Being in Maine for vacation means eating lobster. I generally like to eat as little animal protein as possible, going instead for beans, nuts, seeds and vegetables, but I do add in organic chicken, and wild fish from time to time. So, being in Maine and having access to fresh caught wild lobster was a treat. I wanted to learn more about lobster production and the laws and guidelines for protection of the environment and the lobsters, so we took a 50-minute boat ride with a lobsterman (even the woman are called lobstermen) on his lobster fishing boat and learned quite a bit.
Captain Kevin first showed us how he grabs the lobster trap buoy using a pole called a gap. He then hooks the line over the davit, a small pulley, and the line goes around the hydraulic pot hauler which pulls the trap from the ocean floor, about 40 feet down in the shallow area not too far from shore where we were. Lobstermen can go out further in the ocean, but of course it is more economical to travel the shorter distances just off shore.
Once the trap comes up onto the boat, the lobsterman opens the trap and tosses any crabs or small lobsters back into the ocean. In the state of Maine lobsters have to be thrown back into the water unless they meet certain size guidelines. Lobstermen measure the lobsters they catch from the eye socket to where the body meats the tail. This measurement must be at least 3 ¼” and no more than 5” to be legal. The larger lobsters are thrown back because they are the better the breeders. The other measurement is the weight. The minimum weight is 1 pound and the maximum is 4 ¼ pounds. Not all females have the ability to breed so the female breeders are protected. An “egger” is a female lobster with thousands of eggs in her tail section. If a lobsterman finds an egger, he carves a “V” notch in the second flipper from the right so if caught again the other lobstermen will know immediately to throw her back.
Once the trap is cleared of it’s catch, the lobsterman places fresh bait (any oily fish) into the “kitchen” section of the trap, and lowers it back down to the ocean floor. The trap is weighted with two bricks on the bottom so it sits upright on the ocean floor. The trap does not harm the lobsters. As they walk along the ocean floor they climb into the trap for the bait. It is very difficult to get out of the hoop design to leave the trap, but they can move freely through the “kitchen” to the “parlor” section of the trap.
Out in the ocean lobsters go into the cold waters that are up to 400’ deep. In late spring they come back to the shoreline and molt in about 40’ of water. They crack out of the old shell and form a new soft shell, which takes 6 weeks to fully harden. After the breeding female molts, she has 36 hours to find a male. Then for the next year, the female carries the male sperm. After a year of carrying the sperm, she waives them over her 3-4,000 eggs, then she releases her eggs in clumps. Only 1 in 1,000 eggs will become a fully-grown lobster.
The lobsters that reach our dinner plate take a long time to grow. During our trip I found out how to tell the age of a lobster. To determine the age of a lobster the formula is (weight x 4) + 3, so a 1 ½ pound lobster would be 9 years old (1.5 x 4) = 6 +3 = 9, but the egg started 11 years ago!
In the state of Maine 130 billion pounds of lobster are caught each year, and every year lobstermen are catching more and more even though there are fewer traps than in the past.
Knowing so much about how lobsters are bred really made me appreciate and enjoy my boiled lobster dinner even more.
Here’s the clincher… when I got home, I checked my Monteray Bay Seafood Watch app which told me that the lobster I ate was not a good choice and to “avoid” eating this seafood due to overfishing and the risk of the lobster trap lines to whales, especially the endangered right whale. Boy, do I feel like a loser! Well, anyway, now I’m more educated and we had a great time learning and boating (okay, and eating).
Captain Kevin first showed us how he grabs the lobster trap buoy using a pole called a gap. He then hooks the line over the davit, a small pulley, and the line goes around the hydraulic pot hauler which pulls the trap from the ocean floor, about 40 feet down in the shallow area not too far from shore where we were. Lobstermen can go out further in the ocean, but of course it is more economical to travel the shorter distances just off shore.
Once the trap comes up onto the boat, the lobsterman opens the trap and tosses any crabs or small lobsters back into the ocean. In the state of Maine lobsters have to be thrown back into the water unless they meet certain size guidelines. Lobstermen measure the lobsters they catch from the eye socket to where the body meats the tail. This measurement must be at least 3 ¼” and no more than 5” to be legal. The larger lobsters are thrown back because they are the better the breeders. The other measurement is the weight. The minimum weight is 1 pound and the maximum is 4 ¼ pounds. Not all females have the ability to breed so the female breeders are protected. An “egger” is a female lobster with thousands of eggs in her tail section. If a lobsterman finds an egger, he carves a “V” notch in the second flipper from the right so if caught again the other lobstermen will know immediately to throw her back.
Once the trap is cleared of it’s catch, the lobsterman places fresh bait (any oily fish) into the “kitchen” section of the trap, and lowers it back down to the ocean floor. The trap is weighted with two bricks on the bottom so it sits upright on the ocean floor. The trap does not harm the lobsters. As they walk along the ocean floor they climb into the trap for the bait. It is very difficult to get out of the hoop design to leave the trap, but they can move freely through the “kitchen” to the “parlor” section of the trap.
Out in the ocean lobsters go into the cold waters that are up to 400’ deep. In late spring they come back to the shoreline and molt in about 40’ of water. They crack out of the old shell and form a new soft shell, which takes 6 weeks to fully harden. After the breeding female molts, she has 36 hours to find a male. Then for the next year, the female carries the male sperm. After a year of carrying the sperm, she waives them over her 3-4,000 eggs, then she releases her eggs in clumps. Only 1 in 1,000 eggs will become a fully-grown lobster.
The lobsters that reach our dinner plate take a long time to grow. During our trip I found out how to tell the age of a lobster. To determine the age of a lobster the formula is (weight x 4) + 3, so a 1 ½ pound lobster would be 9 years old (1.5 x 4) = 6 +3 = 9, but the egg started 11 years ago!
In the state of Maine 130 billion pounds of lobster are caught each year, and every year lobstermen are catching more and more even though there are fewer traps than in the past.
Knowing so much about how lobsters are bred really made me appreciate and enjoy my boiled lobster dinner even more.
Here’s the clincher… when I got home, I checked my Monteray Bay Seafood Watch app which told me that the lobster I ate was not a good choice and to “avoid” eating this seafood due to overfishing and the risk of the lobster trap lines to whales, especially the endangered right whale. Boy, do I feel like a loser! Well, anyway, now I’m more educated and we had a great time learning and boating (okay, and eating).