Canada Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab - pot/trap

This Comprehensive FIP is led by New Brunswick and Quebec Seafood Processors and Fishermen Associations who are actively involved in pilot and sea trial of new and emerging technologies for the reduction of entanglement of right whales in snow crab fishing gear in cfa 12 and surrounding areas. The North Atlantic right whale (NARW)‘s population has been declining since 2010. NARW mortalities can be caused by ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear, especially in fixed gear such as pots. Since 2015, a higher number of NARW are migrating to the Gulf of St. Lawrence to feed during the summer and fall. Therefore, areas that traditionally posed no or little risk to NARW now must be considered as possible NARW habitat. This FIP will cover improvements to endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) species impacts in the Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab fishery to mitigate the risk to NARW and other ETP species, while maintaining a sustainable Canadian seafood industry. This FIP intends to cover all ETP species indicators in the MSC criteria (2.3.1, 2.3.2, 2.3.3).

Chionoecetes opilio CANADA | Gulf of St. Lawrence | Pot /Trap Gear