Mr. Speir also noted that watermen in Maryland could place 1.1 million crab pots in the water, if they fished to their maximum licensed levels. No more than approximately 300,000 pots are currently fished in any one month. A large amount of licensed effort is resting dormant. A shift in economic factors could affect that dormant effort. Ms. Ellen Cosby presented the preliminary information that she had compiled regarding pot tagging programs in states outside of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including New Jersey, Texas, and the spiny lobster fishery in Florida.
New Jersey prefers a system of marking the buoys rather than the pots.
In Texas, both pots and buoys must be marked. Florida, in conjunction with its pot tagging program, set a goal of reducing the number of lobster pots while maintaining previous catch levels. The 1,000,000 pots in the water in 1992 have been reduced to 600,000 in 1997. The reduced effort will theoretically reduce mortality on undersized lobsters, reduce conflict caused by overcrowding, and reduce negative environmental impacts. The reductions in effort will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the fishery.