Moncton and Quebec—March 21, 2025
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) releases the details of the 2025 snow crab fishery Conservation Harvesting Plan for the Area 12E.
Quota
The Total Allowable Catch (TAC) in Area 12E is 255.35 tonnes. Details of the sharing of this TAC can be found in the CFA 12E snow crab administrative list.
The southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (sGSL) snow crab TAC by fishing area and scientific quota is available at the following link: 2025 - sGSL Snow Crab TAC (Areas 12, 12E, 12F and 19).
Quota reconciliation
Quota reconciliation is applied in this fishery. Any individual quota overrun incurred by licence holders in one season will be deducted, on a one-for-one basis, from their individual quota for the following season. It is the responsibility of the licence holders to track their quotas to ensure that catches taken in the course of their fishing operations comply with the quotas allocated to them.
Temporary quota transfers
Licence holders who are subject to the owner-operator policy may transfer up to 50% of their initial quota on a temporary basis, within the same fishing season and within the same DFO administrative area (Eastern New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec). No transfer of traps will be authorized during a temporary quota transfer.
Partnership arrangements
The creation of partnerships is authorized and both licence holders must be present on the boat during the fishing activities. The number of traps to be fished cannot be greater than the legal number of traps authorized for one snow crab licence, plus 50 percent of the number of authorized traps of the other licence.
Any overrun incurred from the previous year must be communicated and acknowledged by the licence holders entering the partnership since DFO will deduct the amount of overrun from the combined quota of the partnership.
New in 2025
Tag colours
The colour for original tags must be light coral, while the colour for replacement tags must be medium purple.
- Only one valid annual tag per trap. Tags from previous years must be removed.
- Licence holders must obtain their tags from suppliers approved by the DFO, a list of which is available at the following link: Approved Tag Suppliers.
Mandatory electronic logbooks (ELOGs)
As announced on October 17, 2024, the use of an ELOG will be mandatory in 2025. This requirement applies to all commercial and commercial communal harvesters fishing snow crab in Crab Fishing Areas 12E. The use of paper logbooks will no longer be accepted.
Harvesters must purchase and use an ELOG application approved by Fisheries and Oceans Canada : Qualified electronic logbooks (ELOG) client applications.
The following reporting requirements which were previously reported through alternate forms must now be reported through the ELOG application:
- Interactions with a marine mammal (bycatch, collision and sightings of marine mammals entangled in fishing gear), and
- Interaction with a species at risk
Reports of lost gear or retrieved gear must be submitted to DFO by completing the section reserved for that purpose in the ELOG or by using the Fishing Gear Reporting System available online at: Fishing Gear Reporting System. However,
- if gear is declared lost after closure of the ELOG, it must be reported by using the Fishing Gear Reporting System available online at: Fishing Gear Reporting System
- if previously lost gear is retrieved after closure of the ELOG, it must be reported by using the Fishing Gear Reporting System available online at: Fishing Gear Reporting System
More information on ELOGs is available at the following links:
- Electronic logbooks (ELOGS)
- Mandatory Electronic Logbooks (ELOGs) in 2025 for the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence Snow Crab and Lobster Fisheries
For any additional questions regarding the National ELOG program, please contact DFO at 1-877-535-7307 from Monday to Friday between 08:00 and 21:00 (Atlantic Standard Time) excluding holidays.
2025 Management measures
Unless indicated otherwise, existing management measures remain in place. Please refer to your snow crab licence conditions for further details. The current management measures include, amongst others:
- The criteria for access to CFA 12 by Areas 12E and 12F licence holders in case of closures of the fishing grounds are maintained and are defined in their licence conditions. The criteria are available at the following link: Criteria for access
- At-sea observer coverage representing 20% of fishing trips.
- A soft-shell (white) crab protocol is in effect and fishing closures will only be applied if a situation of persistent concern is observed.
- 100% dockside monitoring.
- Landings must be weighed in kilograms on an electronic scale with a memory.
- The use of a vessel monitoring system (VMS) with five (5) minutes reporting intervals.
- Hail out telephone numbers: fish harvesters from both Gulf and Quebec Regions will be required to dial the following telephone number: 1-833-699-2013 (toll free) or 1-506-431-3223 (satellite phone only) for new hail, modified hail, and cancelled hail.
- Maximum mesh size of 75 mm.
- The licence holder/operator is prohibited from discarding in Canadian fisheries waters any material that may be harmful to fish or fish habitat.
- The inshore regulations require inshore commercial licence holders, and their approved substitute operators, to keep records of all the crew members working aboard the vessel on every fishing trip. These records must be maintained by the licence holder for a period of five (5) years.
- For proper management and control purposes, traps will be issued as described in the individual transferable quota (ITQ) program:
- ITQ up to 45 tons: 100 traps
- ITQ > 45 to 68 tons: 125 traps
- ITQ > 68 to 90 tons: 150 traps
- ITQ > 90 tons: 175 traps
- The permanent fishing closures for the coral and sponge conservation areas are maintained. Please visit the following DFO internet site for additional information: Coral and Sponge Conservation Measures in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence.
- Opening the fishery is subject to safety at sea, weather conditions and to DFO operational requirements. The opening date will be confirmed in a separate Notice to Fish Harvesters and by the issuance of a variation order.
- The fishery will close on June 30, 2025, at 23:59 hrs (Atlantic Daylight Time). All gear must be removed from the water by the end of the day on June 30th, meaning that the hauling of gear is prohibited after June 30th, but landing of traps and crabs can occur on July 1st.
- Since 2024, Notices of Fishing Prohibition to protect North Atlantic Right Whales (NARW) are applied in the licence conditions, rather than issuing a variation order.
- The Notices of Fishing Prohibition will prohibit setting traps in grids where NARW have been detected.
- The Notice to Fish Harvesters refer to "prohibited fishing grids" and "revoke prohibited fishing grids" instead of using "open" and "closed" terminologies.
2025 Management measures to minimize interactions with North Atlantic Right Whales
The 2025 fisheries management measures to protect North Atlantic Right Whales (NARW) in Canadian water are posted online at the following link: Fishery notices related to North Atlantic right whales.
The requirements to minimize the length of rope floating on the surface of the water remains in effect:
- The total cumulative length of rope between a primary buoy and a secondary buoy shall not be more than 3.7 metres.
- No rope attaching a crab trap to a primary buoy shall remain floating on the surface of the water after the crab trap has been set.
Note: A primary buoy is defined as a buoy or other floating device attached to a crab trap. A secondary buoy is defined as a buoy or other floating device attached to a primary buoy.
All the requirements for gear marking remains in effect and the information on gear marking measures have been published in a Notice to Fish Harvesters that is available at the following link: UPDATE TO THE CONDITIONS OF LICENCES RELATED TO THE MANDATORY COLOUR SCHEME FOR GEAR MARKING IN EASTERN CANADA.