Mr. Speaker, the recent assessment of Newfoundland snow crab concluded that the stock has declined. Research surveys indicate that the biomass of commercial size crab declined by 45% from the fall of 1998 to the fall of 1999, and that the biomass of smaller crab, which will enter the fishery in 2000, also declined.
We are taking these warning signs very seriously. We should not try to draw simple parallels between the collapse of the cod stocks and the current situation with crab. The biology of crab and the nature of the fishery are very different from those of cod and other fin fish. For example, the crab fishery targets only larger males, using traps designed to allow smaller males and all females to escape. All stocks are inherently variable, with shellfish stocks generally displaying greater variability.
Snow crab resources go through natural periods of abundance and decline. Crab stocks were at record high levels through the 1990s, and the department has given warnings on many occasions that decline should be expected when environmental conditions change.
In all of our public consultations, particularly at the snow crab management seminar held in Newfoundland in 1999, we have advised the industry that the high level of abundance seen in recent years would not be sustained due to the natural fluctuation of the stock.
Conservation of the snow crab resource is the priority. The management of this fishery in 2000 will take full account of the current status of the resource to ensure that conservation is not jeopardized.