,ASS, fc/* J"^ ' ' ' ■y'>'^/ "-/ If. r RECEIVED i-.ui/fi 1989 DOCUMENTS nOLLECTiON MASSACHUSETTS DIVISION OF MARINE FISHERIES 1988 MASSACHUSETTS LOBSTER FISHERY STATISTICS by Thomas B. Hoopes Assistant Marine Fisheries Biologist Statistics and Data Processing Cat Cove Marine Laboratory Division of Marine Fisheries Technical Series 23 A contribution of Commercial Fisheries Research and Development (P.L. 88-309) Project 3-416-D The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs John P. DeVillars, Secretary Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Environmental Law Enforcement Walter E. Bickford, Commissioner Division of Marine Fisheries Philip G. Coates, Director PUBLICATION: # 16015-19-210-7-89-C.R. Approved by State Purchasing Agent INTRODUCTION The commercial lobster fishery of Massachusetts is, economically, the most important fishery conducted within the territorial waters of the Commonwealth. The overall economic importance of the fishery both in New England and, in recent years, the Mid-Atlantic states, has focused the attention of Federal, Regional and State fishery managers on this species. Initially, in an attempt to standardize management of the fishery, the Federal and State Governments developed an overall lobster fishery management plan under the auspices of the State-Federal Partnership Program. However, with the passage of the Fisheries Management and Conservation Act, the New England Fisheries Management Council, in cooperation with the Mid-Atlantic Council, has developed and implemented a management plan for the entire east coast lobster fishery. The basis and success of any such plan is an accurate statistical data base. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with joint funding from the National Marine Fisheries Service, has been collecting annual reports from licensed lobster fishermen for many years. Historically, the data collected was used primarily for descriptive and informational purposes, and occasionally for management. However, with the recent emphasis on Federal management, these data take on added importance in terms of providing the respective management agencies with adequate information to insure that the interests of Massachusetts' lobstermen are protected. During the period 1975 - 1980, the number of coastal commercial lobster permits was limited, by law, to 1300, with an additional ten percent issued to proven hardship cases. In 1981, a statutory change provided for the establishment of a permanent waiting list from which 100 new permits were issued. In addition, 30 special additional permits were awarded to full time commercial fishermen who met certain criteria. In subsequent years 80 list permits and 20 special additional permits have been issued until 1988, when the issuance of new coastal permits was suspended. Permits which are not renewed are retired. This report is the twenty - second annual publication of data summarized from catch reports submitted by licensed lobster fishermen. Data were presented in a standardized format through 1979. In 1980, presentation was changed to reflect a more thorough collection and evaluation of the submitted information. This publication represents the third year in which data processing and evaluation were completely computerized. It perpetuates the existing time series, and expands upon areas not addressed in previous years. All data elements presented in previous reports are presented here, although they may not be in the same tabular format. This report does not, however, cover the scope of the Project's existing database and computational capability. Requests for expanded information, or questions concerning this publication, should be made to the Division's Statistics Project in Salem, MA: (508) 745-3113. This report has