Size selectivity of standardized lobster traps used in long-term monitoring and their ability to catch large European lobsters (Homarus gammarus).

Harvesting the resources of the ocean has been an integral part of both human settlement and advancements for millennia. In later years, the effects of unsustainable harvesting have become clearer, and several management regulations have been sanctioned to preserve populations that are being threatened by overfishing. One of these management regulations is Marine protected areas (MPAs). In Norway, the Flødevigen lobster reserve was established in 2006 to study the effect of protection on the local European lobster (Homarus gammarus) population. The population has since increased in both numbers and size, but lately the maximum observed body size of lobsters within the reserve has been stagn…