Notices to Fish Harvesters

Conservation Harvesting Plan - SNOW CRAB – AREA 13 SEASON 2026

Date of Notice

Approved April 23,  2026

  1. Application

This Conservation Harvesting Plan (CHP) applies to snow crab fishing licence holders in Area 13 of the Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador regions.

  1. Fishing Areas

The fishing areas coordinates are listed in the Conditions of licence and are also indicated on the fishing areas maps.

  1. Fishing closures

Not applicable.

  1. Fishing Seasons

For 2025, the fishing season will be 14 weeks in length, with two possible opening dates, at the option of the licence holder.

No extension of the season will be granted except under circumstances beyond the control of the industry or DFO.

The following season will be in effect for the duration of this CHP. They represent the maximum duration of fishing periods, subject among other things to orders and specific closure periods. Opening dates may vary according to particular circumstances such as infustry requests and the TAC announcement while closing dates may be advanced according to factors such as the reach of quotas or when risks of exceeding them are high. Opening and closing fishing dates of each fleet will be confirmed through usual communication means, particularly Notices to Fish Harvesters or Variation Orders.

A monitoring committee is in place to oversee weather conditions. The opening date will be confirmed by a Variation Order following the final recommendation of the opening committee and an agreement on the opening date.

It should be reminded that it is the responsibility of the captain to acquaint himself with the marine safety notices published by Environment and climate change Canada and Transport Canada as well as with the standards and best practices in marine safety and to take all measures necessary to insure a safe fishery during  the period where fishing is authorized.

  1. Number of licences and access
  • 32 licences (Quebec)
  • 6 licences (Newfoundland and Labrador)
  1. Management Regime

All fleets in area 13 are under an individual transferable quota programs (ITQ) or individual quota (IQ).

    1. TAC and allocations
  • Area 13 : 277 tons
    • Quebec : 243 tons (87.755 %)
    • Newfoundland-and-Labrador: 34 tons (12.245 %)
    1. Administrative guidelines of the ITQ program

Administrative guidelines for ITQ program for snow crab fleets in Area 13 are included in the Regional guidelines for the management of individual transferable quota programs and will soon be available on the DFO Quebec Region website.

An individual quota (IQ) system is in place for license holders in Newfoundland-and- Labrador.

    1. Quota reconciliation

Under quota reconciliation, any overrun of individual quota incurred by a licence holder in one season will be deducted, by a factor of one to one, from the individual quota established for the following season. It is the responsibility of license holders to monitor their quotas to ensure that catches made in the course of their fishing activities respect the quotas allocated to them. Fishermen will be notified of the reconciliation of their individual quota by means of a note of information attached to their Conditions of licence.

  1. Catch management
    1. Characteristics of authorized catches

The minimum size allowed for keeping catches is 95 mm carapace width.

    1. Discarding Incidental Catches

Any accidental catch must be returned to the water. The release of white crabs and juvenile crabs (small claws) is permitted. These must be returned to the water, if still alive, at the exact location where they were caught, so as to cause them as little harm as possible.

    1. Follw-up protocol for white crab

Depending on the information gathered during the fishing season, DFO may ask fishermen to avoid a sector in order to reduce the risk of catching white crabs.

To help with monitoring, fishermen are invited to confidentially share their observations of an increase in the proportion of white crab in their catches via the following e-mail: crabeblanc@dfo-mpo.gc.cawhitecrab@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.

The fishing closure protocol will take effect in 2026. A closure of a sector or the entire zone will be implemented as soon as the percentage of snow crab in catches at sea reaches 20%, if applicable.

  1. Fishing Gear
    1. Number of Authorized Fishing Gear

A standard traps can be replaced with two conical (Japanese) traps.

Licence holders are authorized to use a maximum of 85 standard traps or 170 Japanese traps for licence holders of a basic quota (corresponding to 2.0408% of the fleet’s allocation) and 105 standard traps and 210 Japanese traps for holders of more than one basic quota.

    1. Characteristics of Fishing Gear

The requirements regarding dimensions, release mechanisms, and ropes, among other things, are set forth in the Licence Conditions.

    1. Hauling and soaking duration

Licence holders or their operators are responsible for hauling in their fishing gear at least once every 72 hours.

