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<8 The Gud, Carton, iy, Feb, 27, 1958

MOST VALUABLE

Research Board Studies Habits Of P.E.l. Lobster

BY D, G. WILDER

ST. ANDREWS BIOLOGICAL . STATION :

Of the many kinds of fish and shellfish caught by Prince Ed-|*Y ward Island fishermen by far the most valuable. is the..dobster. Over the past five years the P.E.l. lobster catch has aver-

ged 812 million pounds with an

‘average landed value of nearly 2%- million dollars. ' P.-E. fishermen get nearly three-quarters of their, fisheries income from this one species. This is the fourth Aargest lobster fishery in the world, exceeded only by Nova Scotia, Maine, — New Brunswick.

Proper management of the fishery to make wise use of this | éxtremely valuable resource is)

. of great importance to the many fishermen, dealers and. others

- “who de directly or indirect- ly on lodsters for a large part of the.r income.

Management should, of course be based on a sound, thorough knowledge of the lobster itself. To obtain this knowledge, studies have been conducted by the Fish- eries Research Board of Canada for many years at a number of P.E.I. ports.

LAYING AND HATCHING During the past. 10 to 15 years, however, these studies have been concentrated in the areas off Tignish and Miminegash. Among other things, this work

FISHERY

tion on the movements, survival and growth of lobsters—three things that must b#™considered aan epmeacar die ial

During the summer, mature female lobsiers, depending on their size, lay from 3,000 to 100, 000 small, round, dark green eggs. These immediately become fastened to little paddies on the underside of the tail where ‘they

are carefully looked after by the Seonibe. .

The nex! summer, a full year later, the young lobsters have developed inside the eggs to the point where they are ready to hatch.

Immediately after hatching the young lobsters, or first stage ‘Tarvae as they are called, rise to the surface of the water, At th.s point they are only 1-3 of an inch long and at first glance © look more like mosquitoes than lob- sters.

.| LOBSTER LARVAE

These little lobsiers swim up in the water for several weeks, feeding, growing and changing shape. In order to grow, a lob-| ster myst cast off its hard ine- lastic shell. This is known as moulting or shedding. During their free-swimming period the larvae moult three times to reach the fourth larval stage.

At this point they are little more than % an inch long but look very much like the adult

has provided valuable informa-

lobsters. A short time later they

SSeS

PET AEE IPO TTR erees

|| was made on July 8, though this area is an excellent ~ | breeding ground the hatch does

> | as in 1949, the worst year.

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settle to the bottom to what We usually think of as ae normal: life for a lobster.

To learn more about these tiny lobsters. spacial studies have been carried oa since 1948

in Northumberland Strait. SPECIAL NET

Each summer in the area be- tween Richibucto, N.B., and Miminegash, P.E.I. the 40 foot motor boat “‘Pandalus II"’. skip- pered. by Capt. L.I. Cross makes a series of 500 to 600 half hour tows with a specially designed silk | net.

This wedge shaped net is 25 feet long with a rectangular mouth «42 feet: -wide and 3 feet

deep. The meshes of the net are} ”

quite smail, closely resembling window screening.

As the net is towed on the sur- face it catehes an amazing var- iety of creatures. Whitish, semi- transparent herring larvae and tiny crab larvae at times are caught in large numbers.

. Several other kinds of fish are caught as well as shrimp, jelly

fish, floating insects and many}:

other organisms. Of greatest in- terest is the catch of lobster larvae.

RICHEST GROUND

The young lobsters start hatch- ing about mid-June and are most plentiful during late July and early August. Hatching continues through r,,dut on. a much smal scale.

The catches show—beyond a doubt that Northumberland Strait is one of the richest lob-

'}ster breeding grounds in the} “| world. Far more larvae

are caught consistently in this area| than is usually possible’ eise- where.

