DFO Snow Crab Trawl Survey Data from Newfoundland and Labrador, 2018-2025

Fisheries and Oceans Canada provides snow crab catch data from a multispecies trawl survey in the Newfoundland and Labrador region from 2018 to 2025. The dataset includes successful tows from a depth-stratified random design and contains converted catch numbers from a comparative fishing program between old and new research vessels from 2021-2023. Data is available in CSV, FGDB/GDB, and ESRI REST formats under an open government license.

Use Cases

• Analyzing snow crab population trends based on catch numbers and survey location.
• Assessing the impact of vessel and gear changes on catchability using the comparative fishing data from 2021-2023.
• Modeling spatial and temporal distribution of snow crab based on survey coverage across NAFO divisions.
• Applying length-weight relationships to converted catch numbers for biomass estimation, as referenced in the description.

Strengths

• Covers a multi-year time series from 2018 to 2025.
• Includes data from a comparative fishing program designed to quantify catchability differences between vessel types.
• Contains a 'converted_number' column where applicable conversion factors have been applied for time-series consistency.

Limitations

• Row count and specific column definitions are unknown, requiring inspection after download.
• Spatial coverage varies annually, meaning not all divisions or depths are sampled every year.
• Catch weights are not standardized for tow distance or duration, and zero-catch tows are included as records with a number of 0.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Collection Method

Depth-stratified random trawl survey, with a comparative fishing program for vessel comparison from 2021-2023.

Time Range

2018-2025

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-02 17:30:46.072130

Geography

Newfoundland and Labrador region, specific NAFO divisions