    1. Gear marking

All traps used for fishing must bear a single valid annual tag with a unique identification number. Fishermen must obtain their tags from suppliers approved by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).

The minimum requirements regarding the number and position of colour markings are details in the Conditions of licence. Please refer to the Notice to Fish Harversters of August 14, 2020.  

It is prohibited to have unmarked fishing gear on board a fishing vessel. In addition to the regulatory requirement to mark buoys with the vessel registration number (VRN), licensees must add a sequential number to each main buoy in order to be able to individually identify each fishing gear.

    1. Requirement to Report Lost and Retrieved Gear

The licence holder and fishing vessel operator must report any loss or recovery of fishing gear. Reports regarding the loss or recovery of gear must be submitted to DFO through the Online Fishing Gear Reporting System or by completing and submitting the Fishing Gear Loss Report Form or the Previously Lost Gear Recovery Report Form, wich are avaiblable online and attached to the Conditions of licence.

  1. Marine Mammal interaction Reporting

Licence holders and fishing vessel operators must provide information regarding all interactions with a marine mammal that occur during fishing expeditions in accordance with the Conditions of Licence. To do so, the licence holder and fishing vessel operator must complete the section reserved for that purpose in its ELOG or the marine mammal interaction form available on the Report a marine mammal or sea turtle incident or sighting page and attached to the Conditions of licence, and it must be submitted as per the instructions provided on the form.

In addition, if you observe a dead or distressed animal, please contact Marine Mammal Emergencies as soon as possible at 1-877-722-5346. If possible, do not hesitate to take photos or videos that will allow DFO to assess the situation and identify the species.

  1. Fishing Activities Declaration and Monitoring
    1. Hail out

The departure report is mandatory and must be submitted by 7:00 p.m. on the day before each fishing trip.

    1. At-Sea Observer

The coverage of observers at sea, funded by the industry, is expressed as a percentage of fishing expedition. A minimum coverage of 5% of fishing shipments applies to Quebec licence holders and 2.5% to Newfoundland and Labrador licence holders.

The percentage of coverage must be distributed throughout the season, throughout the area and may be modified according to unexpected conservation needs that may arise during the fishing season.

The list of accredited and designated companies is available on the DFOwebsite: List of Qualified and Designated Companies

    1. LogBook

Licence holder must keep a true record of their fishing activities and catches in their logbook in accordance with their Conditions of licence.

The use of an electronic logbook (Elog) is mandatory for Quebec licence holders and optional for Newfoundland and Labrador licence holders.

      1. Electronic logbook

The Elog must be completed for each fishing expedition and “closed” before arriving at port. A fishing expedition means a voyage that commences at the time a fishing vessel leaves a port to engage in fishing and terminates at the time fish caught during that period are offloaded. Hence, when a fisher goes back to port for a reason other than for offloading fish and leaves port again, the fishing expedition goes on until fish are offloaded.

Fish harvesters must use a client application approved by Fisheries and Oceans Canada for the Quebec region for the form ELOG – Logbook – Crabs. Furthermore, fish harvesters must have obtained and installed their Elog Key in their client application in order to allow data transmission to the Department.

To consult the list of client applications approved by the Department and to obtain your Elog Key, visit Fisheries and Ocean’s web page at the following address: Electronic logbooks (ELOGs)

To request a modification to data that has been transmitted to Fisheries and Oceans, you must communicate with the client support service at 1-877-535-7307.

      1. Combined form / Logbook

Licence holders must acquire their booklet of Combined Forms from a prequalified supplier identified by DFO, whose list is available at the following address: Prequalified suppliers.

The Logbook section must be duly completed before arrival at port and the completed form must be sent to DFO after each fishing expedition.

    1. Hail in

A call for entry is required upon arrival at the dock.

    1. Dockside Monitoring

Dockside verification is mandatory for 100% of landings.

Landings must be made at one of the designated dockside monitoring harbors, the list of which is available at the following address: Designated Dockside Monitoring Ports.

When using an Electronic Logbook, you must communicate your unique Electronic Logbook Identifier to the Dockside Monitoring Company before hail in and also provide it to the dockside observer.

