Paradoxically, American lobsters are overfished but not depleted. The number of traps in Maine waters has quadrupled since 1950.
Scientists warn that the intense pressure now leaves the population vulnerable to collapse.
Most of the females are removed before their best spawning years. If survival of those eggs returns to normal levels, the population could fall abruptly. It takes five to eight years for lobsters to reach legal size. According to NMFS, at the legal minimum size, about 11 percent of females in the Gulf of Maine, four percent of females on Georges Bank, and 23 percent of females from Southern Cape Cod to Long Island Sound are capable of producing eggs. NMFS and scientists find it difficult to convince fishermen and state fisheries managers to curb lobster catches at a time when catches have never been better.