BOSTON (AP) – The struggling lobster population off the state’s southeastern coast and Rhode Island still hasn’t bounced back from a steep and unexplained population drop earlier this decade, according to a report released this week.

The lobster stock crashed after overfishing, an oil spill in the mid-1990s and a disfiguring shell disease hit the stock, though no one factor was ever named as the cause.

Numerous lobstermen dropped out of the industry and restrictions tightened, but the area has yet to see much improvement, according to the assessment by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages the stock.

The report singled out the southeastern New England stock for its depleted population, low numbers of lobsters being born and relatively high catch level. It also said an internal panel had recommended further restrictions.

“They can’t possibly stand any more (fishing) effort,” said Pat Smith, chair of the commission’s American lobster management board. “That’s what the fishermen and everybody is working on.”

But despite the poor assessment, lobstermen say things are turning around. Lanny Dellinger, a Newport, R.I. lobsterman, said he’s basing his optimism on what he sees on the water, rather than on paper.

This year’s report used data from 2003 and parts of 2004, meaning it wouldn’t account for improvements this year. Dellinger and others said the lobsters are bigger and much more plentiful.

“We’re seeing tons of life in our pots that we haven’t seen for years,” said Dellinger, vice president of the Rhode Island Lobstermen’s Association.

The affected waters include Buzzards Bay, waters off Martha’s Vineyard and the entire Rhode Island coast. The worst of the crash came between 1999 and 2002, when the catch dropped from roughly 8.2 million pounds to about 3.8 million pounds. The fishermen have been struggling to reverse the trend since, taking steps including increasing the minimum size for the lobsters they can keep and broadening escape hatches on traps to allow bigger lobsters out.

Peter Brodeur, a Point Judith, R.I., lobsterman, says a requirement that lobstermen mark female lobsters and throw them back is also working. The lobsters can’t be kept until they molt and the mark disappears, giving the animals additional months and years of egg production.

In addition, pending restrictions would cut the number of traps allowed in the area to about 150,000. Just a few years ago, 1.3 million traps were allowed by permit in the same area, Dellinger said.

The fight over tighter rules was “blood bath,” Dellinger said, adding he knows more rules may be coming. But he said the fleet and the catch has already been pared down so much that he hopes most will be able to absorb added regulations.

“I think the guys that have made it, we’ve gone through the worst of it,” he said.

According to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, overall lobster abundance in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank is relatively high with a positive long-term outlook.

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