-
"Major damage in the trawl
fishery was less than 5% each month except for July and from
September through December...Major damage in the pot fishery
each month was always less than 5%."
-
"Minor damage in the
trawl fishery by month varied from 0 to 14%...Minor damage in
the pot fishery was always less than 2%."
-
"With two exceptions (out of
231 lobsters, or 0.6%), delayed mortality occurred only to
lobsters with major damage. Minor damage induced no
delayed mortality."
-
"Softshell lobsters in
the trawl fishery incurred as much as 70% death and major damage
in one trip but all softshell lobsters accounted for less than
3% of all lobsters observed....the observance of soft lobsters
was so rare that it rendered the rate of damage insignificant
(279 soft lobsters were observed out of over 12,000 - equal to
2.3% of the sampled catches)."
-
"Softshell lobsters in the pot
fishery incurred as high as 13% death and major damage in one
trip but softshell lobsters accounted for only 2% of all
lobsters observed."
-
"Special attention was paid to
eggbearing lobsters due to their great importance in reproducing
the stock. In both trawl and pot fisheries, major damage
to eggbearing lobsters was less than 4% in any one month.
The average observed throughout the 18-month period was less
than 3% in the trawl fishery and less than 1% in the pot
fishery. No dead eggbearing lobsters were observed of the
909 examined from the trawl fishery and 1,926 from the pot
fishery."
-
"The delayed mortality to
trawl-caught, undamaged lobsters held in seawater is extremely
low. Little mortality (less than 1%) was experienced by
undamaged lobsters held in seawater; lobsters with minor damage
suffered no mortality."
-
"A high degree of variability
in damage is possible between fishermen simply due to the care
they take in handling their catch."
-
"Our evaluation suggests that
the taking of lobsters by trawl should be restricted only during
periods of great vulnerability. During "intermolt periods"
in which the lobster is in hardshell condition and relatively
invulnerable to damage, the fishery is not deleterious to the
resource to any greater extent than is the pot fishery or other
non-fishery uses of the Sound."
