NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – A plan to try to stem the decline of the southern New England lobster population is coming up for a vote in front of an interstate regulatory board.

The population of lobsters off the coast of Connecticut, Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts has declined as waters have warmed.

Fishing managers have considered tools like trap reductions and seasonal closures to try to preserve the population. They also have talked about the possibility of changing the legal harvesting size for lobsters.

An arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is scheduled to consider new management measures on Monday and Tuesday. The commission held a series of public hearings on the proposal in March.

Most U.S. lobster is brought to shore in Maine, where the harvest has been very strong for several years.


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