Keeping a Jonah crab fishery completely separate from the American lobster fishery has proven difficult.
Interstate fishery managers on the Atlantic coast are signing off on a management plan for a species of crab that is growing in value and volume of catch.
The plan concerns the Jonah crab, which is growing in popularity as an alternative to the more expensive Dungeness crab. The catch of Jonah crabs increased six-fold from 2000 to 2013.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved the management plan, which will be implemented by June 1, 2016.
A draft plan available for public comment last year described the problem the Jonah crab is experiencing: increased fishing pressure to keep up with the demand of the market, and a mixed use fishery that has emerged between lobster and crab.
Keeping a Jonah crab fishery completely separate from the American lobster fishery has proven difficult, the draft report said, which may impact the lobster industry's conservation measures. Those measures include reducing traps and avoiding interactions with large whales.
Below, the draft report showed Jonah crab landings from 1990 to 2013 by state in pounds.
A spokeswoman for the commission said the plan limits participation in the Jonah crab fishery to fishermen who hold an American lobster permit, or can prove previous participation in the crab fishery. It also establishes a minimum size for crabs.
Jonah crabs are mostly taken as bycatch in the more profitable lobster fishery, which the ASMFC reports has seen coastwide catches increase substantially over the last 20 years. Maine and Massachusetts account for 85 percent and ten percent of the lobster landings respectively.
The chart above shows how lobster catches have increased sharply in Maine over the last several years, and reduced in Southern New England.
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