    1. Vessel Monitoring System (VMS)

Vessels must be equipped with an active vessel monitoring system (VMS) approved by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Each licence holder must register his DFO-approved VSM unit prior to the beginning of his fishing activities. Data transmission every 15 minutes is required.

Data must be transmitted every 15 minutes for Quebec licence holders and every 60 minutes for Newfoundland-and-Labrador licence holders. DFO plans to standardize the transmission interval for SSN data for all licence holders in Snow Crab Fishing Area 13 at the same time the new standard takes effect.

The current list of DFO-approved VMS units and the procedure and form to register a VMS unit are available at National Vessel Monitoring System page.

  1. Particularities Applicable to the Fishery
    1. Characteristics and Use of Boats

The Maximum Length (ML) of vessels that licence holders or tgheir operators may use is 19.81 meters.

    1. Buddy-up

Buddy-up agreements are permitted among licence holders within the same group, with a maximum of five licence holders per agreement in Quebec and two in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Licence holders involved in a partnership agreement may use a maximum number of traps equivalent to the sum of the maximum number authorized for two of the parties involved in the partnership agreement, without exceeding 200 standard traps.

To take advantage of a partnership agreement, licence holders must place their request through the National Online Licencing System (NOLS) at least 5 business days before the first fishing trip. A form signed by all licence holders in the agreement must be sent with the application, and the first signature must be that of the owner/renter of the boat used.

Only one buddy-up agreement per licence holder is authorized for the fishing season. The buddy-up agreement is effective for the entire duration of the fishing season of the target species. Unless there are exceptional reasons, DFO will not issue replacement authorizations to fishermen involved in a buddy-up agreement.

No temporary transfers will be processed during the term of the buddy-up agreement. Any transfer of quota with other license holders must be completed and approved prior to

departure from the dock or after termination of the agreement.

Licence holders must be on board for all fishing expeditions of the target species.

Landings are accounted for in proportion to the individual quotas of licence holders who are part of a buddy-up agreement.

Licence holders benefiting from a buddy-up agreement will be jointly responsible for any violation committed during fishing activities resulting from their agreement, if applicable.

  1. Species At Risk Act

Pursuant to the Species at Risk Act, no person shall kill, harm, harass, capture, take, possess, collect, buy, sell or trade an individual or any part or derivate of a wildlife species designated as extirpated, endangered or threatened.

All incidental captures of species at risk must be immediately returned to the water where they were captured and, if the animal is still alive, in the manner that causes it the least harm. All incidental captures of species at risk must be recorded in the « Species at Risk » section of the logbook. Furthermore, all interactions with species at risk, notably the North Atlantic Right Whale, the Blue Whale (Atlantic population), the Beluga Whale (St. Lawrence Estuary population) and the White Shark (Atlantic population), must be recorded in this section of the logbook.

These requirements are additional to any obligation to declare an interaction with a marine mammal using the prescribed form (see section Marine mammal interaction reporting).

  1. Crew registry

All independant core licence holder and their approved designated operators must keep records of all the crew members working aboard the bessel on every fishing trip in accordance with its Conditions of licence. This requirement does not apply to pre-1979 corporation licence and to any licence issued under the authority of the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations. For further details, refer to the March 17th, 2021 Notice to fish harvesters, New inshore regulations or contact the licensing office at 1-877-535-7307 or fishing-peche@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.

  1. Discharge of waste

The licence holder and fishing vessel operator are prohibited from discarding in Canadian fisheries waters from their vessel any item that may be harmful to fish or fish habitat. Please refer to the following Notice to Fish harvesters : New condition of licence relating to discharge of garbage.

  1.  Conditions of licence

To obtain their Conditions of licence, fish harvester must access the National Online Licensing System and submit a request specifying the fishing season for which they wish to apply. For National Online Licensing System assistance, please contact customer support by phone at 1-877-535-7307 or by email at fishing-peche@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.

Note: in the event of a discrepancy between the French and English versions of the CHP, the French version shall prevail.

Approved by :

Maryse Lemire

Fisheries Management Regional Director

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Quebec

For any question regarding this CHP

Please contact :

Noth shore area : 1-800-463-1729

Corner Brook Sector (Newfoundland-and-Labrador) : 709-637-4308

For additional information

Please visit our Fisheries web page (dfo-mpo.gc.ca).