Records from the National Marine Fisheries Service suggest that damage to lobsters from fishing gear in the offshore trawl fishery is negligible.

From January 2004 through September 2006, government fishery observers recorded discards of lobsters for over 22,000 fishing tows conducted by offshore trawlers.  These tows were conducted in offshore waters approximately equivalent to Lobster Management Area 3.

Nearly 70% of lobster discards were because they carried eggs or were V-notched.  Other regulatory prohibitions accounted for another 18% of the discards.

Just one percent - a total of 3,000 pounds harvested in over two and a half years - were discarded because of damage from trawl gear.  

View the raw observer data

View the areas surveyed