The American Lobster Management Board has released a draft plan responding to declining stocks of lobsters in Southern New England waters that will be considered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission at its annual meeting in late October.
The proposal presents a suite of management measures to increase egg production and lower harvesting mortality through a combination of management tools that include season closures, trap limits and reductions and changes in escape vent and lobster size regulations. The goal is to increase egg production for lobsters in Southern New England waters from zero to 60%.
The draft responds to the 2015 American lobster benchmark stock assessment that found the Southern New England "stock severely depleted and undergoing recruitment failure with poor prospects of recovery," according to Friday's statement from ASMFC.
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