Rhode Island Sea Grant
The University of Rhode Island
URI Fisheries Center
Traditional fisheries management often uses a minimum fish length as a way to protect species from overfishing. The length set is usually based on size at maturity – allowing fish to reproduce at least once or twice before it becomes legal size. To eliminate the catch of undersized fish, fishermen can use different mesh sizes to control the size of the fish caught. This is particularly true of …
by Ken La Valley
Fishery Extension Specialist
NH Sea Grant
Durham, NH 03824
ORONO, ME – American lobster is one of the most valuable commercial fisheries along the Atlantic coast. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, lobster landings increased from 62 million pounds in 1990 to over 92 million pounds in 2006.
The industry relies heavily on fish for bait. In fact, the Lobster Institute estimates that, between the US and Canada, lobstermen use somewhere between 700 million pounds …
