THE LOBSTER FISHERY 



637 



Table 136. State Lobster Regulations.'^ 



Maine 



New 



Massa- Rliode Connect- 

 icut 



Hampshire chusetts Island 

 No No No Apr. 1- 



No 



New 

 York 



No 



New 



Jersey, 

 Delaware, 

 Maryland 

 No 



Length of season 



specified regulation regulation regulation Dec. 30 regulation regulation regulation 



Annual report to state re- 

 quired on number, 



weight, and value of 



lobsters caught and 



number of pots fished. 

 Require that buoys and /or 



pots be marked with 



name and /or license 



number. 

 I^egal size limit carapace 



measurement (Subject to 3-1/8 in. 3-1/8 in. 



changes). 



Yes 



Yes 



Yes 



Yes 



Yes 



Yes 



Yes 



Yes 



Yes 



No 



No 



Yes 



No 



No 



N. J.— 3-1/16 in. 

 3-1/8 in. 3-1/16 in. 3-1/16 in. 3-1/8 in. Del.— 3-1/8 in. 



Md.— 3 1/16 in. 

 No 



^ These regulations in effect spring of 1944; for latest regulations write to your state fishery authority. 

 Source: U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 



begin to seek the bottom and are better able to take care of themselves. Mead 

 (1909) found that to insure success the hatcheries must be located far enough 

 oflFshore to guarantee an undiminished supply of fresh sea water; he therefore 

 located the Rhode Island Commission of Inland Fisheries' experimental hatchery 

 on pontoons anchored a short distance from the shore at Wickford, R. I. This 

 hatchery is at present in operation. 



The method consisted essentially of confining the larval lobsters in cars, either 

 constructed of porous material or provided with screened openings, set into the 

 ocean itself, and of maintaining within the cars, by mechanical means, a continu- 

 ous gentle current having a rotary and upward trend. 



The lobsters are hatched by placing the old female lobsters carrying eggs about 

 ready to hatch in boxes in wells on the pontoons; the horizontally revolving paddles 

 contained in the wells are set in motion. As the eggs hatch one by one, the larvae 

 are carried upward and off the bottom by the current just as if they were in the 

 ocean. The lobsters which hatch each day are placed in a separate rearing com- 

 partment, likewise equipped with a horizontally revolving paddle. This is an im- 

 portant feature of the method as the young lobsters are cannibalistic; if those 

 hatched on several different days are placed in the same car, the older individ- 

 uals devour the younger ones when they moult. The larval lobsters are kept in 

 the rearing car in the slowly moving current until they have shed their skins 4 

 times and have reached the fourth state. The length of this larval period is de- 

 pendent upon many factors, the chief being the temperature of the sea water and 

 the food given the lobsters. 



In some cases the young lobsters are not planted until they reach the fifth 

 stage of their development. The degree of success attained by this method is de- 



