NOAA PROFESSIONAL PAPER 11 



lobsters can detect decreasing D.O. levels and areas of 

 greater D.O. concentration. 



Off southern New England and the middle Atlantic 

 States the offshore lobster population has an inshore-off- 

 shore migration pattern (Uzmann et al. 1977). The on- 

 shore migration is from March to August; the offshore 

 migration is from October to December. Uzmann et al. 

 (1977) estimated that at least 20 percent of the offshore 

 population annually migrates. This migration significantly 

 affects the inshore lobster fishery. It is reasonable to hy- 

 pothesize that the anoxic water mass blocked the 1976 

 shoreward migration, because lobsters could probably 

 detect the decreased oxygen level and are capable of trav- 

 eling up to 9.3 km/d on a sustained basis (Uzmann et al. 

 1977). 



Lobster landings by otter trawl were also down in the 

 Ocean County area, but cannot be attributed solely to the 

 oxygen-depleted waters. For one, the otter trawl catch 

 was down before the reported fishkills. and second, most 

 lobster trawlers are able to fish far enough offshore to 

 avoid the oxygen-depleted regions. 



The offshore pot catch landed in Ocean County was up 

 in August and September, owing primarily to inshore fish- 

 ermen moving offshore if they had vessels and equipment 

 to do so. 



The lobster landings at the southern end of New Jersey 

 (Cape May County) did not seem to be affected and were 

 up slightly in 1976. Since the southernmost end of New 

 Jersey was not affected by the anoxic water conditions, 

 this area may be loosely compared with the rest of the 

 State. With this in mind, it seems evident that the de- 

 creased landings to the north can be attributed to the 

 change in water conditions rather than to natural fluctua- 

 tion in the lobster population. 



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