Presentation to the SSC

August 10, 2016

Deep-Sea Red Crab PDT

SSC Meeting

August 10, 2016

Previous SSC Recommendations August 21, 2013

• Acceptable biological catch (ABC) for the red crab fishery remains at the status quo level of 1775mt.

• The overfishing limit (OFL) for the red crab fishery remains unknown given the data-poor nature of the assessment.

• Market constraints on the catch of red crab need to analyzed and communicated more systematically (to the extent that proprietary restrictions will allow in a small fleet) since these have been proposed as the major reason landings are consistently below the ABC.

• Discard rates and trends should continue to be analyzed, in particular to determine if a seemingly increasing trend is primarily due to more thorough reporting as opposed to a biological explanation.

• The effects of harvest on the sex ratio and sex-specific size structure of the stock, and the implications of those effects, should be more thoroughly investigated, consistent with requests from the industry to revisit the male-only harvest strategy.

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Updated Landings Data

• Landings have increased since 2013

• Landings from 2013-2015 remain below the TAL

• Market-driven fishery 3

Updated Landings by Region

• Landings have evened out across all three regions in recent years

• Previously the majority of landings were concentrated in Region 1 (GBK and SNE)

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5

On average, the maximum trip size has increased slightly since 2010 (noting that in 2010, the 75,000-lbs trip limit was removed).

6

Updated LPUE Information

(estimated using VTR-reported haul and gear data)

• LPUE has fluctuated between 15-25 lbs/trap

• LPUE has generally shown an increasing trend since 2007

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• LPUE by region is similar for Regions 1 and 2 but more variable in Region 3, perhaps due to different market conditions

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Updated Port Sample Information

• Size of landed males has increased from 2013-2015, likely due to market demand

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Updated Port Samples by Region

• All regions have been landing larger crabs • Largest crabs are landed in Region 3

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Updated Discard Information

• 100% of trips reported discards on VTR in 2014 & 2015; an increase from 89% in 2013

• No new information on discard rate methodology or discard mortality

• NMFS is developing protocols to observe trips in the future (last trip was monitored in 2008)

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Updated Discard Information

• Discard rates are highly variable

• The annual mean estimated discarded-to-kept ratios vary from 0.24 to 1.51

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Gear July 2011 - June

2012

July 2012 - June

2013

July 2013 - June

2014

July 2014 - June

2015

Mid-Atlantic small-

mesh otter trawl 47 222 3 .0002

Mid-Atlantic large-

mesh otter trawl 3 2 4

New England large-

mesh otter trawl 94 107 37 25

Mid-Atlantic shrimp

trawl 77

New England large-

mesh gillnet 0.2 0.08 0.08 0.04

Scallop dredge 0.05 0.7 0.01 0.09

Lobster pots and

traps 0.6 4

Estimated red crab

discards from other

fleets as a percent of

red crab fleet

landings plus

discards from other

fleets

10 21 4 8

Estimated total

discards by other

fleets

141 334 46 108

Estimated red crab discards by other fisheries by year, in metric tons

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• Sampling done during a fishing trip may underestimate the number of egged females since the trip is targeting large males and females may move out of the area when bearing eggs (Masello and DeFeo 2016).

• While unknown, it is possible that female red crabs can use sperm from one mating for more than one batch of eggs.

• Sampling done on shore (females landed under the EFP) resulted in a very small number of egged crabs, as they were culled if they were bearing eggs.

• There is probably a seasonality to spawning so sampling time may affect results. • “The presence of eggs on less than 50% of female crabs is a strong indicator that

reproduction occurs at biennial (or longer) intervals” (Stevens and Guida, 2016). • Extruded eggs may not always be fertile.

Updated Information – Sex Ratios and Mating Success

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Economic Impacts

1 Fishing year runs from March 1 through end of February 2 Data from Commercial Fisheries Database System (CFDERS) accessed on 7/21/2016 3 Inflation adjustment from the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI inflation calculator (http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm)

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PDT Analysis

• Based on the landings, LPUE, and port sampling information from recent fishing years, there is no evidence of a decline in the overall red crab stock size. – No update to assessment since Data Poor Working Group (2008)

• The fishery-dependent data available to us do not allow for a measure of recruitment, however, so there is no way to estimate this variable.

• No new information on discards or method for discard estimation.

• Red crab continues to be a market-driven fishery (with increasing demand) and the average price/lb from 2013-2015 is $1.00.

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Sex Ratios and Mating Success

Summary information from research and trips under an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP)

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From Wahle et al. 2008 - Survey size frequencies thirty years apart. Reduction in numbers of large males. The surveys did not cover the southern area where some red crab fishing takes place now.

1974

2003-2005

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• Crabs sampled winter 2012 and summer 2013 - Not on a fishing trip. From Stevens and Guida 2016.

• “The presence of eggs on less than 50% of female crabs is a strong

indicator that reproduction occurs at biennial (or longer) intervals”

Did not catch many large females

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Crabs sampled summer 2010 by Morgan Brunbauer for his Master’s research, on a fishing trip

Blue = all females Red = females with eggs

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

90 92 94 96 98 100 102 104 106 108 110 112 114 116 118 120 122 124 126 128 130

nu

mb

er

at

size

Carapace width in mm

All sampled locations

number scarring eggs

N = 702

Landed crabs sampled summer of 2011 at the processing plant by Toni Chute, when an EFP was in place and some females were landed.

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Locations where crabs were sampled/caught

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