V-Notching: A Simple Act That Sustains Maine's Lobster Fishery

V-notching is one of the most impactful conservation practices available to Maine lobstermen. And it is a practice that evolved voluntarily by lobstermen.

Quietly and consistently, generations of Maine lobstermen have preserved egg-bearing female lobsters by cutting a small V-shaped notch in their tails before releasing them back into the ocean. This simple act, repeated thousands of times each season, has helped maintain the health of the lobster population and the sustainability of the fishery.

V-notching an egg-bearing female means she can repeatedly produce more young, sustaining the population in the future. MLMC photo.

Now, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) and the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) are teaming up to remind lobstermen why this long-standing tradition still matters and to encourage lobstermen to keep the practice strong.

Harpswell lobsterman George Prince, 58, has been lobstering since he was 8 years old. “My father taught me. You measure and you notch,” he said. “It’s singlehandedly the most important regulation we have. It’s sustained the fishery for decades. When I get new crew, I teach them how to notch.”

Lobstermen began voluntarily marking eggers decades ago as a way to ensure the survival of the fishery. After World War II, the practice gained support when many lobstermen credited increasing catches to v-notching. Marking egg-bearing females was originally done by punching a hole in the tail. In 1948, Maine passed a law to mark egg-bearing lobsters with a V-shaped notch in the tail rather than a round hole. From that time on, it became known as the V-notch program.

The late Eddie Blackmore, a Stonington lobsterman and MLA president during the 1970s and 1980s, recalled in an interview many years ago, “We decided that if we were going to keep it [the fishery] going, we needed to do something to replenish the supply. … When I had an especially good day, I would notch one or two big egged females as a way of investing in the future of the industry. We didn’t have to do it, but the idea caught on and a lot of people began to preserve the proven eggers in this way.”

V-notching works because it gives a female lobster multiple chances to reproduce. Once a lobster is notched, it is protected from harvest, sometimes for several years, allowing it to carry and release eggs many times. As the female lobster grows, so too does the number of eggs she carries. This helps maintain a strong breeding population, a critical factor in the long-term health of the stock.

It doesn’t take long to V-notch an egged lobster, even during the busiest days of the season. “It takes a second at most,” said Nick Pellechia, 28, who lobsters from Cape Elizabeth. “I use the tip of my measuring tool. I’m holding the lobster to see if its female and then I just apply pressure with my thumb. It’s easy. At the end of the day I see all these little notches all over the dash.”

The MLA fought hard throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s to get V-notching recognized as core conservation measure, however, many biologists doubted its conservation value and worried it might harm the lobster. In 1975, Maine moved the notch to the center right flipper, ending concerns that it could impact a lobster’s survival, health, or growth.

States outside of Maine did not adopt v-notching until 1995 when the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) took over the lobster management plan. Lobster biologists came around a few years later, in 2000, when new scientific studies showed that V-notching was extremely effective in conserving reproductive-sized lobsters and increasing recruitment. V-notching became mandatory under the ASMFC lobster plan in 2002 for Lobster Management Area 1 and the Gulf of Maine portion of Area 3.

V-notching is now credited as one of the reasons that Maine’s lobster fishery has remained robust while others along the East Coast have struggled. It’s an example of conservation born not from regulations, but from the values of the fishing community itself.

“I’ve been notching so many this year, it’s incredible,” Islesford lobsterman Bruce Fernald said. “I use my knife. I have a chunk of rubber on the hauler and I just notch and get her overboard. Sure, it’s discouraging to haul a trap and one half are notched but it’s what keeps the resource strong and healthy.”

As the summer fishing season gets into full swing, MLA and NEFSA will be working together to share stories about V-notching from lobstermen and to get the message out: V-notching is a tradition worth keeping. By passing down the practice and the ethic behind it, Maine lobstermen will continue to lead the way in responsible, sustainable fishing, ensuring that Maine’s lobstering heritage continues, one V-notch at a time.

More information can be found at www.vnotch.info.