Full Question:
The old wooden lobster traps, Nova Scotia south shore, had wooden"bows" on each end and usually two between. The bows ends were inserted into holes in a flat piece on the bottom of the trap. We are trying to find the name of this flat piece across the bottom. Thanks for any response.

Answer:
This flat piece across the bottom is known as a 'Sill"

Answer:

In Canada, most fishermen use 1-2 soak days.  In the USA, it can be more like 1-7 days.  It depends on the number of traps, size of efficiency of the boat, and of course, density of lobsters at the bottom.

Answer:
There is really no best bait.  Bait preference is mostly fisherman-based, and not lobster-based! We recommend that you try different baits and to avoid location biases you should try different baits fishing in adjacent pots.

Answer:

Lobster meat does not go through the thermal processing which makes it sterile and shelf stable, therefore it is still a fresh product that must be frozen for preservation.

Full Question:
My father is a lobster fisherman out of LFA 26A. In recent years the lobster stocks have been on a decline in our area and a rise in LFA 24. My dad fishes out of Souris and used to be able to catch 2500-3000 pounds but now can't do that, while North Lake fishermen who are just up the shore and around East Point can land 2500-3000. My question is what is your reasoning on the lobster decline and do you think the lobsters will return to Souris and surrounding ports?A

Answer:

Unfortunately, the AVC Lobster Science Centre doesn't study lobster stock abundance or decline as this is more of the Federal Department of Fisheries & Oceans' mandate. Historical landings show that lobster stocks have always fluctuated over time. Hopefully, science and in particular information on lobster recruitment and from tagging studies will be able to follow lobster stocks in the wild and perhaps help predicting any further decline or return to more abundant levels.

Answer:

On average, nearly half of the Canadian landings are transformed into processed products, while the rest are destined to be sold alive. Most often, fishers will sell their daily catch to buyers situated at the wharves. These buyers can be independent dealers or representatives of other seafood companies. The buyers will either transport the live lobsters directly to the processing plant or to a holding facility; this transfer usually occurs within one to five days post-capture. If it is decided to keep the lobsters for a few days, they will either be kept in wooden crates and floated directly at the wharf, or stored in ‘lobster cars’, which are large floating boxes also located at the wharf. Lobsters can either be loose in the cars, or stored in crates within the lobster car. To supply the market with a live product year-round, some of the processing plants and holding facilities will keep a proportion of live lobsters in captivity for various periods, ranging from a few days to several months.

Answer:

We are not sure if quarantine is even required although one of our scientists had to get an authorization to bring in lobsters from PEI to NS for his experiment. If permits/quarantines are needed, then you should probably start by contacting Roland Cusak, provincial fish vet in NS and see what the province has in place for regulation.

Full Question:
What is the deepest water you can find lobster in the Atlantic Ocean? If Lobsters are found at 2000 fathoms can they be retrieved alive using pots? I worked on a research vessel where we have a camera station and took pictures of lobsters located at 2000 fathoms.

Answer:

2000 fathoms is well outside our practical experience with harvesting lobsters. This represents 3,657 meters, or roughly 366 atmospheres of pressure. That would be a very long trap line! I suspect that lobsters could be harvested from this debth as long as they are pulled up through the decreasing pressure at a certain rate to allow for acclimation at the decreased pressures. Lobsters do not have air bladders like many fish that need them for buoyancy, so the effects of decreased pressure would be due to the changes in the dissolved gases in their blood as they are depressurized during the ascent. If pulled up through the depths at a slow enough rates to keep gas bubbles from forming in the lobster’s blood, I see no reason why lobsters which were extracted from 2000 fathoms should not be able to survive at the sea surface. However, one must be able to calculate the rate at which you can pull lobsters up from that depth first. This is speculation on my part. You may want to speak to someone who has more experience and knowledge with blood gas saturations at varying depths and pressures.

Answer:

• Traps or pots were originally make of wood, typically oak. Wire mesh traps have replaced the wooden traps for the most part. Lobster enter through the net "door" to go after the bait in a bait bag placed in the "kitchen". When it tries to exit it lands in the "parlor". Some traps have more than one kitchen and parlor. Traps are required to have an escape vent that is large enough to let all but the legal size lobsters escape. Traps also are equipped with runners that help prevent legs, claws and antennae from being pinched between the bottom of the trap and the boat when the traps are hauled.

Click the image below for a larger picture

 

Answer:

Many sea creatures, including salmon, oysters, and mussels, are raised successfully through sea farming or aquaculture. Since lobsters command such a high price at the market, you would think there would be massive aquaculture operations to raise them. Lobsters are not easy to raise in captivity, and as yet no one has made a profit from it. Experiments have been conducted for years trying to find an economic way to raise them without much success. Two problems repeatedly crop up: Lobsters in close quarters will eat each other. When lobsters are raised in captivity, they are kept in large vats as larvae. Whirlpool currents keep the baby lobsters spinning beyond each other's reach. When they settle to the bottom, they must be kept in individual pens and moved to ever larger enclosures as they grow. Lobsters grow very slowly, taking an average of 5-7 years to reach market size. That's a long time to feed and maintain them. They can grow faster in warmer water, but it still takes several years to reach market size. Factor in food costs (lobsters can be picky eaters in captivity), heating the water to make them grow faster, and treating disease, and it's easy to see why raising a lobster to adulthood is expensive. Another approach to lobster aquaculture has been to keep them captive only from egg to hatching to the fourth or fifth stages when they start to settle to the bottom. Hatchery operators then free the baby lobsters into the ocean and hope that they survive long enough to join the lobster fishery as market-size catch.

Answer:

After WW II, the LobLure Corporation tried to find a fool-proof type of artificial bait. Some of their unusual concoctions ranged from a bait bag that blinked like an electric light to cloth soaked in fish oil, pepsi-cola can or white coffee mugs. For more information please see this Lobster Bait Fact Sheet.

Answer:

Not yet, but research is underway to develop rearing techniques and to assess the economic feasibility of rearing the American lobster commercially. In the opinion of many scientists working with the American lobster, commercial aquaculture can be achieved in the near future with a sufficient level of effort. Future projections for the culture of the spiny lobster (found in the Carribean, California, Florida, Australia and South Africa) are not, however, optimistic. Unlike the American lobster which has a relatively short larval life (several weeks), the spiny lobster has a larval life of about six or seven months. The technical difficulties presented by the fragile, demanding requirements of the early life stages discount the use of traditional hatchery methods with any degree of success or practicality.

Answer:

It is difficult to tell the exact age of a lobster because it sheds it shell regularly, removing most of the evidence of age. It is believed that a 1/2 kg lobster is between 5 and 7 years old. The warmer the ocean temperatures, the more often lobsters molt and increase in size.

Answer:

The North American Lobster is harvested from a wild resource in the ocean waters along the northeast Atlantic Coast of Canada and the United States, from Newfoundland to North Carolina.