PUBLIC DOCUMENT- -No. 25. 33 



The Lobster Fishery. 



Decline. - - Special attention is called to the deplorable con- 

 dition which now exists in the lobster fisheries, not alone in 

 this State but in all States along the Atlantic coast. Com- 

 mercialism has dominated the lobster fishery of the past twenty- 

 five years, and the public has been blindly led to believe that 

 the supply of lobsters could not be seriously depleted. On 

 account of the trade in live lobsters from Nova Scotia and 

 Maine, the actual conditions have been efficiently masked, 

 but an extremely small per cent, of the lobsters consumed 

 in Massachusetts now come from Massachusetts waters, and 

 the actual situation is especially evident to those who attempt 

 to seek lobsters in places w T here they were formerly abundant. 

 Nevertheless, these localities, except where pollution is obvious, 

 are as well suited for producing lobsters as formerly. The actual 

 catch, however, has been seriously reduced, as a result of unwise 

 legislation, whereby the reproduction of the lobster race has 

 been greatly impaired by killing the best breeders. Previous 

 reports have demonstrated the extent of this decline, and have 

 shown how the State has permitted this profitable industry 

 to diminish to its present status, so that any lengthy dis- 

 cussion of this self-evident condition is needless. 



In spite of the fact that absolutely complete returns of all 

 Massachusetts lobster fisheries have never been obtained, the 

 validity of the figures in the table below is in no way impaired, 

 owing to the fact that the points which this table strikingly brings 

 out are based entirely upon ratios, viz., the average catch per 

 pot and the number of egg-bearing lobsters to the total reported 

 catch. In 1907 the catch reported in marketable lobsters sud- 

 denly increased because the law allowed the taking of lobsters 

 9 inches in length instead of 10|, the previous size limit. The 

 largest catch is found in 1888, when 1,740,850 lobsters over 

 10| inches were taken. The lowest catch of 10^-inch lobsters 

 was recorded in 1905 when 426,471 were taken. Under the 

 new law in 1909 the high-water mark was reached, when 

 1,326,219 lobsters over 9 inches were taken. But the supply 

 of these lobsters has gradually fallen in the same way, until 

 in 1913 only 543,129 were taken. At the same time the number 



