Within the snow crab fishery quality has always been, and is still now, a very important factor, it has a strong effect on the market value of our product. As the season runs each year from mid-July to mid-September 15 the weather tends to be co-operative. Vessels leave heavily iced from one of the five ports within our zone on a daily basis, once the traps are hauled on the fishing grounds most vessels arrive back in port two to three hours later. The catch is offloaded shortly thereafter and the fresh, live snow crab is on it's way to production. 

The snow crab fishery is a recruitment fishery, it relies on juvenile stock to mature to a commercially harvestable size and state, therefore the new recruits must be protected. In the soft (i.e.,recently molted white) shell stage some crabs are strong enough to enter traps but are not fully matured and are not commercially marketable. These crabs are carefully handled and quickly returned to the water but due to their weaker condition they have a higher mortality rate. Furthermore, the fishermen are mandated to move traps away from fishing grounds where they encounter high incidence of "soft" or "white" crab.

Through at-sea observers the amount of soft shell crab are monitored during the fishing season. Reports of this information are communicated to the fishermen so that they can avoid areas with high incidence of soft shell crab. Within our Co-Management Agreement with the Department of Fisheries & Oceans the soft shell protocol dictates that if the level of soft shell exceeds 20% of catch weight (fleet average) for an extended period, voluntary and eventually enforced closures of localized areas will be implemented. This measure is in place to protect the future recruitment to our fishery and to ensure top quality of the landed crab.

In 1997 area 19 fishermen voluntarily moved to only top opening traps to help reduce the soft shell catch for two reasons, to protect the stock and to help avoid a possible early closure. This move was supported and is now enforced by DFO. 

Also, advancements in our fishing gear have been made in order to avoid catching the undesirable crab. The older square traps had low side entrances making it much easier for crabs of all sizes and stages to enter the traps. The increase in height and steepness make it much more difficult for the weaker, soft shelled crabs to enter top opening traps, ultimately reducing the percentage of soft shell crab in the catch. We feel that this was one more positive move in helping to make this a better fishery. As fishers, we try to do all we can to ensure that we continue to deliver a top quality product.  

Soft Shell (Stage One) :Top of carapace is light brown; underneath is white, clean but soft. The claw is easily broken under thumb pressure and is shiny. No epibionts (moss). These are immature and commercially undesirable crab.

Clean (Stage Two) :Top of carapace is light brown ; underneath is white, clean but hard. The claw is hard to break and less shiny. No epibionts (moss). These are also immature and commercially undesirable crab.

Intermediate (Stage 3): Top of carapace is light brown ; underneath is yellow-brown in color. This crab is clean with very little organisms (white spots) on the dorsal part, and has no moss. The claw is hard and less shiny. This crab doesn't need to be cleaned at the processing plant. These crab have full meat yield and are the most commercially desirable crab.

Old (stage 4): Top of carapace is light brown: underneath is yellow-brown in color; small scars on the carapace; accumulated organisms (white spots and moss) on the carapace; the claw doesn't shine. This crab needs to be cleaned at the processing plaint. 

Very old (stage 5): Carapace is old,very dirty (moss) and could be soft, decalcification noticeable, especially at the joints of the legs. The moss is not removable at the processing plant.