been prepared by personnel from the Division of Marine Fisheries Statistics and Data Processing Project, funded jointly by the Commonwealth and the National Marine Fisheries Service under the Commercial Fisheries Research and Development Act (Public Law 88-309). The preparation of this report would not have been possible without the cooperation of licensed lobstermen who provided the information on their annual reports. Special thanks go to Ann Spires for her virtually error-free data entry and to Gerald Nash for his help in mainframe computing where the information is stored. Thanks also go to Charles Anderson for his continual help with system development, upgrades and suggestions concerning this publication. SOURCE OF DATA No person may fish for or take lobster in coastal waters or land lobster in the Commonwealth without a permit issued by the Director of the Division of Marine Fisheries (Chapter 130, Mass. G.L., Section 38). Chapter 130, Mass. G.L., Section 33, requires any person so licensed to file an annual report of their catch by January 31 for the preceding calendar year. In 1980, a dual reporting system was established. Commercial lobstermen (coastal, offshore and seasonal(student)) received a detailed catch report form with their license renewal application. This report requests the following information: method of fishing; number and type of gear used; effort data (set-over days, number of trips per month, etc.); pounds of lobster taken; areas fished; principal ports of landing; and information relative to the vessels and traps used in the fishery. Recreational fishermen are asked to report on their license renewal application form the number of lobsters taken during the previous year and the maximum number of traps fished. However, due to the fact that recreational licenses are not processed completely at the time of publication, an addendum will be published at a later date. Each year 150 Coastal Lobstermen are selected and audited for the records used to complete the catch portion of their catch report. The Division does this to assess the amount of error involved in the reporting process. Selection is done randomly except when fishermen fail an audit. In these cases, they are audited again the following year. The audit was first instituted in 1977 for the 1976 catch reports. Over the last five years the lobstermen selected for audit reported landing 5,200,543 pounds. The audit of their records revealed a harvest of 5,154,042 pounds or a difference of 0.90%. Project personnel sort, edit, tabulate and interpret data from all reports received. Data presented in this publication are based on catch reports actually received as of May 16, 1989, and are not expanded to represent all of the permits issued in 1988. EXPLANATION OF TABLES All data presented in this publication are broken down into two basic categories: the first is "inshore" which represents data pertaining to all lobster activity taking place within 69 degrees West Longitude and 41 degrees North Latitude (Areas 1-12 on Figure 2); the "offshore" category refers to all data outside those coordinates (Area 13 on Figure 2). This is not to be confused with the offshore license category which allows fishermen to harvest lobster outside the territorial waters line (approximately 3 miles from shore) only, a line that falls within the inshore category. Below is a brief definition of each license type: Coastal Commercial: Allows the holder to harvest lobster anywhere, most importantly inside territorial waters. Offshore Commercial: Allows the holder to harvest lobster outside territorial waters only. Seasonal Commercial: Allows the holder, if he or she is a student to harvest lobster anywhere, but with a maximum of 25 traps and only during the months June - September. Non-commercial: Allows the holder to harvest lobster anywhere but with a maximum of only 10 traps (if fishing traps) and cannot sell catch. Tables presenting number of fishermen, number of pots fished, number and value of boats used in the fishery and total landings statewide, by county and license type, and for each city and town were prepared using the catch reports submitted by commercial fishermen. In keeping with Division policy, some of the data are masked or combined to protect the confidentiality of the individual submitting the report. Data referring to the number of fishermen, number and value of gear, and number and value of boats are presented by the home port of the licensee filing the report. Pounds of lobster harvested are presented by the port of landing reported by the fishermen. In years past the category "did not catch lobster", as presented in Tables 1 and 2, was termed "did not fish". This presented a problem with certain fishermen who did not actually direct their efforts or "fish" for lobster, but caught them incidentally. They would complete their reports claiming they didn't fish for lobster when they did in fact catch them. The 1988 catch report was worded differently. It asked whether lobster was caught or not. It was felt that although this might disrupt the data time series in the "offshore" license category, it was more important to know what was actually being caught. Vessel and SCUBA gear values were calculated on the basis of the fishermen's estimate of its present value and the percentage of its use specifically for lobstering. Average values were used when the information was omitted from an individual report. The legal size of a lobster was increased in 1988 to 3 7/32 inches from 3 3/i6 in 1987, the only increase in 28 years. When fishermen reported the number of lobsters taken, rather than poundage, a conversion factor of 1.24 pounds per lobster was used to calculate poundage figures. This figure is based on information collected by the Division's Commercial Lobster Investigations Project. For information on biological (average carapace length, sex ratios, percent of egg- bearing lobster in catch etc.) and other parameters (mortality and exploitation rates) contact this project in Sandwich, MA at (508) 888-1155. Where tables refer to county, the reader is referred to Figure 10. 1988 HIGHLIGHTS 1. There were 15,545 lobster licenses of all types issued during 1988: 1,832 coastal commercial; 795 offshore commercial; 99 seasonal commercial and 12,819 non-commercial. As of May 16, 1989, a total of 190 licensed commercial lobstermen (7 percent) failed to file a catch report with the Division, Of the 2,726 commercial fishermen who reported, 724 or 27 percent claimed they did not catch any lobster during 1988. See Table 1 for a summary of the reporting status and Table 2 for a five year comparison. 2. A total of 14,262,798 pounds of lobster were reported landed by commercial lobstermen. Based on a value of $3.14 per pound (see Figure 1.), the commercial catch was valued at $44,785,186. The coastal license holders were responsible for landing 12,041,449 pounds, or 84.4 percent of the commercial catch. See Table 3 for a breakdown of pounds landed and number of fishermen by license type and county. 3. Of the 14,262,796 pounds of lobster landed commercially, 12,345,100 were reported taken inside of 69 degrees West and 41 degrees North (inshore), and of that number, 9,700,058 pounds (79% of inshore catch, or 68% of total catch) were estimated to have been taken within the territorial waters of the Commonwealth. 