The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has released its annual snow crab assessment.

Overall, most stocks are projected to be in the Healthy Zone this year, continuing to rebound from the historical lows seen in 2016-2017.

The one area of concern, however, is area 2HJ in Labrador, which is expected to be in the cautious zone.

They say exploitable biomass and recruitment indices have remained low in this area for many years.

High fishing pressure and overall declines continue to be a concern.

As well, they say there was reduced trawl survey coverage in 2021, which means that the current estimates could be overestimates.

Another area the DFO is keeping an eye on is the abundance of “pre-recruits,” which are snow crab that are still a few years away from commercial size.

They say there are indications that abundance indices may have peaked. Biologist Julia Pantin says it’s something they want to keep an eye on, but it’s not a big cause for concern yet.