[Swimmer]

In regard to the Maine lobster fishery and those in charge........with the exception of the government overseers, all research was accepted by the scienctists and lay persons for the most part as being valid. That included one lobstermans wife who talked her husband and other lobstermen into throughing a wood claw plug into a can everytime they opened a trap and found a female lobster in order to get a somewhat valid female lobster population in certain areas. The government kept saying the female lobster population was depleted and she proved it wasn't. The government also said there weren't enough V-notched lobsters, females that are automatically thrown back as breeders, and the lobstermen proved them wrong again.

My further point here again is that our fishery in Massachusetts and south of here is not supported by our opinon because it is considered lacking in scientific meaning. The government says we are not scientists. I say we are the most important link in the chain. If we could convince the scientists that we do hold important information and they let us join the management process as opposed to shooing us away we may have to perform certain tasks for them, such as recording total catch, and how were keepers and how many were not. It is something to consider.