4. In total pounds of lobster landed, Essex County ranked first, Plymouth County second and Suffolk County third. Boston ranked first in total pounds landed followed by Gloucester, Plymouth and Beverly. In total numbers of active commercial fishermen, Essex County ranked first with 719, Plymouth County second with 382 and Bristol County third with 218. Gloucester ranked first in active fishermen followed by Boston, New Bedford and Plymouth. See Tables 3 and 6, (the shaded areas in Table 6 refer to the top 10 cities in at least one of the two categories). 5. In the commercial fishery, pots were valued at $20,080,768, diving gear at $45,956, and power and non-power boats at $53,390,952, yielding a total gear value of $73,517,676. Combined with the value of lobster sold, $44,785,186, gives a total fishery value of $118,302,862. See Tables 3, 5 and 10. 6. Information concerning the type and value of traps fished was collected from the annual catch reports. Overall, 61% of the traps fished in the commercial fishery were wire framed, with 38% being wooden framed and less than 1% categorized as "other". Average value (including warp and buoy) ranged anywhere from $30.40 to $85.00, with an overall average of $43.41. The number of traps fished in 1988 totalled 460,031, a slight increase over 1987. See Tables 4 and 10. 7. Inshore landings by commercial fishermen were concentrated during the months July through December when 79 percent of the yearly harvest was landed. See Figures 3 and 4 and Table 8. It is interesting to note that more lobster was landed in the latter months of the year (September - December) compared to 1987. This shift may be attributed to the average molting time occuring later in the year, when previously sub-legal sized lobster molt and grow into the legal size category. 4 These four months alone comprised 58 percent of the year's landings. 8. The greatest harvest of lobster taken inshore was from the Boston Harbor area (Area 4) followed by the Beverly - Salem - Marblehead area (Area 3) and the Plymouth area (Area 5). See Figures 2, 5 and 6 and Table 9 for a complete breakdown by area for each license type. 9. The average catch per trap haul for coastal lobstermen was 0.6478 pounds. For traps fished one set-over day the average was 0.3267; for those fished two days 0.5535; for three days 0.5783; and for four days 0.6739. See Figure 9 for catch effort by set-over day. Figures 7 and 8 reflect the average catch per trap haul - set- over day for area fished and month, where set-over day is factored into the denominator. In this case the overall potmen average was .2137. 10. Last year the fishermen selected for audit reported harvesting 1,181,621 pounds of lobster on their 1987 catch reports. The audit of their actual records showed total landings of 1,163,911 pounds, a difference of 12,290 pounds or 1.07 percent. Random audit of the 1988 reports was taking place at time of publication. Figure 1. 1988 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery; Average Weighted Ex -Vessel Price Derived from Audited Lobstermen's Records 4.5 - 4 - o u 0) 3.5 2.5 - 1 r Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Month Total number of observations = 1.388. Gaps in line represent missing prices for that date. Lobstering Areas 20 fathoms Between Areas 1 & 2 2 & 3 3 & 4 4 & 5 5 t~ ^» •* >0 — >« t s «»i in ■^ '^ ?H S oe m I s i es 5 a 00 « 1 ^ CM 2 ? i>) o> r- — m -^ 00 vo 3 SO ■c o. u u so 2 X 4) "3 > a a u S .a a 3 2 CA S a o U 3 J3 O cs lA M 00 00 0\ p X o o X CO b b O 00 00 vn 00 S IS a 3 ;; O 00 S 8 a9> Is m o\ >o (N O) cs t-- •» 00 o t~ o f >o Ov cs CS o> ^ fS o 00 (^ U1 cs « ^N rt 00 es to «« S »• VO lO ;:: s 91 O O <« >C 5 S to « 9> O — >o »• tn to o> — P-* t>- to O to -" in to 00 >n cs o> -« to 00 9> to r» O « V cs" s: s; to — cs 00 cs OS cs >c a» 'fi tf) "> * o> "IS VO to O iri cs — r-_ — < «^ \0 P- cs p- — o o 2 s s < o X to 2 < 2 P = H CO 2 I I I o X CO a, EI. O .J z a 0 < ** H CO < s 00 3 CS s i to CO g