The record catch of 1,901 lar- vae from a single half hour tow 1958. Al-

vary somewhat from year to year. In 1955, the best year, the hatch was about twice as good

VERY VULNERABLE

Unfortunately the newly hatch- ed lobsters are extremely vul- nerable to attack by smal! fish- es and other marine organisms. They even eat each other. On the average only about 5 percent. survive to reach the fourth larval stage.

In 1952, the best survival yar. | nearly 40 times as many larvae reached the fourth stage as in| the worst year. The second best! year was 1956. Surviva! in 1953, 194 and 1958 were poor.

CARRIED MILES Since lobster larvae are weak) swimmers they may be carried! by currents many miles from where they were hatched. They settle to the bottom wherever they happen to be at the end of their phon agp erga period. Some settle on bottom

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where food is plentiful and where they are protected from their enemies. _ Undoubtedly these /survive better’ than those}.

that séttle on relatively | exposed

barren ground. -

In areas such*.as* the north shore of P.E.I. larvae may, un- der certain wind conditions, be carried many miles and settle well offshore.

Survival under these conditions is likely to be extremely poor but in any case such larvae do not contribute to the inshore fish- ery.

DETERMINES CATCH

Kt is probable that the abun- dance of commercial-sized |ob- sters is determined to a large ex- tent by the hatch and survival of larvae several years earlier.

Such natural changes in the abundance of larvae and com- mercial sizes have occurred many times in the past and un-

doubtedly will occur again. The!

Prospects \of controlling such changes do not appear to be good

KR seems probable, however, that with enough knowledge it

will be possible to predict changes in the jal stocks, per- haps several frears in advance.

In this-epngection it is interest- ing to e that 1952, the best year for larvae, was followed in 1956 by a P.E.I. catch of nearly 10 million pounds—the best catch in over 25 years.

By 1956 the larvae hatched in 1952 would have completed 4 or 5 summers’ growth depending on whether they were caught in the spring or fall.

Unusually poor larval survival in 1953‘and 1954 may be respon- sible for declining catches in 1957 and 1958.

YOUNG BOTTOM STAGES

Until recently little was known about newly settled young lob- | sters. In spite of persistent ef- forts for many years with differ- ent gear tried in many places

|

:

sistently each spring and fall in the area ween Richibucto, N.B. and Mim’negash, P.E_I.

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only a few young lobsters had been caught.

; 'ermen invariably proved to be) shrimp-like animals. Since 1952, however, small bottom( stage lobsters have beep caught con-

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Specimens submitted by fish-|§

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T. W. L. PROWSE

CONTINUEL ON PAGE 6 | ' |

At

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A MESSAGE FROM i T. W. L. PROWSE (former Lt. Gov. of P.E.I.) TO THE FISHERMEN OF P. E. 1

. (tn Fact to Anyone and Everyone)

‘A lot of water has gone under the bridge during the — years I Ihave been

eon the local scene.

Some folks like change . . are. However, change is inevitable, so what can we do but grin and share it. One thing though, the years have done little to change people. Oh yes, we move a little faster, do more things . :

For example . have been hauling in their catch and selling it all over the world, help-= our Island to get pretty well known. F'd like to take this opportunity to tip my hat to them for the great job they are doing.

People are our business. . ‘ drop th. The “down-to-earth” prices on high quality merchandise will

ft

Governments have come and gone, (I was part of that scene myself . . « remember?) Wars have come and gone. Our way of life has seen many dramatic changes. Cars have evolved from trusty old relics to the sleek, powerful machines today. Modern medicine has conquered many so-called incurable diseases . . . Air travel has shrunken our world until the onc» alii “ikiat Geuetin 62 Ue cents” hei to bectine away than one days travel. ah

. some folks like things to stay the way they .

. but people by and large are

*

. let’s take the fishing people. For many years now they

. we like them, Next time you are around town

amaze you. Our friendly, courteous staff makes shopping at Prowse Bros.

a pleasure . . . Drop in soon we'll be glad to see you.

Signed: T. W. L. PROWSE

| PROWSE BROS. LIMITED

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