FEMALES 



SO 75 50 75 50 75 50 75 50 75 



CARAPACE LENGTH (MM) 



50 75 50 75 



Figure 3. Size frequency distributions for male and female lobsters caught at all stations from 1979 through 1985. 



An important objective of this study was to gather information on as large a segment of the local 



2 

 lobster population as possible. Through the use of wire pots (2.5 cip mesh) we anticipated increased 



catch of smaller sized lobsters capable of escaping through the 3-5 cm gap between the laths of the 



commercial wood pots. A Kolmogorov-Smimov test on the size frequency distributions of lobsters caught 



in the two pot types indicated that wire pots caught significantly (p < 0.05) more of the size class smaller 



than 75 mm CL than did wood pots. These results are similar to those of Krouse (1973) who found that 



the CL of the catch from wire pots averaged between 67.9 and 70.5 mm. lie considered the modal size 



of his catch (70 mm CL) to be the size at which lobsters are less apt to escape the traps; using the same 



reasoning, lobsters in our study were vulnerable to the wire pots at 70 mm CL and to the wood pots at 



about 76 mm CL. Knowledge of lobsters in the 70-76 mm size class is important, since these individuals 



constitute a large proportion of the prerecruits (i.e., those individuals within one molt of legal size). Since 



the lobster population of the Millstone Point region is subjected to a high exploitation rate (Keser et al. 



1983), the size of the legal catch is largely determined by the abundance of the prerecruit size class the 



year before. The sensitivity of our sampling effort in defming year class strength was apparent in 1982. 



As stated in the previous section, during 1982, we observed a very strong prerecruit class (Fig. 3); when 



these individuals molted the following year, record landings were realized throughout LIS in 1983 and 



1984 (CT DEP Marine Fisheries Statistics). 



13 



