Although the State-Federal management committee for 
lobster agreed that a 3-1/2 inch minimum carapace length 
was necessary to achieve optimum management goals, it con- 
cluded that implementation was not feasible for at least 
several years. An increase in the minimum-size lobster 
which could be legally harvested would initially serve to 
reduce supplies, and the committee recognized that it would 
be extremely difficult to gain the support of industry and 
legislative officials for such action. Accordingly, the 
committee set a 3-3/16 inch interim goal for all States by 
January 1, 1976. This was not achieved. 
Existing minimum-size limitations as of July 1976, 
4 years after committee adoption of the plan, are shown 
below: 
Number of States Minimum carapace 
Size (inches) 
323) 
3=27/16 
SILAGE 
no regulation 
FPREWOoO 
The original committee proposal of 3-1/2 inch minimum 
carapace was based on research conducted in Maine waters. 
Several States questioned the applicability of this study 
to conditions in their States. However, additional research 
indicated that current fishing mortality rates are too high 
and current minimum sizes are too low in all areas. 
None of the States have adopted a plan to effectively 
control lobster fishing effort, but some actions have been 
taken. For example, since adoption of the lobster manage- 
ment plan, numerous bills to limit the number of licenses 
and amount of lobster gear have been submitted to the Maine 
State legislature, but none have been enacted. The legisla- 
ture did, however, impose a moratorium on issuance of ad- 
ditional lobster licenses between May 15, 1974, and December 
31, 1975. Passage of the moratorium was prompted by a chal- 
lenge to a Maine statute requiring State residency of 3 
years for license qualification. About 10,500 lobster 
licenses were issued before the May 15, 1974, deadline, a 
substantial increase over the 7,894 licenses issued for 
the 1973 season. 
Massachusetts issued about 1,280 commercial lobster 
licenses in 1974. In July 1975 Massachusetts enacted legis=- 
lation placing a moratorium on the number of inshore com- 
mercial lobster licenses. The limit was set at 1,300, with 
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