Plain Language Summary: Latitudinal variation in growth rates of American lobster (Homarus americanus) at the scale of the commercial range

Wilke, Kate and Raper, Jamie Lee Dawn (2011) Plain Language Summary: Latitudinal variation in growth rates of American lobster (Homarus americanus) at the scale of the commercial range. Research Report. Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

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Abstract

This thesis presents an examination of methods for estimating growth rates in American lobster and an analysis of von Bertalanffy growth parameters (growth rate and maximum size) throughout the species’ range. The goals of this project were to compare lobster growth rates in different locations and determine if latitude could be used as a predictor. Growth rates are desired in order to estimate reproductive value, a tool which can then be used to evaluate fisheries management measures. They are also required for estimates of death rates and for a yield-­‐per-­‐recruit model. The results presented here show that existing estimates of von Bertalanffy growth parameters are not comparable between studies (Chapter 2), and that new estimates of growth rates have a negative relationship with latitude (Chapter 3), meaning growth rates decrease as you go north. The decrease in growth rate per degree of latitude is approximately 0.3% for both male and female. Growth rate for American lobster can now be estimated on a site-­‐specific basis using latitude, reducing the need for resource-­‐intensive tag-­‐recapture field studies. The results also show that latitudinal variation in growth rates is largely due to latitudinal gradients in temperature (Chapter 4).

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