APPENDIX III APPENDIX III 
TABLE 5 
Number of American Lobster 
Boats, Vessels, and Pots 
Trawl Total vessels, 
Pot fishery fishery boats in trawl Pots 
Year Boats Vessels Vessels and pot fisheries (000 omitted) 
1964 6,965 63 7S) 7,103 904 
1965 ti nrasy 69 88 7,409 949 
1966 6,858 56 87 7,001 947 
1967 6,720 58 135 6,913 908 
1968 ged 78 150 7,225 966 
1969 7,649 79 140 7,868 1,062 
1970 8,658 98 138 8,894 1,455 
1971 8,735 141 119 8,995 1,565 
1972 9,276 172 81 9,529 1,792 
1973 10,141 168 64 10,373 2,165 
1974 (note a) N/A N/A N/A 10,278 2,459 
2/preliminary data. 
The spiny lobster fishery is primarily a trap fishery. 
The traps, usually made of wood slats, account for over 90 
percent of the catch landed in Gulf of Mexico States. Inshore 
craft are small ranging 20 to 35 feet long, and trips are 
made on a daily basis with catches landed alive. Distant 
water vessels range from about 45 to 70 feet, make extended 
trips, and generally land only lobster tails. Between 1964 
and 1974, as shown in table 6, the total number of boats and 
vessels in the Florida fishery almost doubled. 
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