Definition of American Lobster Stocks for the Canadian Maritimes by Analysis of Fishery-Landing Trends

Historical catch data on American lobsters Homarus americanus from the Canadian Maritime Provinces and Maine were examined for stock differences with the object of defining lobster population boundaries. Pattern-recognition techniques (cluster analysis and principal-component analysis) applied to 1892–1981 lobster landings from 32 areas and reviews of the literature support the hypothesis that there are at least three main stock areas: (1) western Maritimes (Gulf of Maine), including Maine, the Bay of Fundy (inshore and offshore), and southwestern Nova Scotia; (2) the eastern coast of Nova Scotia (Queens to Richmond Counties), which seems to be a transition zone for lobsters between the Gulf of Maine and the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and (3) Gulf of St. Lawrence, which can be subdivided into six areas whose landings were clustered separately, but also loosely linked together.