in a tank supplied with a continuous flow of seawater. On Fridays, lobsters caught that week were 

 examined and the following data recorded: sex, presence of eggs (berried), carapace length (CI.), crusher 

 claw position, missing claws and molt stage (Aiken 1973). Lobsters were then tagged with a serially 

 numbered international orange sphyrion tag (Scarratt and Elson 1965; Scarratt 1970), and released at the 

 site of capture. Recaptured tagged lobsters, severely injured or newly molted (soft) lobsters and those < 

 55 mm CL were not taken to the lab but returned to the water immediately after recording the above data. 



Sampling at the effluent station was discontinued in 1978, due to the difficulty in hauling and keeping 

 pots set properly in that area as strong currents and large boulders resulted in snagged trawls and lost 

 pots. From 1975 through 1978 sampling was conducted from January to December and from 1979 through 

 1985 during the months of highest catch: May through October. Starting in 1979, surface and bottom 

 water temperatures were recorded at each station. . 



To obtain more information on small lobsters, wire pots (2.5 cm ) were added to the sampling design 

 in August 1978. Half of the wood pots at each station were replaced with wire pots which were able to 

 keep many of the small lobsters that were able to escape between the lath spaces of wood pots. Quantifying 

 the abundance and population characteristics of these smaller individuals is important since they constitute 

 the majority of prerecruits whose abundance largely determines the size of the legal catch. To further 

 increase catch, all wood pots were replaced by wire pots in 1982 after completing a study (discussed under 

 "Results and Discussion") to compare the performance of the two pot types. 



In 1981, we began collecting additional data to determine the size at which females first become 

 sexually mature. The maximum outside width of the second abdominal segment of all females was 

 measured, to the nearest millimeter. Female size at sexual maturity was estimated by calculating the ratio 

 of the abdominal width to the carapace length and plotting that ratio against the carapace length (Skud 

 and Perkins 1969; Krouse 1973). 



beginning in 1982, pots were numbered individually to determine the variability in catch among pots. 

 This information would provide more accurate values for catch-per-pot than an average catch-per-pot 

 based on the 20 pots of each sampling location. In addition to recording the number of lobsters caught 

 in each pot, we began counting the number of other organisms caught in pots to examine the influence 

 of competing species on lobster catch. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) was adjusted by covariance analysis 



