AMERICAN LOBSTERS TAGGED 

 BY MAINE COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN, 



1957-59 



In 1957 at the suggestion of C. Owen Smith, 

 then editor of the "Maine Coast Fisherman," 

 several commercial lobster fishermen volunteered 

 to tag illegal American lobster, Homarus ameri- 

 canus, with tags furnished by the Maine Depart- 

 ment of Sea and Shore Fisheries. The purpose 

 of the tagging was to obtain additional informa- 

 tion on the migratory behavior of lobsters. 



Between April 1957 when the first lobster was 

 tagged and October 1959 when the last of the 

 recaptures was reported, 162 lobsters ranging 

 from 78 to 200 mm in carapace length (CD 

 were tagged and released under this cooperative 

 program. No legal lobsters were tagged. The 

 lobsters consisted of four illegal classifications: 

 1) those with extruded eggs, 2) those less than the 

 legal minimum size, 3) those larger than the legal 

 maximum size, and 4) those which had had a 

 V-shaped notch cut into the telson to signify 

 successful motherhood. Seventy-three were 

 tagged in Penobscot Bay (72 in 1957 and 1 in 

 1958) and 89 in Sheepscot Bay (all in 1958). 



The small number of lobsters involved does not 

 permit definitive conclusions regarding their 

 behavior. The evidence furnished by the results 

 does not agree with tagging reports before and 

 since (Harriman 1952,' Cooper 1970) of an area 

 which apparently is more isolated and the lobster 

 population more static. 



Of the lobsters tagged, 75 or 46% were 127 mm 

 or larger in carapace length. Only 23 or 14% of 

 the total tagged were recaptured (2 were recap- 

 tured twice), 14 were recaptured after more than 

 1 mo of freedom, and the remaining 9 were 

 recaptured within 1 mo. Although only 18 or 24% 

 of large lobsters (127-200 mm) were recaptured, 

 they represented 78% of all lobsters recovered 

 (Table 1). Four or 22% of large lobsters recap- 

 tured, all from Penobscot Bay, traveled 75 or 

 more nautical miles from the point of release to 

 the place of recovery (Table 2, Figure 1). In 

 addition, one V-notched female of 111 mm CL 

 tagged near Tom Rock, Sheepscot Bay, was re- 



Cope Porpoise 



0^ 



N,H. UCapeAnn^ ^^, 

 >* Gloucester 



X Race Point 



w Nouset Light 



• LOCATION OF RELEASE 

 X POINT OF RECOVERY 



'Harriman, D. M. 1952. Progress report on Monhegan 

 tagging — 1951-1952. Maine Dep. Sea Shore Fish., Augusta. 

 (Unpubl. Rep.) 



Figure 1. — Location of release and point of recovery of the 

 five major wandering lobsters. 



captured 7 mo later near Race Point Light off 

 Provincetown, Mass. 



The four from Penobscot Bay included a large 

 female tagged near Little Green Island and 

 recaptured near Timber Island, Cape Porpoise, 

 2 mo later; another large, sexually unidentified 

 lobster also tagged near Little Green Island in 

 April 1957 and recaptured near Gloucester, Mass., 

 14 mo later; and a 133-mm CL male tagged 12 

 September 1957, near Little Green Island and 

 recaptured 19 March 1959, near Cape Ann Light, 

 Mass. The longest migration was from Penobscot 

 Bay to Nauset Light, Mass., an estimated straight- 

 line distance of 138 nautical miles (250 km) made 

 in 13 mo by a lobster greater than 127 mm CL 

 and of unidentified sex. 



Of the five major wandering lobsters, four 

 exceeded the Maine maximum legal size of 127 

 mm, suggesting that large mature lobsters are 

 more prone to major migration than are smaller 

 lobsters. 



Before they were recaptured, 6% of the 68 

 Penobscot Bay tagged lobsters between 127 

 and 151 mm CL traveled between 75 and 138 

 nautical miles from the release area. This com- 

 pares with an average 7% recovery of all sizes 

 reported by Cooper and Uzmann (1971) of their 

 tagging from April 1968 to June 1969. 



One 79-mm CL female, the smallest lobster 

 recaptured, traveled less than 6 nautical miles 

 (10.9 km) in 9 mo. All other recaptures were 

 lobsters 90 mm or larger. One of these traveled 



622 



