stocked with 3 or 8 crabs ( Cancer Irroratus , Cancer borcalis ) had no affect 

 on the catch of lobsters. However, their study did not investigate the 

 effects of spider crabs (Libinia spp.) on lobster catch. Spider crabs were 

 the dominant crab species caught at IN and in some cases as many as 25 were 

 found in a trap, completely clogging both entry funnels. We will continue 

 to monitor the relative abundance of possible competing species in the 

 future to provide the least biased values for lobster catch. 



Population Characteristics 



Size Frequencies 



The yearly size distribution of male and female lobsters caught from 

 1979 to 1983 is presented in Figure A. Percent legal catch, mean carapace 

 lengths, sex ratios, percent of berried females, and size frequency 

 distributions for the 1983 catch are presented for each station in Figure 

 5. The percentage of legal-sized lobsters in 1983 (10.1%) was greater than 

 the percent legal caught in any previous year for wire pots (range 

 7.2-9.6%), reflecting a strong prerecruit size class in 1982. The Twotree 

 catch continued to have the highest percent of legal-sized lobsters 

 (13.0%), compared to JC (9.0%) or IN (7.5%). The percentage of legal-sized 

 individuals in our catch was lower than that reported by other studies in 

 LIS (Smith 1977; Briggs and Mushackc 1979) and in Block Island Sound 

 (Marcello et al. 1979). The mean CL of lobsters caught in 1983 was 71.7 mm 

 and was very similar to previous values for mean CL since wire pots were 

 first used (range 70.8-71.5 mm). 



Sex Ratios 



During 1983, the sex ratio of males to females was 1.0:0.87 (53.5% 

 males; 46.5% females) (Fig. 4). Females were less abundant at the shallow 

 inshore stations (IN 1.0:0,67, JC 1.0:0.72), than at the deeper offshore 

 station TT (1.0:1.25) (Fig. 5), a trend consistent since 1975 (Keser et al. 

 1983) . Variability in the sex ratios of lobsters is often associated with 

 the size composition of the catch, which is affected by sampling methods 

 and depth of water (Ennis 1980). In northern and offshore waters, ratios 



