A Billion Eggs — And a Little Friendly Competition

This summer Maine lobstermen are teaming up to tackle a big goal: protecting one billion lobster eggs in the Gulf of Maine.

In just the first month, more than 170 lobstermen joined the Billion Egg Challenge, a friendly competition among three coastal teams to see who can V-notch the most egg-bearing female lobsters and return them safely to the sea by the end of September. The public is getting in on the fun, too. More than 660 supporters have already picked a team to cheer on — and entered for a chance to win Free Lobster for a Year!

Clavin Welch is proud to V-notch. C. Welch photo.

Behind the fun is a serious conservation effort. Only about 1% of lobster eggs spawned each season survive to become legal-sized lobsters, making V-notching one of the most important conservation practices used by Maine lobstermen. By cutting a V-shaped notch in the tail of an egg-bearing female lobster before returning her to the water, a lobsterman protects that lobster from harvest so she can continue reproducing. A V-notch may remain visible for as many as three molts, giving a female up to six years of protection.

For Dwight Carver of Beals Island, V-notching egg-bearing females is just common sense. Carver has been lobstering for longer than he would like to mention. “I’ve always notched,” he said. “I think it’s awesome,” he said. “Preserving females so they remain on the bottom and reproduce, that’s got to be a good thing,” he said.

V-notching has helped strengthen the lobster population as conditions in the Gulf of Maine have changed over the past two decades. It has also become an important part of the conservation ethic that supports the sustainability of Maine’s lobster fishery.

Chris Welch, co-captain of the Southern Maine Future Catch team, finds that most lobstermen he talks are eager to participate. “It’s a fun thing to rib each other about,” he said. Southern Maine had out-notched rest of the state in late July and was leading the competition. “Southern Maine has been the bottom of the lobster world for a while and we are holding our own now,” Welch said.

Richard Howland notches another for the Downeast Tail Pinchers. MLA photo.

V-notching is something that generations of Maine lobstermen have done as a matter of course for decades, before it became mandatory in 2002. Welch believes younger participants in the Challenge are paying tribute to those who came before them. “They’ve worked hard to protect the fishery and I think they are glad to see we are taking it seriously,” he said. “It’s also a really good snapshot of the conservation measures we take to sustain the fishery.” Welch has passed that ethic on to his two sons as well. His eight-year old son, Calvin, has his own traps and has already notched seven lobsters this season, with plans to notch many more.

Up the coast, Dave Cousens, who fishes Criehaven, found himself slipping in the standings after his boat was out of commission for a week. “I’ve done over a thousand in the last three weeks,” he said. “I could have done more.”

Cousens sees V-notching as an investment that could help the fishery avoid more painful regulations, such as a gauge increase debated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in 2025. “If we V-notch every female we catch we won’t have to worry about the gauge or any other biological problem,” he said. “It’s just huge to have that insurance.”

With so few eggs surviving to adulthood, Cousens says that the more eggs in the water, the better off the fishery will be. “Hatcheries are not nearly as efficient as Mother Nature, and they are too expensive,” he said. “Here we have Mother Nature working for us to get the number of eggs up. It’s a no-brainer.”

Cousens also catches some large lobsters that exceed Maine’s legal size limit and must be returned to the water. Many are carrying enormous numbers of eggs. “The one’s I’m notching are loaded with eggs. I notched three this week that have never been notched before. Now they are protected from the offshore fleet. The oversized lobsters should all be notched,” he said.

The Billion Egg Challenge is also renewing awareness of V-notching among lobstermen who may need to slow down during the busy season and take an extra moment to notch an egg-bearing female or re-notch a lobster that are starting to fade away.

Brian Billings of Stonington, co-captain of the Midcoast Notchmen, said lobstermen in his area like the idea of friendly competition built around a strong conservation goal. “I compare it to your boat payments,” Billings said. “You are going to be paying on the boat for seven to ten years or longer. You want to protect your landings seven to ten years later as well.”

Billings grew up in a family where V-notching was simply part of fishing. “We always did it in my family, notched the seeders,” he said. “When I got older I kind of thought twice about the questionable ones. But then I thought if I do it, she’s safe for a while. So I re-notch the little nicks.”

The Downeast Tail Pinchers, meanwhile, are promising a late-season comeback. Co-captain Sonny Beal said cold water lingering in Downeast Maine has kept lobster numbers low around Jonesport and Beals Island. But he expects a stunning resurgence for his team later in the season. “I tell them that our comeback story will be something people will be talking about for the ages,” he said with a laugh.

Local lobstermen have been quick to sign up, including 10-year old Jaxson Balicki. With just ten traps, Jaxson asked Beal if he could join the team. “Why not?” Beal said and welcomed him aboard.

That spirit is at the heart of the Billion Egg Challenge: every lobster counts, every notch matters and every participant—whether fishing 10 traps or hundreds—can help protect the future of Maine’s lobster fishery.

Follow the competition at www.billioneggchallenge.org.