The Dungeness crab (metacarcinus magister) fishery in Burrard Inlet, B.C.: constraints on abundance-based management and improved access for recreational harvesters

The British Columbia Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister) fishery is important to a diverse group of users, generating considerable value to coastal communities. While current management strategies have ensured sustainability and conservation of the species, persistently high exploitation by the commercial fishery limits access to the resource for First Nation and recreational crabbers. I evaluated the constraints on two possible management actions aimed at increasing access for recreational users. In chapter 1, I found that establishing abundance-based management using existing survey designs has potential for high use, multi-sector crab fisheries such as Burrard Inlet: provided that biases due to variable catchability are accounted for. In chapter 2, I demonstrated how discrepancies in requirements and responsibilities between the recreational and commercial sectors limit the scope of harvest rights attainable by the recreational sector. Reducing these discrepancies would help justify the changes to the management framework required to increase recreational access.