A. Species
Scientific name: Homarus americanus
Common name(s): American lobster
Global IUCN Red List Threat Status: Least Concern
B. Location of use
Geographic location(s):
- Atlantic - northwest
Country/Region: Canada/ Gulf of St Lawrence
C. Scale of assessment
Scale of assessment: Regional/Continental/Multi-country level
Name/Details of location: Southern Gulf of St Lawrence
D. Timescale of use
Start Year: 1982
End Year: 2015
E. Information about the use
How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Type of use: Extractive
Practice of use: Targeted fishing harvesting/exploiting or collecting wild aquatic resources
Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism
Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed
Motivation of use: Basic subsistence, Income generation from trade (individual/household/community) and Largescale commercial exploitation for trade
Is this use legal or illegal?: Legal under national law
F. Information about the Users
Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people and National / local government
G. Information about the sustainability of use
Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: Dept of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) records
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Abundance (as measured in kg/tow) of sublegal-sized lobsters as well as number of landed lobsters has been steadily increasing in the study areas since 2012
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: This record
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Sustainable, sold profitably.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: This record
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Traditional practice and food supply where minimum landing size of lobsters and maximum trap window size prevent sub- and super-sized animals to be harvested, maximising breeding success; survival of lobsters released back into the water is high, thus sustainable.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Details of assessment carried out: This study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Not recorded
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: This study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Minimum landing size of lobsters and maximum trap window size prevent sub- and super-sized animals to be harvested, maximising breeding success; survival of lobsters released back into the water is high
Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species
Authors state "It would be useful to periodically assess size at 50% size at onset of maturity( SOM50) over the next few decades as the population responds to effects of current management actions and the changing temperature regime (i.e., will SOM50 increase?)."
Record source
Information about the record source: scientific_pub
Date of publication/issue/production: 2017-01-01T00:00:00+0000
Source Reference(s):
Date of record entry: 2022-11-22