There are 15 Shrimp Fishery Areas (SFAs) in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, between the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the Scotian Shelf, Northwestern Newfoundland and Labrador, and in the Davis Strait (DFO 2020).

In the shrimp fishery, there are both SFAs and management units (MUs). SFA boundaries are the same delineations for both science assessments and management purposes. MUs are smaller management areas within an SFA. This profile corresponds to the Nunavut and Nunavik western fishing areas (NU-W and NK-W respectively) integral part of the Western assessment zone (WAZ) (DFO 2020).

Although separate stocks of Northern prawn Pandalus borealis have not been clearly defined and may represent a single metapopulation within the Northwest Atlantic, there are some differences that provide the basis for delineating assessment and management units into SFAs. It is recognized that, albeit the broad distribution for this species, both the Eastern assessment zone (EAZ) and the WAZ are connected through larval dispersal, but rates of exchange of adults are less understood. These linkages need to be considered to interpret dynamics within and among assessment areas (DFO 2021).