Gear & Fishing Methods

Modern lobster traps are designed not just to catch lobsters, but to let the wrong ones go.

The Trap (Pot)

Typically made of coated wire mesh, a trap has two "rooms": the kitchen (where the bait is) and the parlor (where they get trapped).

Conservation Features

• Escape Vents: Rectangular holes sized precisely to allow juvenile (undersized) lobsters to walk right out of the trap, leaving only legal-sized ones.
• Ghost Panels (Biodegradable): A section of the trap is held shut with a biodegradable hog ring. If the trap is lost at sea, this ring rots away, opening the door so the trap doesn't continue "ghost fishing" forever.

Ropes & Buoys

Each fisherman has a unique buoy color pattern. To protect whales, fishermen use:

• Sinking Line: Groundlines that sink to the bottom rather than floating in loops where whales swim.
• Weak Links: Rope inserts designed to break if a large whale exerts pressure on them.

Future Tech: On-Demand ("Rope-less") Fishing

To completely eliminate entanglement risk, the industry is testing systems where buoys are kept on the seafloor and only released to the surface via an acoustic signal when the fisherman is ready to haul. This is expensive and controversial but represents a potential future for the fishery.