West Coast Deep Sea Crab Sustainability

The West Coast Deep Sea Crab Interim Managed Fishery has a recent history. Initially the fishery targeted champagne crabs but a combination of an apparent lack of robustness of the resource combined with fluctuating beach prices has seen this fishery all but collapse in the space just a few years (1997-2000).

Substantial snow crab catches were first recorded on the west coast in 1998 and landings have increased dramatically each year since then. Work on this project is partially funded by FRDC 2001/55 titled “biological and fisheries data for managing deep sea crabs in Western Australia”.
Project and activity description

The objectives of the research are to collect research data (log book and length frequency monitoring data) that will provide insight into the effect of fishing on the snow crab resource on the west coast. Assessment information will be supplemented by a couple of depletion studies which are planned for the future.

The Department of Fisheries and Murdoch University are conducting research to gather biological information on growth and movement patterns (from tagging) and reproductive criteria such as size at maturity and fecundity (from histology and morphometric studies).

Time : June 2005.

西海岸深海蟹临时管理渔业的发展历程较短。该渔业最初以香槟蟹为捕捞目标，但由于该资源种群抗逆性不足，加之滩头收购价格持续波动，导致该渔业在短短数年内（1997-2000年）几近崩溃。

1998年，西海岸首次记录到大规模雪蟹捕捞产量，此后年上岸量均实现大幅增长。本项目部分由编号为FRDC 2001/55、题为"西澳大利亚州深海蟹管理相关生物与渔业数据"的项目资助。

项目与活动概况
本研究的目标为收集捕捞日志（log book）与体长频率监测数据（length frequency monitoring data）两类研究资料，以期阐明捕捞活动对西海岸雪蟹资源的影响。后续还计划开展两项耗竭研究（depletion studies），用以补充资源评估所需的相关信息。

西澳大利亚州渔业部与莫道克大学正联合开展研究，通过标记放流（tagging）技术收集雪蟹生长与移动模式相关数据，并借助组织学（histology）与形态测量学（morphometric studies）研究手段，获取雪蟹性成熟体长、繁殖力（fecundity）等繁殖生物学特征信息。

时间：2005年6月。