SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick – A new federal fisheries plan will increase the minimum size of lobster that New Brunswick fishermen are allowed to catch.

The changes, designed to promote conservation of the stock, were announced Thursday by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Under the plan, the minimum carapace size of lobsters caught gradually increases from the current 2.7 inches to 2.8 inches by 2005 in most areas.

The carapace is the hard upper shell of the crustaceans’ bodies.

The size increase will also jump from 2.8 inches to just over 3 inches by 2006 in at least one sector. The minimum carapace size in Maine is 3.25 inches. The multi-year plan for the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence region came together following talks with the lobster fishing industry.