The Commercial Lobster Pot-Catch Fishery in the Plymouth Vicinity, Western Cape Cod Bay

Abstract

A catch sampling program, conducted with the aid of area lobstermen, was carried out to study the local population of the American lobster (Homarus americanus). From 1970–1976, we sampled 22,519 lobster pots and acquired data on 73,398 lobsters, producing the following conclusions: 1) there was no detectable thermal impact on the overall size composition of the lobster population; 2) there was some indication that small, mature female lobsters tended to aggregate in the proximity of the thermal discharge — an inference based on the larger numbers of small (≤ 82 mm CL) berried females caught there when the power plant was operational; 3) there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the estimated time of onset of molt between the preoperational and operational study periods or between the potentially stressed and non-impacted areas; and 4) the catch rate of legal lobsters did not differ significantly (P>0.05) in impacted and reference areas. However, the overall lobster catch and catch rate showed declining trends during the study term, paralleling population trends reported elsewhere for the Gulf of Maine and other areas.