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Since its formation in 1987, the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, in cooperation with its industry
partners in the U.S. and Canada, has accomplished a great deal. Projects that were created or supported by the
Institute are too numerous to list individually. They include research projects on lobster health, biology, ecology,
and economics; the International Lobster Congress; the Maine Lobster Promotion Council; lobster health workshops; and
industry/science seminars.
Reflecting on the accomplishments of the Lobster Institute in my last month as it's director, I am struck by what the
Institute really has been about over these years - beyond just projects, research, and seminars. The Lobster Institute
is all about "working together" for a healthy future. The Institute's founding principles - cooperation, communication,
and commitment to conservation - do indeed represent our industry's future.
The lobster industry is working together today. We are talking and listening to each other, understanding, and
cooperating - at a level barely imagined in 1987. Working together, we have accomplished much. We must continue to work
together even more closely - if we expect to continue to have a healthy lobster resource and create the industry future
we envision. The Lobster Institute, working with the regions lobster industry, is about our shared tomorrow. As the
Institute moves ahead under new leadership, we can all be confident that it will continue to strive for improved
communication and cooperation and remain committed to conservation. Given our experiences of the past, it seems the
best way to ensure a sound and sensible future.
It's been a privilege for me to serve our industry these past eight years. Many, many thanks for your support and
encouragement in keeping the Institute moving forward.
Test to Detect Scrubbed Lobsters Developed
The illegal removal of eggs from lobsters is an increasing problem for the industry. One of the most widely used
techniques for removing eggs is to dip berried females in chlorine bleach. These lobsters are then sold as non-berried
lobsters since there are no obvious external signs of the chemical treatment.
Bob Bayer, Ed Cogger, and Deanna Prince in the University of Maine's (UM) Animal, Veterinary, and Aquatic Sciences
Department recently discovered a method to detect if lobsters have been dipped in chlorine bleach. Using a conventional
light microscope, researchers examined pleopods (or swimmerets) on tails treated with a chlorine bleach solution and
those on untreated tails. After they were examined, pleopods were preserved in formalin.
On untreated pleopods, pairs of fine, uniformly arranged hairs extend from a central shaft (seta), creating a
characteristic feather like pattern. Researchers found that setal hairs on pleopods of lobsters dipped in bleach were
not in the typical feather pattern. As shown in the photographs below, hairs were highly disorganized, bent, and some
were missing. These differences were also easily detected in the preserved specimens.
Study to Predict Lobster Catch Funded
In a highly competitive proposal process, the Maine/New Hampshire Sea Grant Program was recently awarded funding from
National Sea Grant for a three year project called "Developing Indices Necessary for Predicting Commercial Catches of
the American lobster, Homarus americanus." The project competed with 102 projects submitted by the 29 other Sea Grant
programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
The project is a regional effort involving Stan Cobb at the University of Rhode Island, Mike Fogarty at National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Win Watson and Hunt Howell at the University of New Hampshire,
Rick Wahle at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in West Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and Bob Steneck at the
University of Maine. Researchers proposed the project in response to requests by industry, the recent Amendment #5 to
the Federal American Lobster Fisheries Management Plan, and a workshop at the Second International Lobster Congress
held last October in Portland, for scientists to develop ways to predict lobster landings and provide an early warning
system to guard against a collapse of lobster stocks.
Resource management theory for the American lobster operates on the assumption that if landings fail, then populations
will be seven to ten years into a stock collapse. It would take decades to recover from a collapse. If commercial
lobster landings can be predicted, and techniques are developed that help regulate the lobster industry, a stock
collapse could be averted. This project is the first time that lobster biologists, harvesters, and managers will work
together to develop these techniques.
During the three year project, researchers will develop and test techniques to predict lobster landings at study sites
in coastal waters of Long Island Sound, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine. They will choose sites that provide a
wide range of lobster densities, based on fisheries data and past research. Their study is modeled on successful efforts
in Australia to predict landings of the western rock lobster fishery.
To estimate the number of newly settled lobsters in nursery grounds, researchers will use recently developed
PVC collectors. To estimate the abundance of pre-recruits (lobsters one to two years before harvest), the team will
develop and test modified lobster traps that have no escape vents. Sea-sampling and logbook programs will be used to
measure local lobster catch and fishing effort. Finally, researchers will determine if regional differences in the
number of newly settled lobsters and pre-recruits correspond to differences in catch.
To test how well the settlement collectors and ventless pre-recruit traps work in estimating abundance's
(or developing indices), researchers will compare natural settlement densities of juveniles, estimated by using suction
samplers, with the settlement index obtained with the collectors. They will also compare numbers of pre-recruit,
adolescent lobsters caught in unvented traps and by local harvesters with actual densities of pre-recruit and
harvestable lobsters determined through scuba surveys. Researchers will solicit help from lobstermen in sea-sampling
and using logbooks to obtain data on local landings and fishing effort. The sea-sampling and logbook programs will help
standardize data obtained from harvesters so it could be used to help manage stocks.
Researchers predict that the indices they develop for juvenile and adolescent lobsters will correspond to the number
of harvestable lobsters and landings in the area. If there are strong correlation's among the number of newly settled
lobsters, pre-recruit lobsters, and catch, then measures of settlement and pre-recruit abundance could be used to
predict landings in the future.
After researchers have developed indices for local populations, they will examine predictive models, based on catch
and sea-sampling data provided to NMFS, to determine if these local population indices improve predictive capabilities
on a regional scale. If the predictive tools prove successful at the conclusion of the three year project, researchers
plan to continue working closely with state biologists to implement a coordinated, multi-state, lobster stock
prediction program.
One benefit of the project will be to provide a better understanding of the variability in lobster landings between
years. This information would allow managers to differentiate between short-term downward trends in landings and a
stock collapse. The data generated through the study could also be used by the industry's Effort Management Teams to
determine ways to effectively reduce fishing effort and lobster mortality rates.