S cs 1/1 to 00 to 9. cs 00 C-- to to «• -" O to 00 c^ -<_ o_ §oo" cs t~ r^ m o ^ to to 00 o cs to cs cs VO p» ■» O rS •» to o ^ p» » 00 cs ^M r>» p» ■» •* ■O 00 00 cs Tf \n _ 9> « >/^ vO « 00 t~ r~ (S •« 00 cs >o P» 00 to ■ri P~ p- to r~ NO to ^^ to r~ n o 1/1 00 >o tn p- — «^. cs cs* •* to Q to CK oo cs to m «i t» -• cs CO P- S 3 NO cs p- to nO O n to 00 CS >r) r~ 00 o cs oj t- NO — cs o — p- o 00 'T) c~ •* cs r-- — p» 00 3 9> ^4 to «0 •- Q NC_ to So to to ■» NO_ cs* p»" 00 cs •* 00* p»* 00 >n ^ o r4 00 " S 2 n o 00 NO •* <« p< ON P» O o r- to 00 P; 439,014 658,504 127 724,700 00 NO* Q CS <0 On P~ CS ■0 Sto* goo O On* P<" ir\ 00 •* 9> - 2 « ■V On_ 'O* pf ^ oe NO r~- o o> p- 00 8 -o t alii ^ B. eu > a. > S •= I ^ O - eu > o 8 as 9> •" s s ® u u es es 00 00 0\ u 3 es H p X g: o o X g: o i- es o a '^ «^ 00 s s; 2 (S ts -. 0\ — o — 5 2^ oo' o o ? - 5 « ^ 5 .■■■: t- o is 81 5 I eu a. o eu s z I I A. o o 8 z I ts CO I fel o 0. 0. -• oe Q S. 8 5? •« 90 i S Sf R en m >« oC ?4 le* oft P» o « o ^ S 8 •*- •*. ?^ ■♦ o >0 v> (S «»> en s lo a> — ' P; - in O CO > CO ■a a CQ u eq (U O ofi a '> Q > CO CO 4) u CO 3 ja o CB CO CO 00 00 0\ CQ S z 0 o a O OE I o X o .J < 8 M « s O f o o g o S «" o o o o o o O 9 O en in a: 5 o ^ o 5 o 2 o i o" i m ? ^ >n I 06 o X CO s p s O 9 Is I 3 < 8 5 S S ?§' § 2 ° a s R e ■" ^ - « p g ■» m «« o >e o a i« fo r~ — — t<% 9> 9> O — " »c ■« — es R <»1 o « r4 r~ o o n s m « in yrt 0\ n o C^ ie >ri 9> vM o ■* "" m s° R g K i § § s W4 2 § ? I 9> Si s" * w^ » — O •» — CS_ « en P-_ m s s O ? 8 S S? 2 S I 00* en «n 10 Table 6. 1988 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery; Number of Fishermen (Except Seasonal) and Landings by Homeport, Inshore and Offshore CTCUCD»4T7XI POUNDS INSHORE POUNDS OFFSHORE TOT A I TOWN rlOflEr NUMBER RANK POUNDS 1 V-/ 1 /vLi — — PERCENT RANK BARNSTABLE-YARMOUTH 14 28 166,127 241,154 407,281 2.86 15 BEVERLY BOS TON BOURNE iWm: 10 2 33 7r/,986 1,517,055 38,018 23,388 78,218 801,374 1,595,274 5.62 11.19 0.27 4 1 40 119 9 38,018 CHATHAM 26 21 153,874 465 154.339 1.08 24 CHILMARK-W.TISBURY 23 23 141,819 20,048 161,867 1.14 23 COHASSET DAN VERS 46 11 611,567 95,806 7,749 611,567 103,555 4.29 0.73 7 29 19 26 DARTMOUTH 19 26 49,171 49,171 0.34 37 DENNIS 19 26 62,292 62.292 0.44 33 DUXBURY 8 34 52,859 52.859 0.37 34 ESSEX 12 30 13,536 13,536 0.09 46 FAIRHAVEN-AC0SHNET 4^ 12 111,834 432,013 543,847 3.82 9 FALMOUTH 11 31 24,011 24,011 0.17 43 GLOUCESTER 231 1 1,108,210 164,787 1,2-/2,997 8.93 2 GOSNOLD 4 36 10,036 10,036 0.07 48 HARWICH 5 35 46,685 63,690 1 10.375 0.77 27 HINGHAM 31 18 452,359 475 452.834 3.18 13 HULL 35 16 302,946 302.946 2.13 20 IPSWICH 22 24 39,468 39.468 0.28 39 KINGSTON 8 34 24,410 24,410 0.17 42 LYNN 20 25 323,255 323,255 2.27 19 MANCHESTER 37 15 260,425 260,425 1.83 21 MARBLEHEAD 66 7 535,466 "'■*'W' 536,421 3.76 10 MARSHFIELD 80 5 626,972 1,537 2,026 628,509 49,615 4.41 0.35 6 36 MATTAPOISETT 13 29 47,589 NAHANT 33 17 474,501 474,501 3.33 12 NANTUCKET 5 35 42,158 783 42,941 0.30 38 NEW BEDFORD 113 3 239,488 133,666 373,154 2.62 17 NEWBURYPORT-NEWBURY 30 19 51,809 51.809 0.36 35 ORLEANS-EASTHAM 24 22 90,369 256 90.625 0.64 30 PLYMOUTH 108 ,,..:.,.„ * 651,021 154,057 805,078 5.65 3 PROVINCETOWN 41 13 125,710 209 125,919 0.88 26 QUINCY-BRAINTREE 16 27 65,884 960 66,844 0.47 32 REVERE-CHELSEA 10 32 109,958 109,958 0.77 28 ROCKPORT 61 8 325,850 150 326,000 2.29 18 ROWLEY 3 37 2,136 2,136 0.01 49 SALEM 19 26 68,576 68,576 0.48 31 SALISBURY 8 34 13,045 13,045 0.09 47 SANDWICH 40 14 ■360,854 'Wi;s2A 762,678 5.35 5 SAUGUS-MF.DFORD 57 9 506,292 506,292 3.55 11 scrruATE 69 6 388.078 1.552 389.629 2.73 16 SWAMPSCOTT 37 15 414,066 6,077 420.143 2.95 14 TISBURY-OAK BLUFFS 8 34 18,305 690 18.995 0.13 45 TRURO-WELLFLEET 10 32 23,938 23,938 0.17 44 WAREHAM-MARION 11 31 32,664 32.664 0.23 41 WESTPORT-FALL RIVER-SWANSEA 40 14 428,239 180,969 609,208 4.27 8 WEYMOUTH 8 34 163.256 163.256 1.15 22 WINTHROP 29 20 145.844 145.844 1.02 25 STATEWIDE TOTAL 1,747 12.335,815 1,917,698 14,253,513 100.00 OUT OF STATE 12 12,706 166,153 178.859 Sludcd areas refer to towns which rank in top 10 for one or both of the categories. 