422 BULLETIN OF TflE UNITED STATES FlSH COMMISSION. 



members of this association, and it is for that purpose that the following 

 brief notes have been prepared : 



Concerning the distribution of lobsters, it may be stated that a few 

 stray individuals have been occasionally recorded from the extreme 

 northeastern corner of Virginia, but the Delaware Breakwater may more 

 properly be regarded as the southern limit of their range. On the ISTew 

 Jersey coast they are somewhat more abundant, and give rise to a lim- 

 ited fishery in the neighborhood of Atlantic City and Long Branch, 

 Though formerly quite plentiful and extensively fished for in New York 

 Bay and Hell Gate, they are now nearly exterminated from that region, 

 due to overfishing combined with the pollution of the waters by the 

 refuse from large factories. Along the Connecticut shores they are 

 moderately common, while at the eastern end of Long Island and in the 

 region of Block Island, the outer Elizabeth Islands, and Martha's Vine- 

 yard they afford a very profitable industry. 



The entire coast line of Massachusetts abounds in lobsters wherever 

 the character of the bottom is suited to them ; but overfishing has nearly 

 depleted some of the shallow-water areas which were once prolific, as at 

 Provincetown. The sandy shores of New Hamiishire furnish only a 

 moderate supply, but on the Maine coast the^* are much more abundant 

 than anywhere to the southward, and the yearly fishery greatly exceeds 

 in quantity and value those of all the other States combined. This 

 State is, in fact, the main source of supply for all the principal markets 

 of the United States. Contrary to the belief of many persons, the lob- 

 ster is not a migratory animal in the common acceptation of that term 

 as applied to fishes. On the approach of cold weather it leaves the 

 shallow areas near shore and retreats into somewhat deeper water, 

 where the temperature remains milder and more uniform during the 

 winter. As the spring advances it returns to its summer haunts. These 

 spring and fall migrations vary as to time and extent on different por- 

 tions of the coast, occurring earlier in the spring and later in the fall at 

 the south than at the north. During the summer they often approach 

 very close to the beaches, and in some favorable localities, especially on 

 the coast of Maine, the traps set for their capture become partially un- 

 covered at low water. The more usual depths for the summer fishery 

 are, however, those of a few fathoms. The winter grounds are in depths 

 of twenty to fifty or sixty fathoms, and generally not far from those of 

 the summer, especially in regions w'here the water deepens rapidly. 



In so far as it has been possible to make the observations, it is sup- 

 posed that the different schools of lobsters, if we can so define them,rii- 

 turn to about the same shallow places every spring, and do not journey 

 northward or southward along the coast to any very great extent, al- 

 though there may be a gradual interchange of ground in the course of 

 time. If this supposition be correct, as appears most natural, and there 

 are many facts to substantiate it, each geographical region is more or 

 less independent of all others, and not influenced by large and frequent 



