E-text prepared by Ronald Calvin Huber while serving as Penobscot Bay Watch, Rockland, Maine, with technical assistance from Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D. Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations and tables. See 17475-h.htm or 17475-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/4/7/17475/17475-h/17475-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/4/7/17475/17475-h.zip) THE LOBSTER FISHERY OF MAINE. by JOHN N. COBB, Agent of the United States Fish Commission. _Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission_, Vol. 19, Pages 241-265, 1899 [Illustration: The sailing smack _Bar Bel_ of Rockland] For some years past the condition of the lobster fishery of New England has excited the earnest attention of all interested in the preservation of one of the most valuable crustaceans of our country. In the State of Maine, particularly, where the industry is of the first importance, the steady decline from year to year has caused the gravest fears, and incessant efforts have been made by the United States Fish Commission, in conjunction with the State Fish Commission of Maine, to overcome this decline. This paper presents the results of an investigation by the writer in 1899. All statistics, when not otherwise stated, are for the calendar year 1898. I am indebted to so many dealers, fishermen, and others for information given and courtesies extended that it is impossible to mention them by name; and I now extend to all my most sincere thanks for their many kindnesses. [Illustration: The first steam smack to carry lobsters in a well] NATURAL HISTORY OF THE LOBSTER. Although the lobster has been of great value to the New England States and the British Provinces as a food commodity, but little was known of its life-history and habits until within the last few years. To this ignorance has been due quite largely peculiar (and in some instances useless) laws enacted by some States. The gradual enlightenment of the public on this subject has borne good fruit, however, and most of the present State laws are founded on substantial facts instead of theories. Prof. Francis H. Herrick has been one of the most prominent of the investigators, and his summary of the present knowledge on this subject is quoted below from the Fish Commission Bulletin for 1897: (1) The fishery is declining, and this decline is due to the persistence with which it has been conducted during the last twenty-five years. There is no evidence that the animal is being driven to the wall by any new or unusual disturbance of the forces of nature. (2) The lobster is migratory only to the extent of moving to and from the shore, and is, therefore, practically a sedentary animal. Its movements are governed chiefly by the abundance of food and the temperature of the water.