For many years, Ned Bailey has been catching and releasing lobsters with a “V-notch” back into the sea to support sustainable fishing and conservation efforts.
In his yellow waterproof suit, Ned Bailey strolls around the Falmouth River mouth with his fluffy collie dog, pulling up a series of dark lobster traps.
The 58-year-old man has been fishing off the south coast of Cornwall (England) for nearly four decades.
He tosses back stray crabs, a few starfish, and a writhing eel. Occasionally, Bailey pulls up a lobster: If its carapace is longer than 90 mm, he will keep it. If not, it will be thrown back into the sea as per regulations.
But today, a lobster with a belly full of black eggs is set aside. This is a female lobster carrying around 20,000 eggs.
Bailey carves a small “V” into its mottled green and yellow tail before gently placing the lobster back into the water.
Now, the lobster is marked as illegal for others to catch. And if all goes well, its reproductive capacity will be secured for several more years.
The V-notching method is a conservation strategy used to help replenish lobster stocks. Depending on the perspective, it is a helpful way to protect the future of lobsters or a “nightmare,” according to The Guardian.
Mr. Ned Bailey with a female lobster carrying 20,000 eggs. (Photo: Lewis Michael Jefferies).
Compensatory Measures
Since 2000, regulations banning the catching of lobsters and crayfish with a V-notch have emerged in England.
For Bailey, this measure is a way of self-regulation, also known as “compensatory”, for the yield he catches from the sea.
“I want the lobster fishing industry to exist even when I’m not fishing (anymore),” he says.
About half of the individuals from commercial lobster boats at the Falmouth River mouth have chosen to V-notch vulnerable lobsters, particularly egg-bearing females.
Mr. Ned Bailey inspecting lobster traps. (Photo: Lewis Michael Jefferies).
V-notching is not believed to cause pain to the crustaceans. It serves as a signal to other fishers that they should leave these lobsters in the rocks and reefs to grow.
Although V-notching means a small portion of lobsters is excluded from the catch, its higher value helps maintain the reserve rather than being sold in the market.
“If anything happens to the lobster population when levels drop too low, it will take a long time to recover,” Chris Weston, a technician at the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow, explains.
Lobsters grow relatively slowly, taking up to 7 years to mature, he notes.
While it seems that female lobsters are full of eggs, their survival rates as larvae are very fragile. In the first four weeks, a newly hatched lobster measuring less than 1 cm is categorized as plankton – a simple meal for predators in the ocean.
“In the wild, the survival rate is 0.005%,” Weston states. “That means only one or two out of 20,000 eggs might survive.”
The Padstow hatchery was established in 2000 after the lobster population in Norway declined to the point where European lobsters were classified as “near threatened.”
“Overfishing has led to a population decline that has not yet recovered to previous levels,” Weston explains.
Controversy
Unlike species like bass or cod, there are no EU quotas limiting the number of lobsters that can be caught.
“In theory, as long as you follow all the rules, you can catch as many as you like throughout the year,” Weston says.
Lobsters are also a coveted catch, integral to the cultural identity and livelihoods of many fishing communities in Cornwall.
In 2019, 278 tons of lobsters landed in Cornish ports, valued at over $4.84 million. This lucrative trade means that V-notching has drawn mixed reactions.
“Some fishermen see it as a nightmare because it takes away part of their catch,” Weston notes. “We need an information campaign to encourage measures like V-notching.”
V-notching a lobster’s tail. (Photo: Lewis Michael Jefferies).
This activity can also be viewed as an additional layer of protection beyond legal requirements.
In early 2023, two fishing companies in Cornwall were prosecuted for catching egg-bearing lobsters and fined over $62,000. In one case, the lobster’s tail had been scrubbed clean to remove evidence of the eggs.
“There may be some unscrupulous fishermen trying to get rid of the eggs, but the minimum size regulations and V-notching are tangible measures that you cannot remove,” Simon Cadman, the chief enforcement officer of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, states.
While it is challenging to measure the impact of this activity, the Irish Fisheries Development Agency (BIM) has tested: They would pay 70% of a lobster’s value if it was brought to fisheries officials for V-notching.
About 40,000 lobsters were marked last year, and the agency found that, along with minimum and maximum size restrictions, V-notching helps preserve 25-39% of reproductive capacity in Ireland’s lobster population.
A study on the fishing practices of the Orkney Islands, analyzing the impact of marking 3,000 lobsters, primarily egg-bearing females, found that V-notching would “pay for itself” in the long run, boosting egg production by 25%.
In Maine, a report showed that 87.5% of interviewed fishermen approved of the V-notching law.
In Cornwall, however, things remain more localized and are left to fishermen like Bailey who have become untrained scientists. He often pulls the same traps along an 18 km stretch of sea and expresses “delight” when he catches a lobster he previously marked – a precise 90-degree angle.
“I believe the work we are doing is making a difference,” he asserts.
