Good afternoon, committee members.
My name is Dr. Michael Dadswell.
I began my fisheries career in 1965 working on salmon in the Miramichi. I graduated with my Ph.D. in 1973. I went to the Huntsman Marine laboratory and worked as a fisheries biologist on the Saint John River. In 1977 I joined DFO and worked on lobsters, scallops and tidal power environmental impacts. Then in 1987 I moved to Acadia University, where I taught marine biology and fisheries biology for 33 years.
I see my role here today basically as that of a defence attorney for the lobsters.
Scientific fisheries research over the last hundred years has established what is known as the scientific concept of biological management for the conservation of fish stocks.
Fish stocks are extremely susceptible to the effects of exploitation and environmental change upon the recruitment of the young to the stock. Fisheries stocks are fragile and sensitive. To survive exploitation, recruitment must be good. The biology of the stock, then, is critical to survival.
Last Monday, the witnesses did not explain very well the importance of lobster seasons for the conservation of lobster stocks, so that is where I'll begin.
To provide a little history, the Canadian lobster fishery began in 1880. There were no regulations; it was the Wild West. But in 1920, the stock was collapsing. A number of regulations were introduced, with little effect.
Then during the 1930s Dr. Wilfred Templeman of the Canadian fisheries department undertook research on lobster life history around the Maritimes.
There are some lobster biology facts that you should all hear first. Mature females only moult and reproduce once every two years. This slows their growth, and when they are not berried—i.e. carrying eggs—they stay longer in the exploitation window. It is therefore extremely important to protect them.
Male lobsters can only pass sperm to females just after moult, when they are in the soft-shell condition. Females then store the sperm, but they do not release and fertilize the eggs until one to three months later, depending on the temperature and so forth.
At the right time as the female chooses, she fertilizes the eggs with sperm and releases the eggs, and then she glues them to the underside of her abdomen. The females then carry the eggs for 10 to 11 months.
Delayed release of eggs means that the take of a female before she releases her eggs and becomes berried is basically the same as the take of a berried female: her production then is lost to recruitment.
What Dr. Templeman found back in the 1930s was that the growth, maturity, moult and egg release periods of the lobster varied around the Maritimes, based on the local environment.
In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, because of warm summer temperatures females matured at a younger age, about five to six years. They were soft-shelled by late June—that meant they could be inseminated at that time—and they usually released the eggs by August.
In southwest Nova Scotia—lobster district 34, about which we're talking a lot—the females mature much later, at seven to eight years. They're soft-shelled in July and August, and egg release does not occur until October or November.
The seasons, then, were established based on these findings and the considerations of marketing and desirability of lobster. Soft-shell lobsters such as you talked about in the last meeting are not only susceptible to high mortality while they're being handled; they are also at a high risk of being attacked, killed and eaten by other lobsters when they're in the lobster trap.
Lobsters are cannibalistic. That's why they have those rubber bands on their claws when we buy them in the market. Essentially, the seasons are closed in most areas until after the soft-shell condition is over.
Also, soft-shell lobsters have poor meat quality, and consumer appreciation is lower. Because of seasons, Canada has established a superior quality of our product. Taking lobster outside the season leads to recruitment over-exploitation through the loss of females to the stock, the higher mortality of soft-shell animals and less consumer appreciation.
Now, the problem with all of this is that the effects of the lobster exploitation out of season will take anywhere from seven to 10 years to be evidenced. I will give you all an example that you probably know quite well.
In Newfoundland the cod fishery collapsed in 1992. The onshore cod trap-fishers in Newfoundland were warning DFO that there were no juvenile cod evident in their traps for five years before the Newfoundland cod collapse. Essentially, their warnings were ignored.
So based on these lobster biology facts, and the present very healthy state of the lobster fishery, in my opinion, Mi’kmaq fishers can make a good, moderate livelihood by fishing in season, like all the other lobster fishermen.
Thank you.