Proceedings of the International Workshop on Snow Crab Biology, December 8-10, 1987, Montréal, Québec / edited by G.S. Jamieson and W.D. McKone.: Fs97-4/2005E-PDF

"The proceedings of a Workshop on Snow Crab Biology are presented. Objectives of the Workshop were to review the current understanding of snow crab biology, to evaluate the implications of recent advances in our understanding of snow crab biology on the management of the resource, and to present recommendations as to the direction of future biological research on snow crab. Consensus among participants was achieved for the following points: the five, existing management units for snow crab in Atlantic Canada are biologically acceptable; both male and female Chionoecetes opilio in eastern Canada are now considered to have a terminal moult, although the size at which this may occur is variable; and while males can commence spermatogenesis as small as 40 mm carapace width (CW), whether such males are functionally capable of copulation remains uncertain. It was recognized that the seasonal timing of fishing in each management unit has not necessarily been set on the basis of biology except to avoid a preponderance of white (soft-shell) crab in the catch, that the current legal size of 95 mm (CW) is not based on biological advice, and that the increasing proportion of white crabs in the catch may be partially the result of the changing proportions of preterminal and terminal moult male crabs in the population. With respect to future research, there was consensus that the greatest need was to establish growth rate, the factors influencing when a crab undergoes a terminal moult, and the natural mortality and longevity of terminal moult males"--Abstract, page vi.

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