1. 1 American Lobster, Homarus americanus 



The American lobster is distributed in waters of the 

 northwestern Atlantic from Labrador to Cape Hatteras. It is 

 fished commercially from inshore to depths of 380 fathoms (700 

 meters). Although lobsters are concentrated in rocky areas, 

 large numbers of marketable animals occur in the submarine 

 canyons of the continental shelf and constitute an important 

 offshore fishery. Inshore catches in 1987 were approximately 

 17,300 metric tons. Offshore trap catches averaged about 3,000 

 metric tons during 1983-1987, while trawl catches were 

 approximately 200-300 metric tons. Lobster behavior patterns are 

 important to the fishery, since larger animals are known to 

 exhibit migratory activity in spring, returning to deeper waters 

 in autumn. They have been found to travel as far as 300 km (186 

 miles) . 



Inshore landings of American lobster in the New York Bight 

 and adjacent waters increased during the period 1978-1987. 

 Combined inshore (0-3 mi.) (0-4.8 km) landings from Delaware to 

 Connecticut increased from an average of 1.21 million pounds (550 

 metric tons) during 1978-80 to 3.08 million pounds (1400 metric 

 tons) during 1985-87. Some of the increase may be attributable 

 to an increase in reported landings for Connecticut, which 

 increased markedly following a change in the reporting system 

 starting in 1983, but landings from neighboring states also 

 increased in that year. Lobster landings from offshore waters 

 (3-200 mi.) (4.8-320 km) for the states of Delaware to New York 

 (no offshore landings reported for Connecticut) , fluctuated 

 without apparent trend during 1983-87; landings during this 

 period averaged about one million pounds (455 metric tons) . 

 Landings for New York state alone for both inshore and offshore 

 fisheries increased slowly throughout the decade. New York 

 landings increased from 0.33 million pounds (150 metric tons) 

 during 1978-80 to an average of 0.95 million pounds (432 metric 

 tons) during 1985-87. Offshore landings have remained relatively 

 stable for New York state, averaging 0.38 million pounds (172 

 metric tons) . 



Preliminary information for 1988 from the major lobster 

 producing states indicates that landings have increased in Maine, 

 Massachusetts, and Connecticut by approximately 10% as compared 

 to 1987. Rhode Island landings declined somewhat, but this is 

 thought to result from Rhode Island vessels landing lobsters in 

 New York, where the 1988 landings are projected to be up by more 

 than 20%. 



It should be noted that both inshore and offshore fisheries 

 have experienced large-scale increases in numbers of traps fished 

 during the past decade. However, no effort increases have 

 occurred in the Canadian maritimes where trap limits and a 

 license moratorium are in place, yet the landings trend there has 

 similarly increased. At a meeting in Saugus, Massachusetts on 

 February 8, 1988, state fishery administrators and lobster 



