Quantifying the Impact of V-Notching on Egg Production in the Newfoundland Lobster Stock

American lobster (Homarus americanus) is Canada’s most valuable seafood export, worth nearly $1 billion in 2008. While management regulations attempt to control effort in the lobster fishery, some harvesters practice a voluntary conservation measure called v-notching to further protect the stock. V-notching is when a harvester cuts a small v-shaped notch into the uropod of an ovigerous female. The notch is retained through several molts, and prohibition on sales of v-notched females increases egg production in a population where eggs are not visible on the animal every year.  V-notching is one of several conservation practices that have been adopted in Newfoundland.  Previous work showed that this practice increased the size of females, with an increase in egg production at the rate of 2% per mm increase in carapace length. Because it is a voluntary conservation measure, v-notching rates vary with geographic area. We investigated geographic and temporal variation in rates of v-notching and its contribution to egg production.  We found that the percent of animals v-notched ranged from 2% - 32% at 7 sites.  Surprisingly, there was no relation between percent v-notched and total egg production at these sites.  This suggests that change in fecundity due to the power law relation between length and fecundity outweighs the effects of variation in rate of v-notching.  The conclusion will be investigated at the larger scale of the 18 Lobster Fishing Areas in Newfoundland.