Research scientists at DFO want to gain a better understanding of how changes in the gear being used on the water is affecting our perception of lobster stocks.
Dr. Darrell Mullowney says they will soon be sending out a mail survey to harvesters on that front, and town halls will be held across the province in September as well.
Mullowney says they are seeing improvements in lobster trends throughout the province, but they are not clear on what is driving that change.
There are two main factors they are looking at – the first is changes to more efficient fishing gear over time.
He says increased catch rates from more efficient equipment could signal improvement to the stock. They want to find out to what extent changes to fishing gear is underpinning the improvements they’re seeing.
According to Mullowney, warming waters are also playing a role, and they want to determine how much each variable is contributing to the current situation.
