PORTLAND – Maine lobstermen set records for their lobster catch and the value of the catch in 2002, despite warnings that the harvest probably would decline.

For the year, lobstermen hauled in 57.2 million pounds of lobster valued at $188.5 million, according to preliminary figures from the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

The 2002 catch represents an 18 percent increase over 2001, and equals that of 2000. The catch, however, will increase and exceed that of 2000 when the final numbers are tabulated.

Lobstermen and state officials cautioned that much of the increase might be attributed to better reporting by lobster dealers.

Still, the results came as a pleasant surprise.

“Any time you do better than you thought you would, that’s good,” said Dave Cousens, a Thomaston lobsterman and president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

Many had expected the 2002 catch to decline because of a study three years ago that showed lobster stocks in decline in Penobscot Bay, said Carl Wilson, lobster biologist with the Department of Marine Resources.

“We don’t know exactly what to credit this to, whether it be favorable environmental conditions, a strong conservation effort in the fishery, an absence of predators, or luck,” he said. “But the Maine lobster fishery is still doing very well.”

The Maine lobster industry has boomed in the past decade with an annual catch ranging from 36 million to 57 million pounds a year. Before the 1990s, the typical annual harvest for decades was 17 million to 22 million pounds.

Maine accounts for more than 70 percent of the total New England catch, and has set landings records in five of the past six years.

According to state figures, the catch went up in every coastal county except Lincoln, where landings declined slightly. Knox County, as usual, had the top lobster catch, followed by Hancock, Cumberland and Washington counties.

Pete McAleney, owner of New Meadows Lobster in Portland, said the lobstermen he buys from said their harvest was about the same as in 2001, or slightly down. But the lobsters seemed to be bigger than usual and of high quality, he said.

Those factors possibly contributed to the record price, $3.30 a pound, that lobstermen received for their catch. That was up from $3.17 a pound in 2001.

“If you have a weak product, then you can’t sell it,” McAleney said.

Despite the strong catch, lobstermen are worried about the years ahead. The catch in southern New England has plummeted the past couple of years and the fishery has nearly vanished in Long Island Sound.

Cousens said Maine won’t experience the sharp decline of southern New England because Maine has colder waters and hasn’t seen the shell disease that has plagued Long Island Sound.

“But I would bet in the next three years you’d see a drop-off,” he said. “But no one knows for sure how much.”