11 Table 7. Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery; Selected Landings (Lbs.) and Effort Statistics, 1984 1985 1986 1987 1984 - 88 1988 Percent Five Year Change Total Landings Perceat Change 12,259,311 14,203,083 15.86 14,690,452 3.43 13,384,566 -8.89 14,262,798 6.56 16.34 Total Traps Fished Percent Change 386,764 404,662 4.63 427,819 5.72 459,360 7.37 460,031 015 18.94 Total Value Percent Change $31,996,802 $35,081,615 9.64 $36,873,035 5.11 $40,515,081 9.88 $44,785,186 10.54 39.97 Territorial Landings Percent Change 8,019,727 10,303,792 28.48 10,634,231 3.21 9,371,224 -11.88 9,700,058 3.51 20.95 mmm,,^m:,.i:mmm mmmmm-w^m^-mmmmmmm^-^msHORE ■ ■ ^ ':K-.:;-:mM:^mm Landings Percent Change 10,088,499 12,399,745 22.91 12,918,388 4.18 11,510,379 -10.90 12,345,100 7.25 22.37 Inshore Value Percent Change $26,330,982 $30,627,370 16.32 $32,425,154 587 $34,841,917 7.45 $38,763,614 11.26 47.22 Fixed Gear Landings Percent Change 9,869,820 12,199,353 23.60 12,580,793 3.13 11,243,043 -10.63 12,052,241 7.20 22.11 Inshore Traps Fished Percent Change 354,888 375,172 5.72 399,808 6.57 427,018 6.81 433,360 1.49 22.11 Mobile Gear Landings Percent Change 207,993 178,789 -14.04 306,035 71.17 241,986 -20.93 266,440 W.ll 28.10 OFFSHORE Landings Percent Change 2,170,812 1,803,338 -16.93 1,772,064 -1.73 1,874,187 5.76 1,917,698 2.32 -11.66 Offshore Value Percent Change $5,665,819 $4,454,245 -21.38 $4,447,881 -0.14 $5,673,164 27.55 $6,021,572 6.14 6.28 Fixed Gear Landings Percent Change 2,042,943 1,747,258 -14.47 1,578,679 -9.65 1,686,856 6.85 1,695,263 0.50 -17.02 Offshore Traps Fished Percent Change 31,876 29,490 -7.49 28,011 -5.02 32,342 15.46 26,671 -17.53 -16.33 Mobile Gear Landings Percent Change 127,869 56,080 -56.14 193,385 244.84 187,331 -3.13 222,435 18.74 73.96 Average Value ($) / Pound Percent Change 2.61 2.47 -5.36 2.51 1.62 3.03 20.60 3.14 3.73 Ave. Lbs. / Trap-Haul Percent Change 0.5050 0.6490 28.51 0.6907 6.43 0.6304 -8.73 0.6478 2.76 Ave. Lbs. / Trap Percent Change 30.80 34.46 11.89 33.10 -3.97 28.15 -14.95 29.88 6.77 12 I OS o 73 Z 1—4 O E- (x. O E- O 04 Figure 3. 1988 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery Total Monthly Inshore Harvest by License Type 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 P:i:j COAij'l'AL fxV)l OFFSHORE ■■ SEASONAL 17.03 1577 ^ 10.09 10.84 XX I ^ 3.98 2.47 2.92 3.55 2.13 JAN FEB MAR ^^^^^^ 5.75 25:3: 14.30 — f !■■ ^ r APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC MONTH Figure 4. 1988 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery Percent Monthly Inshore Harvest for Each License Type 40 co > a: < Ed O a: OT Z z Cd O a: Cd a. 35 30 H 25 20 15 10 5 0 mm COASTAL Ca OFFSHORE ■I SEASONAL J > > > > > > > > six Six Six Six JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC MONTH Table 8. 1988 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery; Percent Monthly Inshore Harvest for Each License Type Month Coastal Offshore Seasonal January 4.13 1.45 February 2.59 0.50 March 2.22 0.60 April 3.01 1.45 May 3.52 4.02 June 5.73 599 13.24 July 988 13.30 34.41 August 10.38 18.36 37.70 September 15.50 20.47 14.65 October 17.02 17.47 November 14.49 11.26 December 11.53 5.13 Total 100.00 100 00 100.00 13 > o CO O E- O Piq a K Figure 5. 1988 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery Total Inshore Harvest by Area Fished and License Type 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 29.14 15.96 8.16 1.68 -T— 3 ^M:j COASTAL kVxl OFFSHORE ^ SEASONAL 10 16 8.82 4.90 T" 1.65 ^^^^WF^W T X 8.25 4 69 2.96 Ui*LJ 3.64 iiplL ^ E_^ _i 5 6 7 8 9 AREA FISHED 10 11 12 Figure 6. 