The lobster catch has been slow starting this season. Warren Fernald, who fishes around the Cranberry Isles, hauled 100 traps a couple of weeks ago and got only three lobsters. Landings have picked up since then. His son, Bruce Fernald, fishing farther offshore, has traps that are so full he can hardly pull them up. Many of the lobsters, big and little, are bearing eggs. He throws them back, after notching the tails to notify other lobstermen that they must not be taken and cannot be sold. They will produce for the future.

With the slow start, after at least seven years of big catches, worries mount that overfishing may be depleting the lobster population. Down the coast, south of Maine, some scientists are pressing for an increase in the small gauge, the 31/4-inch measure on one side of the brass instrument that identifies keepers. If the shell from the eye to where it meets the tail is less than that length, a lobster must be thrown back. Increasing the small gauge to 31/2 inches would mean no more 11/4-pounders for sale. Most people would be buying 11/2-pounders or bigger – at a higher price.

The argument for a change is that too many small lobsters are being harvested, threatening future egg production. Everyone seems to agree that the big females produce far more eggs and always should be thrown back. But in warmer waters farther south, lobsters mature earlier, and fewer big females are seen there. No one is talking about changing the present 5-inch maximum, measured by the large gauge on the other side of the instrument.

One study has found that in one season a single 5-pound female produces as many eggs as 18 1-pound females. Slightly larger females produce more eggs, but the big ones are still far ahead.

Bruce Fernald and some of the other lobstermen around here contend that current gauge, together with v-notching and other conservation measures should maintain the resource for the future. They are glad to see that Canadians are beginning to notch the tails, and they wish Canada would join in outlawing the harvesting of the big lobsters. Canada has no maximum size limit.

A Maine lobsterman now can run 800 traps (except for 475 at Swan’s Island and 600 at Monhegan and an area south of Portland). The restriction should eventually limit the catch. So should limited entry into the industry. Three lobstermen must quit before one, suitably qualified, can get in.

Most Maine lobstermen know that their interests lie in maintaining the resource. It would be a mistake to rush into any change in the gauge without giving other conservation efforts more time to work.