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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 11
July 2007
Lobster gauge, v-notch changes coming for SNE
ALEXANDRIA, VA – The American Lobster Management Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has adopted a comprehensive rebuilding program for the Southern New England (SNE) lobster stock that will result in new regulations for lobstermen working in management Areas 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
The program focuses on a set of “common biological” measures made up of minimum gauge increases, maximum gauge limits, and a uniform 1/8" v-notch definition that will apply to all Southern New England lobster fisheries, including the commercial trap, nontrap, and recreational fisheries.
The measures are contained within Addendum XI of Amendment 3 to the interstate American Lobster Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which went out to six public hearings in April.
The board approved the program at its May 8 meeting and picked the “comprehensive rebuilding” alternative instead of other Addendum XI options because it wanted to make minimum and maximum gauge sizes and other rules, including the v-notch definition, more uniform throughout this large lobster stock region that covers five separate management areas.
The board also approved a 15-year stock rebuilding timeline for the Southern New England lobster stock with a caveat to “end overfishing immediately”.
And it imposed three deadlines on itself regarding the addendum:
Nov. 1, 2007 – States must submit Addendum XI implementation plans to ASMFC for technical review;
Winter 2008 – Board will review and consider approving state plans; and
June 30, 2008 – States must implement new measures no later than this final deadline.
To recap, the Lobster Conservation Management Areas (LCMAs) within the Southern New England stock area are: Area 2 – inshore Southern New England; Area 3 – offshore waters; Area 4 – inshore northern Mid-Atlantic; Area 5 – inshore southern Mid-Atlantic; and Area 6 – Long Island Sound.
Gauge changes
Under Addendum XI, the minimum lobster size for Areas 2, 4, 5, and 6 will be 3-3/8". Area 6 is the only Southern New England LCMA not already at 3-3/8", and Connecticut Commissioner Eric Smith emphasized that his state intends to submit a conservation equivalency proposal to implement a large-scale v-notch program within Area 6 in place of the gauge increase.
The minimum gauge in the Outer Cape Cod LCMA, which is not part of the Southern New England stock area, is 3-3/8" as well, adding further uniformity to the minimum size.
The minimum gauge in Area 1 is 3-1/4".
The maximum size for both male and female lobsters in Areas 2, 4, 5, and 6 will be 5-1/4" under Addendum XI.
At present, Area 4 is under a maximum gauge of 5-1/4" for female lobsters, and Area 5 is at 5-1/2" for females.
However, once the new rules for Addendum XI are implemented, both Area 4 and Area 5 will work under the 5-1/4" maximum gauge for males as well as females.
Offshore
Area 3 is on a more aggressive gauge increase track and is scheduled to be at 3-1/2" in 2008. The Area 3 Lobster Conservation Management Team (LCMT) proposed staying on that schedule instead of slipping back to 3-3/8", and ASMFC agreed.
Then, in exchange for the additional conservation value gained from this larger minimum size, the board agreed to allow the maximum size in Area 3 to be 7", lowered by 1/8" per year for two years following implementation, to result in a final maximum gauge of 6-3/4". This, too, was proposed by the LCMT.
During previous board meetings and during Addendum XI public hearings, Area 3 lobstermen emphasized that lobsters offshore grow larger than inshore, making the bigger maximum size appropriate for the area.
Area 3 lobstermen will need to install larger vents to accommodate the 3-1/2" lobsters on the minimum size end. The implementation deadline for the vent change is 2010.
Area 3 lobstermen also will be subject to additional trap reductions under Addendum XI of 2-1/2% per year in 2009 and 2010, which will come right on the heels of the area’s 5% trap reductions in 2007 and 2008.
V-notch definition
In another significant change, the v-notch definition under Addendum XI for Areas 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 will be a uniform 1/8".
Under the new provision, a v-notched lobster will be defined as “any female lobster that bears a notch or indentation in the flipper at least 1/8" deep, with or without setal hairs. V-notched female lobster also means any female that is mutilated in a manner which could hide, obscure, or obliterate such a mark.”
Although the addendum will guarantee protection of v-notched lobsters, the practice of v-notching itself will remain voluntary.
However, fishermen will be “encouraged to notch egg-bearing legal-sized females to contribute to rebuilding.”
Area 1 lobstermen work under a “zero tolerance” v-notch definition. Outer Cape Cod lobstermen still work under Amendment 3’s original 1/4" v-notch definition.
Indentation?
Numerous Area 6 lobstermen who attended an April 16 public hearing and/or submitted written comments to ASMFC on Addendum XI had trouble with the v-notch definition – not the 1/8" part but the language calling an “indentation” a notch.
Area 6 LCMT Chairman George Doll called it “a backdoor way of getting zero tolerance.”
Lobsterman John Davi testified, “An indentation could be anything. You are setting up the lobstermen for failure.”
Recreational divers sent in numerous letters all saying the same thing: “A distinct v-notch is very different from an indentation.” They called the indentation language “unjustified and unworkable.”
During the May 8 board meeting, John German of Area 6 said lobstermen in the area did not oppose the mutilation language.
“We were opposed to ‘indentation,’” he said. “Indentation to us means zero tolerance, which we were always against.”
Massachusetts ASMFC representative Dan McKiernan said the 1/8" indentation language would cover remnants of notches.
“Our understanding is that when a v-notch shape heals, it is no longer v-shaped,” he said. “We’re simply trying to accommodate the healing process.”
Connecticut board member Eric Smith worried that without the “indentation” provision, lobstermen would “always be arguing with enforcement saying, ‘No, that’s not a v.’”
The board did not change the language, so the terms “indentation” and “mutilation” remain in the 1/8" v-notch definition.
Janice M. Plante
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