determinations from the berried female mea- 

 surements. I decided from this that the measure- 

 ments on berried females do serve as an indi- 

 cator of the size at maturity. 



Implications for management. — On 

 the basis of the preceding information and the 

 length frequency section of this paper, we 

 speculated that the population has been at a 

 precarious limit to ensure an adequate parent- 

 progeny relationship or derivatives thereof along 

 the coast of Maine. 



It could be argued that the program of berried 

 female releases is an attempt to ensure an 

 adequate relationship. Considering the possi- 

 bilities of (1) a high mortality of the resultant 

 larvae from females and (2) the relatively few 

 females that reach a size to extrude eggs, let 

 alone to the protected size of 127-mm (5 inches) 

 carapace length in this commercial fishery, 

 we could only conclude that the parent-progeny 

 relationship should be given more consideration 

 in order to ensure an adequate number of 

 recruits to the commercial fishery. 



There have been examples of parent-progeny 

 relationships or derivatives thereof being den- 

 sity dependent (Ricker, 1958). Other limiting 

 factors could be predation, environmental vari- 

 ables, and amount of food available to the larvae. 

 Assimilating the information on the present 

 condition of the commercial fishery for lobsters, 

 I cannot accept the possibility that this popu- 

 lation is limited by these conditions. 



Fecundity 



Taylor (1947), using the gravimetric method, 

 estimated the number of extruded eggs for 

 each of 10 berried females. The number of 

 eggs appear to be dependent on the size of 

 the female; for example, a female of approxi- 

 mately 83-mm (3-V4 inches) carapace length 

 has an estimated 9,835 eggs while a female 

 of approximately 121-mm (4-% inches) cara- 

 pace length has an estimated 38,047 eggs. 



The above data are so limited in the number 

 of observations that I will not include the cal- 

 culated regression equation. However, Perkins 

 (1971) did calculate curvilinear regressions for 

 196 berried females from several offshore areas. 

 His calculated number of eggs compare favor- 

 ably with those of Taylor (1947). 



Consideration of the Maximum 

 Size Limit 



In the light of the foregoing considerations, 

 this might be an opportune time to discuss 

 the maximum size limit in Maine. The original 

 intent of this regulation was to protect larger 

 females because they carry a greater number 

 of eggs. 



The length frequencies from the commercial 

 catch demonstrate that most females are caught 

 not only before they reach this maximum size, 

 but even before they reach a size to extrude 

 eggs. Therefore, an alternative to the present 

 minimum and maximum regulations would be 

 to raise the minimum size and remove the 

 maximum size limit. In this way, we can expect 

 a greater number of the first mature females 

 to produce more eggs than the relatively few 

 larger mature females that make it through 

 the commercial fishery to the protected size 

 at 127-mm (5 inches) carapace length, even 

 though any sized berried or "v" notched female 

 cannot be legally taken. Dow (1955) made a 

 similar recommendation in regard to the maxi- 

 mum size limit. 



Of course it is not good management to 

 increase or eliminate a size limit on the basis 

 of maturity and fecundity alone; such things 

 as age and growth, natural mortality, and fishing 

 mortality must be considered. The section on 

 yield will discuss these requirements; therefore, 

 the recommendations for the minimum size 

 are delayed until the yield section. 



PROBABILITY SAMPLING PLAN 



To survey the commercial fishery by proba- 

 bility sampling, we developed a multistage 

 sampling plan with stratification. Because of 

 manpower and monetary limitations, it was 

 necessary to set up the sampling plan in the 

 following manner: 



(1) List the days within a year or time period 

 as the primary sampling unit. 



(2) Due to the regulation of no Sunday fishing 

 during June, July, and August and the 

 limited fishing activity during this day 

 in other months of the year, stratify this 

 day from the others, when applicable, 

 by proportional allocation. 



