TABLE 10. Summary of tag and recapture studies from 1978 through 1987. 



NUSCo 



Commercial 



Year 



No. 

 tagged 



Mean CL 

 (mm) 



Returns 



No. % 



Mean CL 

 (mm) 



Returns 



No. % 



Mean CL 

 (mm) 



Tag returns from commercial lobstermen fishing 

 within 8 km around MNPS accounted for 94% 

 and 97% of all commercial returns during 1986 

 and 1987, respectively, which was similar to re- 

 turns during pre-operational studies (93%). Of 

 the 103 lobsters that were recaptured outside the 

 study area (>8 km) during 1986 and 1987, 98% 

 moved to the east. Several of these lobsters trav- 

 eled a great distance; 2 were recaptured off Point 

 Judith, and 1 off Watch Hill, RI, 1 tag was re- 

 turned from Buzzards Bay, and 1 from Nantucket 

 Shoals, MA. Based on tag returns from the deep 

 water canyons on the edge of the continental shelf 

 (Hudson Canyon, n = 2; Veatch Canyon n=l), 

 some of our lobsters moved offshore during the 

 1986-87 studies. Similar offshore movement pat- 

 terns were established in pre-operational studies 

 (NUSCO 1987a). Results from other tagging 

 studies in LIS indicated a similar easterly trend 

 in lobster movement (Lund and Rathbun 1973). 

 Other researchers working in waters off New Eng- 

 land and on the continental shelf deriionstrated 

 similar exchanges between the inshore and off- 

 shore populations (Saila and Flowers 1968; 

 Uzmann et al. 1977; Fogarty et al. 1980). Based 

 on our sampling efforts and commercial returns 



around MNPS, lobster movements in our study 

 area were typical of nearshore populations and 

 agreed with other tagging studies conducted in 

 coastal waters of eastern North America which 

 indicated localized lobster movement 

 (Templeman 1940; Wilder and Murray 1958; 

 Wilder 1963; Cooper 1970; Stewart 1972; Cooper 

 et al. 1975; Fogarty et al. 1980; Krouse 1980, 

 1981; Campbell 1982; Ennis 1984; Campbell and 

 Stasko 1985). 



Entrainment 



Lobster larvae were collected from mid-May to 

 early-July during 1986 and 1987. Stage I lobster 

 larvae predominated in samples collected in 1984, 

 1985, and 1987, and stage IV in 1986 (Table 11). 

 Seventy-seven percent of these larvae (Stage IV) 

 were collected in 4 night samples during the last 

 week of June 1986. More larvae were collected 

 in night than in day samples from 1984-1986. 

 However, during 1987 more larvae were caught 

 in day samples, when a single sample contained 

 52 Stage I larvae, representing 50% of all Stage 

 I larvae collected in 1987. Variability in both 

 numbers and stages of larvae collected in our 



Lobster Population Dynamics 



137 



