Table 2. — Summary of larval lobster relative abundance, seasonal occurrence, and stage composition for New England Investigations during 1974-79. Data obtained from 



reports in this volume and personal communication with investigators. 









Period of 



Maximum 



Mean annual 



Temp. (°C) 



Temp. (°Q 



Si 



:age composition 







Year 



Total no. 

 larvae 



peak 

 abundance 



density 

 (no. /1,000m') 



density 

 (no. /1,000m 1 ) 



at 1st 

 occurrence 



at peak 

 occurrence 





(percent) 







Area 



I 



11 



111 



IV 



Source 



Maine 



























Penobscot Bay 



1976 



58 



late June 



2.9 



0.2 



'10.5 



'13.5 



89.7 



1.7 



0.0 



8.6 



Greenstein et 

 al. (1983) 



New Hampshire 



























Hampton-Seabrook 



1978 



169 



late Aug 



53.8 



4.3 



'13.9 



'13.3 



12.5 



0.0 



1.1 



86.4 



Grabe et al. 





1979 



120 



late July 



38.3 



3.4 



l 7.9 



'9.6 



70.8 



2.5 



1.7 



25.0 



(1983) 



Massachusetts 



























Cape Cod Bay 



























(Plymouth Area) 



! 1974 



25 



early Aug. 



















4.0 



0.0 



0.0 



96.0 



Lawton et al. 





1975 



177 



early July 



19.8 



2.0 



12.7 



'14.1 



59.9 



23.7 



8.1 



8.3 



(1983) 





1976 



871 



late July 



34.9 



4.4 



9.5 



'16.0 



25.5 



19.7 



29.6 



25.2 







1977 



206 



late July 



11.2 



1.3 



11.5 



'8.5 



55.2 



16.9 



5.3 



22.6 





Cape Cod Bay 



1974 



608 



July 



7.3 



1.6 



'16.1 



'20.8 



21.0 



19.0 



25.0 



35.0 



Matthiessen 





1975 



931 



June 



40.5 



2.0 



'9.0 



'14.7 



56.0 



23.0 



12.0 



8.0 



and Scherer 





1976 



3,279 



June 



21.6 



2.7 



'10.5 



"15.1 



52.0 



20.0 



16.0 



12.0 



(1983) 



Cape Cod Bay 



























(Sandwich Area) 



1976 



47 



late June 



3.7 



1.3 



10.3 



'13.0 



68.1 



2.1 



6.4 



23.4 



Collings et 





1977 



672 



late June 



153.5 



7.9 



Ml. 5 



'17.5 



81.0 



4.5 



3.4 



11.2 



al. (1983) 





1978 



115 



early July- 



8.6 



1.7 



'13. 5 



'12.5 



52.2 



5.2 



9.6 



33.0 





Cape Cod Canal 



1976 



1,428 



June 



174.8 



15.8 



'12.5 



'18.5 



34.9 



21.6 



33.4 



10.2 







1977 



654 



June-July 



47.6 



7.4 



'14.5 



'14.5 



47.4 



13.6 



9.2 



29.8 







1978 



430 



June 



45.1 



3.7 



'12.5 



'16.0 



48.1 



10.2 



16.0 



25.6 





Upper Buzzards 



























Bay 



1976 



687 



mid-June 



79.0 



8.6 



'13.9 



'16.5 



56.6 



16.0 



17.9 



9.5 







1977 



4,035 



mid-June 



266.2 



15.9 



'17.0 



'20.0 



28.8 



22.0 



25.8 



23.4 







1978 



1,563 



mid-June 



91.8 



10.1 



'14.5 



'19.5 



36.8 



15.2 



14.9 



33.1 





Lower Buzzards 



























Bay 



1976 



1,284 



late June 



35.0 



10.1 



'13.0 



'18.0 



33.7 



37.7 



22.6 



6.0 



Lux et al. 





1977 



3,461 



late June 



68.7 



18.8 



'11.0 



'17.0 



20.4 



30.8 



21.9 



26.9 



(1983) 





1978 



1,631 



late June 



42.4 



9.6 



11.0 



'17.0 



5.5 



6.3 



14.9 



73.3 







1979 



10,303 



late June 



449.7 



43.7 



'15.0 



'19.0 



23.4 



25.6 



38.5 



12.5 





Rhode Island 



























Block Island 



























Sound 



1977 



1,661 



mid-June 



J 31.2 



'9.0 



13.3 



14.0-16.6 



59.0 



24.0 



13.0 



4.0 



Bibb et al. 





1978 



761 



early July 



'19.1 



4 4.5 



'13.6 



'12.8-14.8 



23.0 



14.0 



11.0 



52.0 



(1983a) 





M979 



1,335 



early June 



18.7 







'12.6 

















Block Island 



























Sound 



1978 



1.030 



late June 



33.3 



10.8 



'13. 



'14.0-17.0 



12.3 



14.1 



10.9 



62.6 



Fogarty et al. 

 (1983) 



' Bottom temperature ( °C). 



'Preliminary sampling program. 



'Surface temperature ( °C). 



'Tucker trawl estimates multipled by a factor of 4 to approximate neuston net catches. 



'Sampling terminated in June. 



southern New England, but offshore in Cape Cod Bay, and 

 offshore or alongshore in northern New England. Advection 

 of lobster larvae in wind induced surface currents has been 

 hypothesized as a passive transport mechanism (see review by 

 Fogarty 1983) and dispersal of larvae during periods of off- 

 shore winds may result in reduced surface density. Increased 

 catch rates during onshore winds were noted in several studies, 

 lending support to the inference that lobster larvae are trans- 

 ported by surface water circulation. Grabe et al. (1983) re- 

 ported that 67% of stage IV larvae were collected off New 

 Hampshire when winds were on or alongshore. Similarly, 



Collings et al. (1983) collected 85% of larvae obtained in 

 Buzzards Bay when winds were from the southwest while 

 only 39% of the larvae collected in Cape Cod Bay were ob- 

 tained during southwest winds. Lawton et al. (1983) noted 

 that 82% of the larvae in their collections were observed when 

 winds were onshore, however, most sampling (73%) was 

 conducted when winds were onshore. In Block Island Sound, 

 most sampling dates during the period of peak occurrence of 

 larvae corresponded to periods of onshore winds and no 

 significant wind direction effect could be demonstrated 

 (Fogarty et al. 1983). 



11 



