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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 8
April 2009
Area 6 lobster gauge may increase Jan. 1
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Long Island Sound lobstermen may be faced with a 1/16" increase in the minimum lobster gauge come Jan. 1, 2010. That’s because, in all likelihood, the Area 6 v-notch program will not reach its Year-2 targets.
Dave Simpson, director of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection’s Marine Fisheries Division, announced this possibility on Feb. 2 during a meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) American Lobster Management Board.
Area 6 is fished by both Connecticut and New York lobstermen who currently work under a 3-5/16" gauge throughout Long Island Sound.
Like most other management areas, Area 6 initially was slated to go up to a 3-3/8" minimum gauge effective June 30, 2008 under Addendum XI to the interstate lobster plan. But Connecticut lobstermen were able to secure $1 million from the state’s General Assembly to implement a comprehensive v-notch program as a substitute for the increase.
In August 2007, the ASMFC lobster board found the v-notch program to be “conservation equivalent” to a gauge increase and allowed Area 6 lobstermen to remain at 3-5/16" (see CFN October 2007 for program details).
So, with board approval, the v-notch program officially got underway. High school students rode on commercial lobster boats and notched all mature female lobsters – those 3" and greater in carapace length – under strict protocols, and lobstermen were financially compensated for each lobster put back in the water.
The Connecticut Lobster Restoration Advisory Committee, which drafted the program’s details, designed the program to run for two years. Furthermore, the committee set up “backstop” measures to ensure that adequate numbers of lobsters were v-notched on schedule.
The $1 million from the General Assembly was intended to cover Year 1, but officials hoped enough money would be left over to cover at least some of Year-2’s expenses while lobstermen worked to secure additional funding.
Year-1 results
By all accounts, Year 1 was an enormous success.
“We did fantastic,” said Colleen Giannini of Connecticut’s Marine Fisheries Division, which oversees the program. “We exceeded 102% of our target.”
In all, 93,432 lobsters were v-notched and released back into Long Island Sound during 241 v-notching trips between November 2007 and July 2008.
These lobsters converted to 59,213 “legal equivalents,” which was 102.6% of the 57,740 target of legal equivalents.
According to program administrators, a “legal equivalent” formula was derived because “sublegal and egg-bearing females, regardless of carapace length, carry half the conservation value as legal, nonegg-bearing females.”
Since the program allows notching of sublegal but mature females and all egg-bearing females, the formula ensures that conservation standards are met.
Of the Year-1 total, 75% of the lobsters were notched in the eastern sound, 5% in the central basin, and 20% in the western sound.
Thirteen Connecticut lobstermen actively participated, as did 57 students. Collectively, they spent roughly 3,400 hours on the water.
But Year-1 expenses were high, including everything from insurance coverage for workers and students to equipment purchases to administrative costs and payments to lobstermen for notched lobsters.
Program administrators estimated that, after all Year-1 expenses were fully accounted for, roughly $184,000 of the $1 million would be left in the budget for Year 2.
Year-2 progress
As of mid-February, several students and six participating lobstermen had made 25 Year-2 trips and v-notched and released 9,645 lobsters. That translated into 5,627 legal equivalents or 9.7% of the Year-2 target of 57,740 legal equivalents.
The Connecticut Lobster Restoration Advisory Committee wasn’t overly concerned about being able to meet the target itself. Rather, the problem was funding. The program didn’t have enough money to cover expenses and compensate lobstermen like last year.
“It’s definitely a funding issue,” confirmed Giannini.
One immediate concern was insurance. A critical policy covering workers and student v-notchers was scheduled to expire March 31, and renewing the policy would eat up over $22,000.
The program currently has enough remaining funds to cover this expense, but it doesn’t have enough money to cover everything – insurance, administrative needs, student salaries, and compensation for lobstermen.
Seeking funds
At press time, industry members were working with the Connecticut General Assembly to secure additional funding. Two bills had been introduced to obtain the needed funds. One, “Raised Bill No. 848, An Act Appropriating Funds of the State to Continue the Lobster Restoration Program,” was aired during a March 4 public hearing before the Assembly’s Environment Committee.
Leah Schmalz, director of legislative and legal affairs for Save the Sound, testified in support of the bill.
“With minimal investment, the v-notch program is able to fund an ailing industry, allowing 13 lobster boats to continue working in collaborative effort with high school students from three regional aquaculture schools, while keeping lobster management as narrowly defined as possible,” she said. “A relatively small amount of funding for the Sound’s lobster industry will bolster the economy, maintain jobs, and put the estuary back on track towards a sustainable future.”
However, the legislature had taken no further action as of mid-March and, given the bleak economic climate hanging over the state and the nation overall, people were extremely concerned that the bill would not pass.
Connecticut Marine Fisheries Division officials asked lobstermen if they would be willing to continue with the program, v-notching sublegal and egg-bearing female lobsters without compensation.
However, most lobstermen were already struggling financially and were reluctant to sign on because at times the majority of the catch is made up of shorts or egg-bearing females. So, without additional compensation, some trips had the potential to be completely unprofitable.
Backstop
That’s where things stood at press time in late March. No new Year-2 funding had yet come through, and the program had reached only 9.7% of the v-notching target.
Under the program’s backstop measures, if less than 50% of the target number of lobsters is notched in Year 2, then the minimum gauge will increase by 1/16" on Jan. 1, 2010.
At the Feb. 2 ASMFC lobster board meeting, Dave Simpson expressed concern that Area 6 lobstermen would not be able to meet the 50% hurdle. As a result, he said Connecticut would take the necessary steps to ensure the gauge increase was implemented by Jan. 1 as required.
Jim Gilmore of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Bureau of Marine Resources said New York, too, would take action, although the state would have to work with the legislature to implement the increase.
Janice M. Plante
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