"Inshore/Offshore Patterns of Lobster (Homarus americanus) Larvae and Postlarvae in the Northern Gulf of Maine, with Implications for Spatial Relationships Between Egg Production and Settlement"

Project Leader: Lewis Incze, University of South Maine - Bioscience Research Institute
Additional Participants:
Proctor Wells, F/V Tenacious
Matthew Thomson, Cape Cod Commerical Hook Fisherman's Association
Eric Annis, Rugters University
Nicholas Wolff, University of South Maine - Bioscience Research Institute

"This project involved two field sampling efforts. The first was a two-year (2001-2002) study of the distribution, stage composition and abundance of lobster larvae and postlarvae and hydrography from the central coast of Maine to the Canadian border. Eight survey transects, conducted over a 2+ week period in the middle of the larva/postlarval season, went across-shelf from near shore to approximately the 150 m (82 fIn) isobath, crossing three hydrographic and current regimes: the inner shelf or near-shore; the Eastern Maine Coastal Current (EMCC); and the stratified offshore. The objective was to understand the contribution that each area might make to lobster recruitment, both temporally and spatially. For example, the EMCC seems to move early life stages down to the central coast: how many, and where do these end up settling? How important is this compared to other processes driving postlarval abundance in that region? How many move offshore? A series of hypotheses dealing with the three regimes can be partially addressed by the survey design. The second sampling effort was directed at larval and postlarval production estimates along the central coast of Maine, immediately west of the surveys described above. This one-year effort involved a season-long study of all stages that complemented a preliminary study done in 2000. The study found that the settled abundance of Young-of-Year lobsters is determined to a significant degree by the abundance and delivery of postlarvae to appropriate settlement habitats. Settlement densities and the productivity of the lobster fishery in Maine are distinctly different east and west of Penobscot Bay. The research is helping understand the mechanisms behind those differences. More specific research has continued on egg production, circulation modeling, settlement, growth, and fisheries production. It is funded by NOAA Fisheries Coastal Ocean Program to L. Incze and ten co-PI's." extracted from: Summary of Completed Cooperative Research Projects Funded by the Northeast Consortium, January 2006

Note:
This lobster_larvae data set is complemented by a CTD hydrographic survey also located on this site (see "Related Datasets section).

For Questions Contact:
Nicholas Wolff
University of Southern Maine
Bioscience Research Institute
Portland, ME 04101

phone: 207 228-809
e-mail: nwolff@maine.edu

revised August 30, 2006; gfh