Norwich bulletin., 1916-09-13
LOBSTER LAWS
 THE ONLY SALVATION.
How the Lobsternen Are Killing Their
 Own Business by Violating the Law.

Own Business by Violating the Law.
 IL is no eXaggeration to say that in practically every known natural region
 of the North Atlantic coast the lobster fishery is either deDleted or in a state of decline. The evidences of this con-
 dition are to he found in steadily in- creasing prices and in the statistics of fisheries. The market price, or cost to the consumer, has steadily advanced in direct ratio to the steady decrease in the market supply. From 1889 to 1899 the annual crop was reduced one-half while it's value had more than doubled. In Maine, which in some years has put of Holsters, the produce fell off in 20 years over 2,G0000O pounds, while
 it's value advenced fourfold. In Massa-
 chusetts the catch of 1900, though only
 half as great as that of 1880, was worth
 more than the total catch of 10 years
 before. Connecticut has similar
 story to tell and it is only a sound
 and essentially uniform code of laws for the entire fishery that will check the constant and ever increasing drain that is now surely and steadily forcing
 the lobster to extinction.
 The largest lobster on record was
 taken in the spring of 1897 off Atlantic
 Highlands N. J, weighed S4 pounds, and measured 23 3-4 inches, total
 length. This was I9 years ago At
 l4lclb lAi1IS 6 iO UT IA pOQI1u 1ODSlST was not at all uncommon, yet at present practically none of this class find the
 way to our markets
 The American lobster lays it's eggs but once in two years. The eggs are
 carried attached to the under side of the tail for nearly a year, or until they are matched. 10 or II months after de- position. The fry, or young, when matched, rise to the surface or toward 1t, and leaG q free swimming life for three weeks. hardly larger than a mCs- quito. They perish by the thousands
 before the storm and countless fish and ether enemies. It has been estimated that probably not more than two in .O0G0 survive and grow to 2 market able size. This shows that the present augc laws are indefcnsible, because
 hey rob the fishery of the billions of eggs necessary to maintain it. It speaks loudly in favor of a law to pro- tect the large egg producers and also Of the newer plan of rearing the young to the stage when they seek the bottom instead of liberating them soon after matching.
 An esg-bearing lobster Is inches long, which, according to good author lty, is nearly IS years old, has had a succession of eight broods and has pro- duc@d 21e,C00 eggs. The larger animal IS thus Woz-th nine times as much as the smaller; in other words, in the course Of 12 years it's value to the fish cry has been increased 500 per cent It is these big Holsters, which produce by the 50 and 100 thousands, that have been nearly wiped out, and the main tenance of the race depends almost en- t1fely upon the smaller adults, which produce about One-tenth that Of the larger class.
 The present gauge laws are good, as far as they go, but the rigid enforce | ment of these laws is next to irpossi- | l,1 chicken holsters has become a trade ot big proportions.
 The shortsightedness of Ihe lobster 1 fishermen who brush or comb off the eggs from the female to evade the law for the sake Of the few cents the lob | ster brings is 9 clear case of not only l
 Killing the goose that lays the golden | egg" for the public, but he is killing his own future business The average 1 number of eggs destroyed by this | method rom one &-inch female is, ap- | proXimateIy, 5000; from a 10-inch | female, over 10000; from a 12-inch | female, over 21,0G0, ana from an 1S- inch female. nearly SO,O00.
 Is 1t strange that Holsters are becom- | Ing scarce and expensive when their | future generations are destroyed by i the millions in this way? Something | must be done to stop the illegal and 1 wholesale destruction of Holsters and their eggs, or there will soon be no l Holsters.
 A double gauge law has been sug- gested, making it illegal to catch or | possess Holsters between certain min 1 lmum and maximum lengths only, say | four and eight inches inclusive, cara ] pace measure, thus preventing the des- ructlon of not only the little fellows, | put the large producing adults. |
 The present laws shift and duty of | fnalnta1nlng the race upon the small | producers which the law of survival | plainly tells us it is unable to bear. Spare the large proGucer, then, by the | proper gauge law, and nature will save 1 the race.
 Much more interesting and valuable | detailed information regarding this eplcurean delicacy may be had from the government bureau of fisheries bulletin on The Natural History of the Aneflcan Lobster, from which a DOT i tlon of the above is taken. i