Positive Start for Gulf Snow Crab Fishery

Despite nasty spring weather, there’s been a positive start to the snow crab fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and southeastern Nova Scotia.

Basil MacLean, president of the Area 19 Snow Crab Fishermen’s Association, said although he won’t start fishing snow crab until July when his zone opens, “I have many friends and neighbors that are currently fishing and from what they tell me the price is between $7 and $7.25, catches are good, some boats have already finished their quota (quota is down about 32 per cent from last year) and their biggest obstacle has been weather. The weather has been brutal. Cold, damp and the wind will not stop.”

The quota available for the 2025 southern Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab fishery crab fishing areas (CFAs) 12, 12E, 12F and 19 is 18,334.49 tonnes, a decrease from 25,710.72. The CFA 12 fishery opened on April 5 and closes June 30.

Meanwhile the snow crab fishery in southeastern Nova Scotia waters off the coast of Cape Breton and the eastern shore got underway on March 15 (CFA 23, 24) and on April 10 in CFA 20, 21 and 22.

“The season can go until the end of August. Normally it’s no later than first or second week of August. I expect we will be done early this year. Almost every boat that could go when the season opened, went. I say we will be done by the end of July,” said Allan MacLean, senior operations manager for Louisbourg Seafoods.

According to quota reports received by MacLean on April 24, in CFAs 20 to 22, about 69 per cent of the quota had been caught, 20 per cent in CFA 23 and 42 per cent caught in CFA 24.

“The catches have been good. The market has been relatively strong. The crab fishery just opened in Newfoundland. There will be a lot of crab coming into the markets, so we’re just waiting to see how that will impact the current market price, whether it will push it down. I expect it probably will,” said MacLean.

In CFAs 20 to 22, the quota is down this year, but it isn’t known by how much yet. “They’re fishing on an interim quota right now. They’ve allocated 50 per cent of what it was last year. CFA 23 and 24 quotas remained the same,” said MacLean.

This spring’s shore price is considerably higher than last year, said MacLean. “Last year it was less than $4. There’s low inventory this year which led to a greater market demand and the price has held pretty consistently.”

While Chinese tariffs have no impact on Louisbourg Seafood’s snow crab market, the continual threat of U.S. tariffs does.

“What we do here goes to the U.S. We’re still waiting to see what’s going to happen. Every day it’s the great unknown and the great stressor in the seafood industry, certainly in Atlantic Canada,” said MacLean.

There are nine CFAs in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (12, 12E, 12F, 18, 19, 25, 26, Buffer Area F and Buffer Area 18).

From mid-May to mid-June 2024, there were multiple locations subject to temporary and seasonal fishery closures triggered due to confirmed North Atlantic right whale (NARW) detections that resulted in low to medium impacts to snow crab fisheries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, said Axel Rioux, media relations, Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

“Some Area 12 snow crab harvesters were able to continue harvesting in areas closed due to NARW detection in 2024, using scientific fishing licences authorizing the use of innovative on-demand ‘whalesafe’ fishing gear that allows them to operate their gear without a vertical buoy line,” said Rioux.

“As recent years have demonstrated, the arrival of North Atlantic right whales to our waters varies. Few North Atlantic right whales have been visually detected in the Gulf of St. Lawrence before the beginning of May, with the first sighting in 2024 being on May 10, and the number of sightings increasing in June.”

Landed Snow Crab Data for Area 12-18-25/26 from 2020 to 2024

Landed Snow Crab Data for Area 19 from 2020 to 2024