Fisheries committee  The snow crab distribution really has not changed. In fact, if anything, it's probably going slightly south. The northern tip is off Labrador on something called the Makkovik Bank, along 2H and 2J. The fishery has not migrated north. In fact, it has migrated south. The 2H fishery

Fisheries committee  On the consultations, the way it goes is that essentially we will give the science update. That's my role as a scientist. The manager asks for the input of the harvesters, what their perspective is. Then it's their job to take the two pieces of information and make management dec

Fisheries committee  On the broad scale, yes, but the Newfoundland and Labrador region is a bit backwards in the broad scale of Atlantic Canada. As I said, the bottom conditions have actually cooled since 2012 and the productivity potential has actually increased for the stock.

Fisheries committee  The truthful answer is that this is an unknown outcome. Both of these animals have a pretty simple genome. They're not terribly complex in the genetics world. The effect of subtle changes would be very hard to detect, probably.

Fisheries committee  For the crab, there aren't that many. It's an Arctic type of species, and there are more small animals than big animals.

Fisheries committee  That's a really good question. I hear that quite frequently too. There are a couple of points that need to be made. These 50% increases are basically coming from, to generalize, historic lows. They are increases to the second- or third-lowest level that has been seen, that type

Fisheries committee  There has been a long decline in the stock as a whole. Up until a few years ago, the leading information was suggesting that it was a climate-driven process, that warming from about the mid-1990s to the 2000s was dampening the stock productivity. On the stock level as a whole, th

Fisheries committee  Yes. I'll speak from my own experience and knowledge. There have been studies on things like particle drift. You have a simulation where you put some particles in the ocean off Labrador and see where they end up. There have been recruitment studies for various fish species, and w

Fisheries committee  Generally, the dominant Labrador current goes from the north toward the south.

Fisheries committee  No, I wouldn't conclude that the range of the snow crab is expanding north. The snow crab is more dominant on the eastern part of this map—in Newfoundland and Labrador. That's the biggest part of the range.

Fisheries committee  I'm sorry. We should clarify that the Labrador current is most applicable to the Newfoundland and Labrador region. The Gulf Stream current is fairly applicable to the Gulf of St. Lawrence region. It kind of takes a sharp left turn between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and branches

Fisheries committee  In all four regions, they are conducted annually. In the general seasonal cycle, the assessment would be in February. Then consultations would occur in February and March, and the fishery would generally get going in April. That's generally true across all four regions.

Fisheries committee  In the Newfoundland and Labrador region, we collaborate predominantly with industry. There is indigenous collaboration, but that's probably more relevant to the lobster. I may ask Mr. Hardy to speak to that. One major thing that we do in collaboration with FFAW is a trap survey

Fisheries committee  I can try. I can't speak to specifics about the west coast situation. I assume it's mostly salmonid species that you're speaking to. The crab is a big offshore stock that is probably, in many respects, easier to assess than rivers where salmonids may occur. We have, in crab in

Fisheries committee  Thank you. My name is Darrell Mullowney. Thanks for having me. I'll give you a broad-strokes overview of snow crab throughout Atlantic Canada, and then Mr. Hardy will follow suit with lobster. Snow crab is a subarctic species. It's the colder species of the two that we're pre