WEST BOOTHBAY HARBOR, Maine — Marine scientists and lobster harvesters in Maine's largest fishery say some fishermen may be abandoning a key conservation method practiced for nearly 100 years at a time of growing fears that a run of record hauls is coming to an end.
The mandatory practice, called v-notching, requires lobstermen to mark the tail of any egg-bearing lobster they catch and let it go. The notch lasts two to three years and alerts other lobstermen that that lobster is off-limits.
State officials say about 66 percent of egg-bearing females surveyed in 2013 were v-notched, down from nearly 80 percent in 2008.
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