For example, the catches of boat trips numbered 3, 

 5, 7, 8, 20, and 21 (modal lath spacings of 1% or 1% 

 inches) consisted of a low number of sublegal lob- 

 sters compared to the high number of sublegals in 

 catches of boat trips numbered 2, 4, 6, 9, 17, 18, and 

 19 (modal lath spacings of IV4 to IV2 inches) (Table 

 2). 



Effects of Throw Backs on the Fishery 



The throw-back ratios of illegal (sublegal plus 

 berried and/or V-notched females) to legal lob- 

 sters which ranged from 1.8 to 12.4:1, confirmed 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 73. NO. 4 



our earlier observations that a considerable 

 number of lobsters are being handled needlessly 

 (Table 1). It is not difficult to envision sublegal, 

 V-notched, or berried female lobsters spending a 

 portion of their lives airborne. One of the impor- 

 tant considerations in this situation is whether 

 these lobsters suffer a higher natural mortality 

 than those lobsters less than 51 mm (2 inches) 

 carapace length which are seldom caught because 

 of their possible secretive behavioral patterns and 

 the selectivity of lobster traps. However, we might 

 reach some tentative conclusions from the lengths 

 of lobsters collected in the present study along 



Table 2. -Length-frequencies by 1-mm increments for lobsters collected in 21 commercial boat trips, September 1971 through Sep- 

 tember 1973 (successive boat-trip numbers are identical to those in Table 1). 



866 



