. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. 22 BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES PROGRAMS BCF's New lobster Trap May Open Offshore Fishery A new steel pot (trap) that can be used in offshore, deep-water, lobstering may lead to a new fishery for Gloucester, Mass., and oth- er coastal fishing centers. It was developed by BCF's Exploratory Fishing and Gear Re- search Base in Gloucester. The new pot has excited fishermen. At present, lobsters are caught inshore using wooden slat boxes with net openings-- and offshore with trawls. A wooden box can- not be used in deep water because it floats
. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. 22 BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES PROGRAMS BCF's New lobster Trap May Open Offshore Fishery A new steel pot (trap) that can be used in offshore, deep-water, lobstering may lead to a new fishery for Gloucester, Mass., and oth- er coastal fishing centers. It was developed by BCF's Exploratory Fishing and Gear Re- search Base in Gloucester. The new pot has excited fishermen. At present, lobsters are caught inshore using wooden slat boxes with net openings-- and offshore with trawls. A wooden box can- not be used in deep water because it floats. And the trawl often injures lobsters when catching them and again when it is raised to a vessel's deck. Massachusetts law forbids landing dead lobsters. The woodenboxes are strung in strings of 4 to 6 on the sea bottom with a buoyed line. Most inshore lobstermen fish within 1-1 j miles off shore with lines 75-120 feet long. The average take is one pound per pot dur- ing the season's height. The new plastic-covered steel pot, ap- proximate inside dimensions 5x4x2 feet, weighs 138 pounds. It is more than twice as large as the inshore wooden box. Now the off- shore pot fisherman will be able to string 30 to 100 steel pots per line 1,200 fathoms long. Pulled every 24 hours, the catch can be 20 pounds per pot. It is estimated that an aver- age catch per pot of 10 pounds could make a profitable industry. The Past 10 Years During the past 10 years, an increasing number of vessels converted from fish drag- ging to lobster dragging because lobster was extremely valuable. In 1966, million pounds of lobster were t a k e n by inshore pots—and million pounds by offshore dragging. Most of the catch was taken in New England waters. Preliminary 1967 fig- ures indicated 5 million pounds taken by trawl, while the pot take fell below the 1966 figure. The catch value increased. Following is the cruise report of BCF's exploratory vessel "Delaware," which tried the new pot. (C
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