Area 21 (Atlantic, Northwest)

The lobster trade (Retail, Restaurant, Ecommerce, Processor and Distributor) is backing away from purchasing and selling lobsters due to concerns with right whale entanglements and the recent Monterey Bay Red Listing of the North American lobster. Given the controversy over this issue at the fishery and government levels there are no immediate solutions that will prevent the lobster market from collapsing further, creating risk of additional long-term impacts over $100M in revenue per year. The lobster trade needs to take action to protect its consumer reputation and its market, but also needs to deploy an effective, real, industry-based data driven strategy to reduce risks of North Atlantic right whale (right whale) entanglements in the North Atlantic Ocean. With an overall goal of North Atlantic right whale species survival alongside thriving fishing communities and fisheries-dependent industries, the project’s activities involve the seafood industry to create a market incentive for fishing operation to fish in ways or areas that have been found to have lower risk of serious entanglement to right whales, based on robust datasets. This FIP will focus on the North Atlantic Lobster using Pot Traps. 

The fleet pursuing this project is represented by the 6 proccessing companies and the docks that supply them. Specifically these processing companies and docks operate in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachussettes. By sharing the dock level finate harvest information down to vessel level we will be able to indentify the exact federal and state permitted vessel and dock. 

Redfish were designated threatened in 2010 but the stock is currently healthy after a decade of management within biological reference points. The fishery is managed with an integrated management plan for groundfish fisheries and overall is a near match to the MSC standard.  However, the fishery needs further improvement in its impacts on pollock, haddock, and other commercially fished species as well as benthic (seafloor dwelling) and endangered or threatened species caught in the bottom trawl gear. Fishery impacts on habitat and the ecosystem could also be better understood and mitigated.

The average size of redfish in the fishery catch-at-length has been increasing since 2011, and the percentage of immature fish (≤ 22 cm FL) in the catch-at-length has remained less than the 15% tolerance since 2014. The DFO Summer RV Survey results indicate that the total and mature Unit 3 Redfish biomass has remained relatively stable since 2018 at levels comparable to the 1990s. The mature biomass index has never fallen below the LRP, and the stock has been above the USR since 2004, indicating the stock is in the Heathy Zone (DFO 2021).

Since 2000 it has had a total allowable catch of 9000 tonnes. Total landings have generally been less than half this amount over the past 18 years (DFO 2019). The status of Unit 3 Redfish is determined solely by the mature biomass index generated from the annual DFO Summer RV Survey with complete coverage of the Unit 3 stock area (except in 2018). The fishery is managed by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) under the latest version (2017) of the Groundfish Integrated Fishery Management Plan for the Maritimes Region.

The Eastern Virginia oyster fishery occurs in the coastal areas of Virginia and targets the species Crassostrea virginica. There are five UoAs, based on harvest method and hatchery and non-hatchery stocks. This fishery is enhanced based on MSC FCP v2 7.4, and not based on introduced species. 

The UoAs are :

• UoA 1:  Tongs and patent tongs from habitat enhanced areas with natural spat set and seed transfers.
• UoA 2:  Dredges and hand scrapes from habitat enhanced areas with natural spat set and seed transfers.
• UoA 3:  Tongs and Patent tongs from habitat enhanced areas with hatchery seed transfers plus natural spat set.
• UoA 4:  Dredges and hand scrapes from habitat enhanced areas with wild stock hatchery seed transfers plus natural spat set.
• UoA 5:  Cage production with wild stock hatchery seed transfers.

The Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Lobster Pot FIP was initially started by Quin Sea Fisheries Limited of St. John’s, NL and has since been adopted for implementation and financial management by the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) of Newfoundland and Labrador, also of St. John’s, NL. ASP is an association comprised of numerous lobster buyers, live traders, and producers.  ASP is also intricately involved in production and marketing of several other commercial species within the province.

Interested ASP member companies, as FIP participants, will collaborate with the regulator, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), to align and improve the fishery’s management and science with the ultimate objective of achieving Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) fishery sustainability certification.

The FIP intends to address all fishing practices in the legally permitted pot fishery for American lobster (Homarus americanus) in Lobster Fishing Areas 3 - 14, which operates in the waters surrounding the island of Newfoundland, completely within Canadian EEZ waters.

The fishery dates back to the 1870s and is localized and happens from small open boats during an 8-10 week spring fishing season. Traps are set close to shore, at depths generally less than 20 m. Fishing effort is controlled through restrictive licensing and daily trap limits. Regulations prohibit the harvest of undersized (i.e. <82.5 mm carapace length) and ovigerous animals. In addition, there is a voluntary practice called v-notching, which involves cutting a shallow mark in the tail fan of an ovigerous female. The mark is retained for at least 2-3 molts and notched females cannot be retained in the fishery. The practice thus serves to protect proven spawners even when they are not carrying eggs externally. The number of licenses is currently around 2,450 and trap limits range from 100 to 300 depending on the Lobster Fishing Area (DFO 2016).