooling and fishing exploitation rates that have elevated to be at or near historical highs throughout the stock range. In this article, we provide colourful perspectives on the history of the NL fishery and the current state of the NL snow crab resource, highlighting commonalities associated with the collapse of the historically dominant northern cod fishery and the present-day situation with snow crab. The article is intended to fit within the context of a broader journal theme edition featuring investigations into factors affecting the NL snow crab resource.