V-Notching: It's as Regular as Breathing

For Phil Torrey, Winter Habor lobsterman, V-notching is as regular as breathing. “I’m a stickler. My dad taught me. My family’s been doing it a long time,” he said.

Last year Torrey, 53, notched more than 3,500 female lobsters. How did he keep track? “I kept the notches,” he said. Each and every one of those lobsters was notched with a V-notch tool, not a knife. “A knife is a pain in the ass. Too time consuming. A notching tool is fast. It makes the right notch and it heals up fast. If you use a knife, it might go too deep,” he said.

Even when the traps are coming thick and fast over the rail, Torrey makes sure that either he or his crew get the egg-bearing females notched. “The V-notching tool doesn’t slow us down. If there’s a lot coming in the crew hands them to me and I notch them with the tool,” he explained.

Torrey’s father told him when he was a young man starting out that V-notching was a key conservation difference between the Maine lobster fishery and other New England fisheries. “It’s something that makes us stand out from other fisheries. And remember, we did this ourselves,” Torrey said, referring to the voluntary practice of lobstermen long ago. “We were the ones that have been doing this for generations.”

Torrey fishes in federal waters and has found numerous notched lobsters thus far this season. “There’s a ton right now. Offshore, it’s crazy. I’d say I get ten notched to a buoy. And a lot are healed over.”

In terms of conservation, V-notching egg-bearing females just makes sense to Torrey. “Instead of having a gauge change or a vent change like they were talking about [Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission] isn’t it easier to V-notch?” he asked. “This is the way to keep the fishery going. We need to keep doing it. If we are all notching and they [federal regulators] are checking and finding lots of notched females, it pays well for us in a lot of ways.”

Christian LaMontagne, 26, who lobsters from Long Island in Casco Bay, is a strong proponent of V-notching as well, in part because the practice originated long ago among lobstermen themselves. “Lobstermen did it voluntarily long before it became a law. They went to the Legislature to have the state implement it,” he said. “It was the first thing Maine lobstermen advocated for.”

Making sure that a boat’s crew know when and how to notch is important. “Captains need to tell them how important it is, that it’s the most important way to protect our fishery. And it’s not hard to do,” he said.

The best way to get a good notch is to use a stainless steel notching tool. LaMontagne uses a pig ear clipper, which makes a clean and precise notch. After a good day hauling traps there are lots of V’s littering his boat’s dash, which is fine with LaMontagne. “It means we are gaining females who will reproduce and that means more lobsters,” he said.

LaMontagne is grateful for the opportunity to build a career as a lobsterman and plans to pay it forward. “I think a lot about how there’s generations of lobster fishermen before me who never knew me, but knew to take care of the resource so that I could fish. And it is my duty to carry that torch on and ensure that there are lobsters for future generations to fish just like myself.”