ABOUT LOBSTERS 63 



The obstacles in the taking of lobsters offshore by 

 this method may be summed up in one thought. The 

 trick is to get them home in good condition. 



Damage to gear is rather slight under normal cir- 

 cumstances because we work usually on smooth bottom. 

 A boat adequate for the work and fully equipped would 

 cost a minimum of forty thousand dollars. About ten 

 or eleven units start this type of fishing every year and 

 run into difficulties keeping the lobsters to get them 

 ashore. A lobster is a very complex live, perishable 

 commodity and fishermen with no experience in han- 

 dling them usually have many troubles. 



The future of offshore lobster work is potentially 

 large. It goes without saying that the United States 

 has to expand its fishery in every possible direction to 

 meet competition. It is my opinion that the lobster in- 

 dustry and its methods of production up to this point is 

 the most retarded segment of our coastal industries. 

 The lobster trap we are using today was designed in 

 about 1670. I simply felt there was no sense in waiting 

 another two hundred and ninety years and besides I 

 didn't have the time. 



Trawling is not wholly seasonal, and lobsters can 

 be taken in winter. Remember that in a dragging op- 

 eration we catch what is in the path of the drag, and in 

 trap fishing the lobster has the power of selection as to 

 whether or not he will enter the trap. Lobsters stay in 

 greater depths in winter, and they tend to drop off the 

 Continental Shelf into depths not convenient even for a 

 trawl. 



The weight per lobster is much greater than in pot 

 fishing and there are not many shorts. However, one 

 must take into consideration that lobsters travel by 

 sizes. In other words, large lobsters seem to stay by 

 themselves and so do the small ones. 



The troubles of learning were many. Keeping the 

 lobsters after we caught them was the biggest hurdle. 



