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The writer would like to express his appreciation for the support of King & Sons, Inc. Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association, the Maine Lobstermen's Association, Maine Import Export Dealers Association, East Coast Seafood Inc. and other lobster industry workers. I am especially indebted to Al and Marion King of King & Sons, Inc. for the opportunity to participate in this endeavor and for their encouragement, and helpful criticisms.

In addition, special thanks is due to Page C. Valentine, Harley J. Knebel and C.F. Polloni, all of the USGS Woods Hole Field Center, who gave freely of their valuable time and resources and without whose cooperation this report would not have been possible.

The writer and the sponsors would like to thank Dr. Robert S. Steneck, Dr. Richard A. Wahle and Dr. Kari Lavalli who reviewed the draft and offered key observations.

We would be remiss if we did not express our sincere thanks for the effort put forth by Scott Bosse, Steve Visco, and Mandy El-Bergearmi of ASAP Media Services at the University of Maine for making the report available on the Lobster Institute Web Site.

We want to thank the Board of Advisors of the Lobster Institute for providing a home for the report on the Institute's web site. This unique "Lobster dedicated" web site will make the report available to a broad base of people and disciplines around the world.

And last but not least we want to express our appreciation to all those named and unnamed people and organizations that have undertaken the study of the American Lobster. Without their dedicated effort and the sharing of their knowledge, our ability to save the lobster from over exploitation would not be possible.