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FISH AND GAME. 



associations liberate their "seed" lobsters without remuneration 

 from the State, believing that it is for their own benefit to 

 return lobsters to the same waters from which they came. The 

 Boston Harbor Lobstermen's Association in 1914 liberated 

 1,224 egg lobsters. Such good work, particularly with regard 

 to the immediate returning of the egg lobsters to the water, is 

 worthy of encouragement. 



Legislation. - - The following suggestions should be thoroughly 

 discussed in view of future legislation: - 



1. Uniform Size. - - It is to be regretted that there is not 

 more uniformity between the legal size limits for lobsters in the 

 New England States; for instance, Maine has a limit of 4f 

 inches measured on the back or carapace of the lobster, whereas 

 Massachusetts has a 9-inch size limit for the entire length. It 

 is eminently desirable that the New England States adopt some 

 uniform law, but unfortunately, owing to political complica- 

 tions, it is difficult to agree upon a standard. Your commis- 

 sioners recommend that the Maine method of measurement, 

 upon the body shell or carapace, be used instead of upon the 

 whole length of the lobster. 



2. Proiection of Adults. - - At the present time the only 

 practical method for retaining the supply is the exceedingly 

 small measure of protection afforded by the prohibition of 

 taking egg-bearing females, the hatching of eggs by the United 

 States Bureau of Fisheries and the liberation of specimens under 

 the legal size. Our lobster laws at the present time are so 

 capable of facile evasion that their enforcement is obviously 



