Canadian Maritimes Fishermen and Scientists Research Society Lobster Recruitment Index from Standard Traps

American lobster (Homarus americanus)is a highly prized and valuable commercial species. A primary research focus for the Fishermen and Scientists Research Society (FSRS) is the recruitment of lobster into the commercial fishery (become large enough to catch). During the regular commercial season, over 100 volunteer fishermen on Canada's east coast count, sex and measure the size of lobsters from their science traps and record them in a logbook. They also indicate if lobsters are berried, tagged, and/or v-notched. Participants also monitor bottom temperatures by placing a computerized temperature recorder, or VEMCO minilog, in one of their project traps for the entire season. The resulting information are subsequently quality controlled by a data manager, loaded to a relational database and routinely used for resource management purposes including American lobster assessments.