vironmental conditions provided that he preserves the 

 quality of the coastal zone. 



American Lobster 



In the 1880s the southern limit of the North Atlantic 

 lobster fishery, according to Earll (1887) was at Squan 

 River (probably the Manasquan), just north of Barnegat 

 Bay. A few lobster were caught in Long Island Sound, 

 but lobster landings at the eastern end of Long Island ap- 

 parently came from Marthas Vineyard (Mather 1887). At 

 one time lobster was taken in New York harbor, but by 

 1880 the catch had dropped to zero. 



As in New York, the trend in American lobster, 

 Homarus americanus Edwards, landings in New Jersey 

 has been upward since the early 1950s (Fig. 38). At first, 

 most of the increase was caused by conversion of fish 

 trawlers to lobster trawling, as the existence of a sub- 

 stantial resource on the continental shelf became com- 

 monly known. From 1957 to 1961 about 90'^c of lobster 

 landings in New Jersey were taken by trawlers operating 

 between Hudson and Veatch canyons on the continental 

 shelf (LoVerde 1963). By 1964 (LoVerde 1965) about 35 

 trawlers were taking lobster specifically. Landings 

 dropped from 1962 to 1967 and many fishermen con- 

 cluded, from the scarcity of lobster on these grounds and 

 a substantial decline of lobster size, that the resource had 

 been overharvested. From this evidence alone, that con- 

 clusion was not necessarily warranted. The subsequent 

 rise in catches to even higher levels (Fig. 38) came about 

 through another change in harvesting strategy, this 

 time a switch from sea bass to lobster by pot fishermen. 

 It is possible, although by no means conclusive, that 

 the decline in size of lobster might have been caused by 

 an unusually successful year class or classes at this time. 



These changes in fishing strategy are typical of coastal 

 fisheries, illustrated particularly well by the interac- 

 tions between lobster fishing and other kinds of fishing. 

 The sequence was, first of all, a shift from fish to lobster 

 by trawlers, then a shift by trawlers back to finfishing, 

 especially for summer flounder when lobster catches 

 dropped (LoVerde 1967), and finally another set of shifts 

 in the pot fisheries, from sea bass to lobster. Thus, trends 

 in the catches of all these species are interrelated and not 

 independent phenomena. These changes are related to 



9r 



8 - 



prices and costs of operation, as well as to relative abun- 

 dance of the various species. By 1971, about 40% of New 

 Jersey lobster landings were taken in pots, and the sea 

 bass pot fishery had declined almost to nothing (LoVerde 

 1972). 



It is reasonably well established that a part of the in- 

 crease in lobster landings in the New York Bight area 

 and farther south was caused by a real increase in abun- 

 dance. It has been suggested that this increase was as- 

 sociated with falling water temperatures, which caused 

 the species to shift its geographic range. Table 43 illus- 

 trates not only that New York landings have been fol- 

 lowing an upward trend since the early 1960s, but also 

 that they have been rising more rapidly than in the north 

 Atlantic region as a whole. Similarly, New Jersey land- 

 ings of American lobster have been rising, but landings 

 to the south of New Jersey have been rising more rapidly. 

 In the 5-yr period, 1961-65, landings in New York made 

 up less than 2% of the entire north Atlantic region catch, 

 in the period 1966-70 nearly 4%. In the same two periods 

 New Jersey landings rose also, but in the first period this 

 was about 97% of total landings in the middle Atlantic 

 region, in the second period only 87%. In the last several 

 years, however, landings in New Jersey and New York 

 have been dropping. Local lobstermen believe not only 

 that the resource is less abundant, but also that the 

 fishery has been overcapitalized. 



Taylor et al. (1957) postulated a relationship between 

 catches or availability of lobster along the Atlantic coast 

 and water temperatures. In a period of rising air tem- 

 peratures (presumably correlated with ocean tem- 

 peratures) from about 1920 to 1950 they found that lob- 



Table 43 .--Estimated commercial catches of American lobster in the 

 north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States coast 

 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons. 



Figure 38.- 



- Annual commercial landings of American lobster in New 

 Jersey 1880-1975. 



The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 

 did not include recreational catches of invertebrates. 



Public Law 93-242, enacted in January 1974, declared American 



lobster a creature of the continental shelf. Thereafter, it 



became illegal for fishermen of other nations to catch lobster 



off U.S. coasts. Foreign catches for 1975 (Canadian) are provisional. 



Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings 

 in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years. 



41 



