Lobster recruitment has been on the Fishermen and Scientists Research Society’s (FSRS) radar since 1999.
It all began “when one of our fishermen grew concerned with the lack of smaller (recruitment and below) lobsters in his area, he asked for more science to be done. This led to the Lobster Short Term Recruitment Index project being born. It has grown since then and expanded all across Nova Scotia and a few sites in New Brunswick,” said Shannon Tibbetts, director of operations for the FSRS.
Each year, more than 120 volunteer fishers from all lobster fishing areas (LFAs) along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia from LFA 27 in Cape Breton to LFA 35 in the Bay of Fundy participate in the FSRS Lobster Recruitment Trap Project. Each fisher sets between two to five scientific project traps (SPTs) in fixed locations within the regular commercial season. The SPTs used in all fishing areas are smaller than commercial traps and designed to primarily catch juvenile lobsters below the legal-size limit.
The traps are hauled daily if possible. The fishers count the number of lobsters, record the sex, measure their size with the FSRS measuring gauge and record the data in a logbook. The lobsters are also checked for overall health and if the females have eggs. Each fisherman receives a data logger which records bottom temperature.
“Once the fishermen collect the data in the logbooks, it is returned to the FSRS for processing. Once the data is quality checked and entered, a graph is created with each fisherman’s data logger daily average bottom temperatures as well as their catch summary from the science traps and mailed out to them individually. So, each participant receives an individual summary of their season from the science trap data. FSRS also compiles the LFA specific data for advisory meetings as well as opening season participant meetings,” said Tibbetts.
“As part of this project, fishermen take FSRS technicians on board to do additional biological sampling of the commercial traps and the FSRS science traps; a true collaborative project,” added Tibbetts.
The data collected is instrumental to the DFO stock assessment process for lobsters.
“The data from the lobster recruitment project is used in two ways for the stock assessment approaches in LFAs 27 to 33. It provides an estimate of the incoming recruitment to the fishery through a juvenile catch rate index. The relative proportion of lobsters below and above the minimum legal-size changes over the course of the commercial season. This rate of change from the lobster recruitment project informs the main index of relative fishery exploitation for these areas,” said Ben Zisserson, DFO Project lead.
While the number of participants in the FSRS Lobster Recruitment Trap Project changes over the years, the number of project traps set for 2024 was 134.
“We would love to have these specially designed standardized traps in more locations in Nova Scotia” especially in northern N.S. and LFA 34, said Tibbetts. “The more data we collect, the better idea we and fishermen have of what could be growing up into market sized lobsters in the future.”
The FSRS is a small non-profit organization. “Smaller than it should be but due to increased operational costs, we have had to cut back on staff. I am currently the only full-time staff and we have three or four seasonal staff as needed,” said Tibbetts.
Based in Halifax, the FSRS has a board of directors, mostly from the fishing community.
Any fisherman in LFAs 27 to 35 who are interested in more information on how to participate in the FSRS Lobster Recruitment Trap Project can email info@fsrs.ns.ca or check out the website fsrs.ns.ca.