1968 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery Percent Inshore Harvest by Area Fished for Each License Type Table 9. 1988 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery; Percent Inshore Harvest by Area Fished for Each License Type co x Ed Qi O s CO z z u 0. 35- * ■J 30- ''y_ s * > / .<: V n ab- 1 K X 20- 1 K X r 1 / V X Ib - : ■':■ > ' X : X 10- i rn X 5- 0 - M-i 11 ■■■t IIhJ-- > ( ;^i * sx EH) COASTAL 5 6 7 8 AREA FISHED E3 OFFSHORE 10 11 12 SEASONAL Area Fished Coastal Offshore Seasonal 1 1.75 0.52 1.88 2 8.62 0.26 8.01 3 16.90 0.14 14.83 4 30.86 0.21 15.77 5 10.69 0.87 30.12 6 5.15 0.64 8.38 7 1.73 0.23 3.20 8 8.07 21.54 450 9 1.02 35.75 0.57 10 3.71 0 13 11 67 11 3.41 26.50 1,06 12 8 10 10.98 0 00 Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 14 Q W o Q o Figure 7. 1988 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery Catch Per Unit of Effort For All License Types by Area Fished ^ 0.4 < > o I 0.3 - 0.2 - 0.1 -ssii;? N = Number of Complete Monthly Observations Average CPUE for All Potmen = .2137 M-187 N=2.539 N-2.146 mms. N-1,843 N-536 3 K- 1.501 N=892 N-1.296 N-304 ""^ 1 — ■— ' — r 5 6 7 AREA FISHED 8 9 N-534 N=888 10 N-1,116 11 12 CO -J o o D o Figure 8. 1988 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery Catch Per Unit of Effort for Both Coastal and All Potmen by Month ^ 0.4 >- < > o I CQ 0.3 - 0.2 0.1 - Average CPUE for All Potmen = .2137 + = Coastal License Potmen ■ = All Potmen 1 1 1 1 — JAN FEB MAR APR MAY — I 1 — JUN JUL MONTH AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC IS Figure 9. 1988 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery; CPUE by Set-Over Day for Coastal and All Potmien Number Valid Observations 5000 CPUE (Lbs/Traps Hauled) 4000 - 3000 2000 1000 - - 1.5 2.5 - 0.5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 1 12 13 14 15 + Set-Over Day Coastal Potmen All Potmen ■ CPUE + CPUE \^-y--:-:-i Number Valid Observations I I Number Valid Observations Table 10. 1988 Massachusetts Commercial Lobster Fishery; Trap Types Fished and Value for Each License Type Total Percent Coastal Offshore Seasonal Trap Type of Total Wooden Framed Traps 163,731 13,746 291 177,769 38.53% Value $6,930,285 $1,006,747 $8,860 $7,945,891 Value/Trap $42.33 $73.24 $30.40 $44.70 Wire Framed Traps 267,244 14,236 791 282,270 61.18% Value $11,075,157 $887,280 $25,804 $11,988,241 Value/Trap $41.44 $62.33 $32.64 $42.47 Other Trap Types 601 700 0 1,301 0.28% Value $20,625 $59,500 $80,125 Value/Trap $34.33 $85.00 $61.60 Total for License Type 431-576 28,682 1,082 461,340 Value $18,026,067 $1,953,527 $34,664 $20,014,258 Value/Trap $41.77 $68.11 $32.04 $43.38 Value of trap includes warp and buoy. 16 I Figure 10. Coastal Map of Massachusetts Showing Statistical Reporting Areas (Counties) 1. Essex 2. Suffolk 3. Norfolk 4. Plymouth 5. Bristol ?. Dukes 6. Barnstable 8. Nantucket 17 Addendum: 1989 Massachusetts Recreational Lobster Fishery; License Status and Harvest Information Method License Tyf)e: Diver Diver/Pot Potman Unknown Total Percent 1) Number of Licenses Issued in 1989 ■ 4,998 3.782 4,184 0 12.964 2) Number That Reported 3.451 2.843 3.189 0 9.483 73.15% a) Total Number That Fished 2.875 2.400 2,694 0 7,969 61.47% b) Total Number That Did Not Fish 576 443 495 0 1,514 11.68% 3) Number That Did Not Report 1.601 987 1.084 0 3,481 26.85% 4) Number of Lobsters Reported Landed 61,579 95.098 165.821 0 322,498 ..... Pounds of Lobsters (Calculated)* 78,205 120,774 210.593 3 0 409,572 4.42% change from 1988 5) Number Pots Fished 7.851 19.604 0 27,455 6) Number of Hours Diving 44.450 34.403 0 78,852 • Based on 1.27 Pounds per Lobster.