ABOUT LOBSTERS 13 



Lobstermen believe that in winter it takes hours * * 

 for a lobster to sluggishly drag himself even a few feet 

 to seek his food. Hence, the hauling of a pot daily in 

 cold winter— even if the weather permitted— with the 

 consequent scaring of a lobster which has started to 

 crawl to the pot, does not bring good results. 



Even in summer, some excellent lobstermen prefer 

 a two-day set if they want to catch big ones. Their 

 theory is that large lobsters are always sluggish and 

 take hours to crawl to a pot. Thus it would seem that 

 the best fishing would be through having twice as 

 many pots as can be hauled in one day but only haul 

 half of them each day. 



If lobster migrations along the coast at any season were 

 of considerable amount, it is evident that regions once de- 

 pleted—as Provincetown— would be restocked by accessions 

 from neighboring parts. Apparently this does not occur, 

 and it seems as though each section of the coast is inhabited 

 by a colony which tends to stay on its home grounds, so that 

 if its numbers be once seriously depleted, its recovery will 

 be slow. 



A scientific study of lobster migration by Dr. D. G. 

 Wilder of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada is re- 

 ported in detail in Maine Coast Fisherman of June 1957. 

 It says in part: 



Knowledge of lobster movements is so basic to 

 sound management that the subject has received a 

 great deal of attention in Canada, the United States 

 and northern Europe. 



In Canada, lobster tagging has been carried on for 

 over twenty-five years. Only lobsters in good condi- 

 tion were tagged, and the size and sex of each was 

 recorded. The lobsters were liberated up to ten miles 

 offshore at many different points around the coast. 



Over 100,000 lobsters have been tagged and over 

 half of these have been recaptured by fishermen. Of 

 one particular lot of 25,025, 16,696 were recaptured. 



