Current through September 9, 2024
(a)
Definitions
As used in this section and section
26-157c-2
of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies:
(1) "ASMFC" means the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission, created under the terms of an interstate compact ratified
by the State of Connecticut (section 26-295 of the Connecticut General
Statutes) and approved by the U. S. Congress ( Public Law 539, Chapter 283,
Second Session, 77th Congress; 56 Stat. 267, approved May 4, 1942, as amended
by Public Law 721, 81st Congress, approved August 19, 1950).
(2) "American Lobster Fishery Management
Plan" or "FMP" means the plan and its amendments and addendums approved and
published by the ASMFC to manage the interstate lobster fishery.
(3) "Carapace length" means the length of a
lobster as measured along the length of the carapace (body shell) parallel to
the centerline from the rear end of the eye socket to the rear end of the
carapace.
(4) "LMA" means any
lobster management area as defined in the FMP.
(5) "LMA 6" means Lobster Management Area 6
as defined in the FMP.
(6) "LMA 6
maximum length" means a carapace length of 5-1/4 inches.
(7) "LMA 6 minimum length" means a carapace
length of 3-3/8 inches.
(8) "LMA 6
v-notch" means a v-notch, with or without setal hairs, at least one-eighth inch
in depth.
(9) "Lobster" means
American lobster (Homarus americanus).
(10) "V-Notch" means a notch or indentation
in the flipper next to and to the right of the center flipper as viewed from
the dorsal surface with the tail oriented toward the observer. Such a mark is
applied to protect certain lobsters from harvest for conservation
purposes.
(11) "LMA 6 closed
season" means from September 8 through November 28 of each
year.
(b) Lobsters may be
taken only by lobster pots, traps, trawls or similar devices or by skin diving,
including the use of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, or by hand.
The use of spears or hooks of any kind to take lobsters and the possession of
lobsters taken by any method that pierces the shell is prohibited.
(c) No person shall buy, sell, give away,
offer for sale or possess, regardless where taken:
(1) any female lobster with ova or spawn
attached or from which the ova or spawn has been removed; or
(2) any female lobster bearing a LMA 6
v-notch or any female lobster which is mutilated in a manner which could hide,
obscure or obliterate such a mark; or
(3) any lobster with a carapace length less
than the LMA 6 minimum length, except as provided in section 26-157j of the
Connecticut General Statutes; or
(4) any lobster with a carapace length
greater than the LMA 6 maximum length, except that a person may buy, sell, give
away, offer for sale or possess a lobster with a carapace length greater than
the LMA 6 maximum length provided:
(A) such
lobsters are not taken from LMA 6 waters; and
(B) such lobsters are not greater than the
maximum legal length in effect for the waters of the LMA or nation of origin;
and
(C) any seafood dealer,
wholesaler or shipper in possession of such lobsters possesses a manifest, bill
of lading, invoice, purchase order, seafood dealer report or other written
documentation identifying the vessel, state, lobster management area or nation
of origin, as applicable, where such lobsters were received, the number of such
lobsters received that are greater than said LMA 6 maximum length and the date
such lobsters were received. Such documentation shall be retained by the
seafood dealer, wholesaler or shipper for a period of six months from the date
such lobsters were received and shall be made available to law enforcement
officers upon request; and
(D) any
vessel possessing or landing lobster greater than the LMA 6 maximum length
shall have a valid federal limited access American lobster permit issued
pursuant to
50 CFR
697.4.
(d) When caught, any lobster specified in
subdivisions (1) to (4), inclusive, of subsection (c) of this section or
subdivisions (1) or (3) of subsection (e) of this section shall, without
avoidable injury, be immediately returned to the waters from which
taken.
(e) No person authorized to
take lobsters from any LMA other than or in addition to LMA 6, shall possess on
the waters or shores of this state:
(1) any
lobster with a carapace length that is less than the largest minimum length or
greater than the smallest maximum length specified in the FMP for any LMA for
which the licensee has elected to engage in lobster fishing activity;
(2) any lobster pot with an escape vent as
defined in subsection (a) of section
26-157c-2
of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies with an unobstructed opening
less than the largest dimension specified in the FMP for any LMA for which the
licensee has elected to engage in lobster fishing activity; or
(3) any female lobster that does not meet the
most restrictive LMA-specific v-notch definition specified in the FMP for any
LMA for which the licensee has elected to engage in lobster fishing activity,
or any female lobster which is mutilated in a manner which could hide, obscure
or obliterate such a mark.
(f) Any licensee authorized to take lobsters
from an LMA in which the FMP requires a v-notch to be applied to all
egg-bearing female lobsters shall, as specified in the FMP, apply such v-notch
to all such lobsters taken when fishing in that LMA.
(g) During the LMA 6 closed season, no person
engaged in commercial fishing or lobster fishing for personal use shall possess
or land lobsters taken from LMA 6 by any method.
