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Protecting Maine Lobsters
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| Lobstermen use a measure to gauge correct catch size. |
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 Lobsters
are measured for legal size. In the US, the minimum legal
size lobster must measure at least 3¼” from the eye socket
to the back of the carapace where the tail joins the body.
The measure was increased twice in the last ten years, and
allows more females to extrude eggs and reproduce before reaching
legal size.
In Maine, a maximum
size law also exists. Any lobster with a greater than
5” carapace must be returned to the sea. This law exists to
protect the “breeders”. Larger lobsters are capable of reproducing
greater and healthier numbers of offspring and Maine lobster
harvesters feel very strongly about protecting this brood
stock.
"Berried” females
(those carrying eggs) must be returned to the sea, after
the tail has been marked with a v-notch in the right flipper
next to the middle flipper. This ensures that the viably reproductive
female will continue to produce young lobsters until she outgrows
the notch in her tail, which may take up to two molting (shedding)
cycles or approximately two years. The practice of notching
and returning females provides a 10-30% return to the brood
stock, a significant contribution to protect the resource.
These two Maine laws (maximum size and notching females) in effect since the 1930s have been recently adopted in federal waters. Lobster harvesters may voluntarily re-notch females to provide the resource with an ongoing brood stock.
Maine lobster harvesters have created the “Maine Lobster
Seed Fund” from a portion of the lobster license fee they
pay. Proceeds from this fund are used to purchase, and then
return to the wild, female lobsters that have produced eggs
while in captivity, but after they have been landed by the
lobster harvester.
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| Both claws are banded using a bander. |
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Lobsters
are stored in recirculating tanks on board the vessel.
This allows the harvester to land a healthy and robust product
for the market.
If a lobster is of legal
size, both of the lobster’s claws are banded to protect the
lobsters from injuring one another in captivity.
- Harvesting text courtesy
of Maine Lobster Promotion Council -
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