112 ABOUT LOBSTERS 



inated scum would merely be washed into the harbor and 

 could possibly spread the disease. 



The bacteria of Red Tail is also present in bait barrels. 

 This suggests that bait barrels should be chlorinated and 

 well flushed out after each use. 



Overcrowding. The capacity of a pound may not be 

 the same from one year to the next. You cannot say that 

 because you successfully stocked 40,000 pounds of lobster 

 last year you can do it again this year. Variations in water 

 temperature and in cleanliness of the pound determine its 

 capacity. Most operators would have less mortality if they 

 would use the available information on capacity as gov- 

 erned by sanitation. 



Weak lobsters. An important factor is the vigorousness 

 of the lobsters to be pounded. A pound located where lob- 

 sters can be bought directly from the fishermen usually fares 

 better than if the lobsters have to be brought in by truck. 

 In trucking, the lobsters are always crowded in crates and 

 usually exposed to high temperatures. 3 



Salinity and temperature of water. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service states: 



Except as it affects the lobsters' tolerance to high 

 water temperatures and dissolved oxygen depletion, 

 salinity does not seem to be a major problem in most 

 pounds. The volume of fresh water required to reduce 

 the salinity of the lobster pound to the danger point is 

 more than is usually available. Occasionally, however, 

 enough fresh water will flow over the top of a pound, 

 sweeping away the higher layers of sea water, so that 

 there is insufficient oxygen in the residual layer of sea 

 water to support the lobsters. In this case, mortality is 

 directly due to smothering. Specific gravity affords a 

 ready means for making an approximate estimate of 

 salinity ( as the hydrometer used by auto service stations 

 to test the specific gravity of storage battery solutions ) . 



3 See Acclimatization, page 



