Scientists at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are reviewing potential scenarios if lobster stocks change in the waters off Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick, including the effects of reducing season lengths and trap limits, altering size limits, and other measures.

Adam Cook, DFO scientist and the co-lead of a new report, said some of the management measures for lobster “have been in place for quite a long time.” The study aims to update the science behind them, taking into consideration changing water temperatures.

“Lobster fisheries are still considered healthy in Canadian waters. We still are well above long-term averages for the majority of our stock status indicators,” he said.

“So we’re trying to provide information so people can be thinking about and be prepared for if and when changes occur.”

The department said in a statement it is not changing any management measures based on the study alone. Instead, the findings will allow for “potential adjustments to measures, should they be sought after by industry, or required due to stock status.”

Cook added there is no one-size-fits-all approach for lobster fishing areas 27 to 38, which run from the northern Cape Breton down the Atlantic coast to the Bay of Fundy and were the focus of the review. A combination of measures is typically required to conserve the species, he said. 

The study used modelling and simulations to see the impact of different management measures. It notes that season length is one of the most effective controls, as it “reliably reduces exploitation, injury, and incidental mortality.”

“A fishery that starts in March or April and goes to June or July, that’s quite a short window,” said Cook. “So if you’re thinking about shifting that fishery, you may want to think about shifting away from the summer months. The summer months are typically when they’re molting, typically when they’re mating.”

Lobsters are highly reactive to water temperature. When the ocean is cold, lobsters are less active, which affects their catch rate and growth. Temperature also affects their molting.

The study also said that small reductions to trap limits “are unlikely to have a meaningful impact.”

“For trap reductions to significantly affect exploitation, they must be substantial to overcome these dynamics — though such changes would also carry important economic and operational implications,” the report said.

“The effectiveness of trap limits depends on their scale and must be considered alongside harvester behaviour and local fishery conditions.”

Long-term measures were also considered, like v-notching, a procedure where fishermen mark an egg-bearing female lobster by removing a small part of its tail before releasing it back in the ocean. That makes it so that other fishermen can tell which lobsters not to harvest.

“Strategically chosen maximum size limits and v-notching programs are slow-acting measures that protect large, highly fecund females,” said the report.

Bernie Berry, senior fisheries advisor with Coldwater Lobster Association in Yarmouth, N.S., was one of the observers of the study. 

He said the industry relies on the information produced by DFO to make informed decisions and to prepare for potential changes in the water and the management of the fisheries. 

“I think it’s the over time, more knowledge helps to critique and gives you more information on the effects of a particular harvest-control rule that was introduced into a fishery,” said Berry. 

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