Lewis Incze
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
West Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575
207.633.9600
lincze@bigelow.org

Gregory Lough
Northeast Fisheries Science Center
NOAA/NMFS
Woods Hole, MA 02543
508.495.2000

Huijie Xue
School of Marine Sciences
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469
207.581.4318
hjx@athena.umeoce.maine.edu

The American lobster (Homarus americanus) is the most important harvested species in the Gulf of Maine. Penobscot Bay, Maine, is one of the most productive lobster fishing areas in the region. To understand lobster recruitment processes in the Bay, it is important to know where the larvae and postlarvae are coming from, how they are transported to the inshore recruitment habitats, and how the various larval stages are distributed in the water column. Researchers will sample lobster larvae at various depth levels in Penobscot Bay and then, using a circulation model of the Bay, determine how the vertical distribution of larvae interacts with circulation to affect transport rates and patterns. This study will contribute to ongoing lobster recruitment studies that could be used ultimately to help manage the fishery.

January 2001: Scientists See Early Indications of Lobster Decline

2-year project, 2001-2003:
Year 1: $80,000
Year 2: $69,781
Total: $149,781