Historical Lobster Fishing District Boundaries in the Maritimes: 1899-Present

Fisheries and Oceans Canada provides a geospatial dataset tracking the evolution of inshore lobster fishing district boundaries from 1899 to the present. The dataset includes maps illustrating changes in district boundaries, minimum legal size, and season length, supporting analysis of fishery regulation in Canada's Maritimes Region.

Use Cases

• Analyze the variability in Lobster Fishing Area boundaries over time to model spatial fishery management trends.
• Correlate changes in minimum legal size (MLS) data with regulatory phases to assess conservation policy impacts.
• Map the transition from cannery-based to live lobster markets using historical district and season length information.
• Study the increasing intensity of fishery regulation by examining the temporal evolution of district boundaries and season rules.

Strengths

• Covers a long temporal range of over 120 years, from 1899 to the present.
• Includes multiple data facets: geographical boundaries, minimum legal size (MLS), and season length.
• Produced by the authoritative government agency Fisheries and Oceans Canada as part of a formal pilot project.
• Available in multiple geospatial formats including CSV, ESRI REST, and FGDB/GDB for flexible analysis.

Limitations

• The dataset's interpretive capacity is limited as the specific reasoning behind each regulatory change is not documented.
• For periods prior to 1985, outer boundaries are simplified for clarity and do not represent areas of complete regulatory control.
• The report notes that more investigative work is needed to fully understand the drivers behind each historical change.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Blue Economy Lobster Team (BELT) pilot project.

Collection Method

Historical research and cartographic synthesis to create a series of maps tracking regulatory changes.

Time Range

1899 to present.

Freshness

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Geography

Inshore waters of the present-day Maritimes Region, Canada.