Early Life History of American Lobsters in Coastal Southern New England Waters.

McCormick, Declan¹*, Jeremy Collie¹, Rick Wahle², Conor McManus³, ¹University of Rhode Island, ²University of Maine, ³Rhode Island DEM

The Southern New England (SNE) American lobster stock, previously one of the largest fisheries in the region, has suffered an abrupt decline since the early 2000s and is now severely depleted. The SNE lobster stock has struggled to recover and is currently experiencing recruitment failure, with a population bottleneck occurring at some point between the egg and juvenile life stages. The objective of this project is to quantify the abundance and spatial distribution of pre-recruit lobsters in coastal Rhode Island waters and to determine at which life-history stage the population bottleneck is occurring. Field sampling was conducted during the summers of 2021 and 2022 and targeted larval, young-of-year, and juvenile lobsters. Post-settlement lobsters were surveyed using passive benthic collectors deployed at ten sites in Rhode Island Sound from May to September. Lobster larvae were sampled with weekly neuston net tows at concurrent sites from June to August. Spatial and temporal data on larval and post-settlement lobster abundances will be used to determine whether larval or post-larval survival is limiting recruitment. Developing a greater understanding of the dynamics regulating lobster recruitment in southern New England is vital for the continued management of SNE lobster stock. This proposal complements parallel efforts currently funded up and down the East Coast, which together provide a more complete understanding of lobster dynamics throughout the species’ range.