I'll answer the second question first. This was not in our district; it was in Maine. Maine is dropping from 2,500 down to 600 to 800 traps, according to the different places, and the catch has not fallen. New Zealand and Australia have done the same thing for their rock lobster; their catch has not fallen. But I think they have spread the catch out over a longer time, which is better.
I've seen 25 lobsters in a trap, but not very often. Eight or ten or fifteen lobsters is a lot to see in a trap, and sometimes there are none; I can tell you that as well. A lot of empty ones come up in a season, too. I think we could get our trap limit and increase the whole thing. There would also be fewer traps lost and less ghost fishing. All those things would be a help to conservation.
Concerning the jumbos, there are more jumbos now. My father told me that when he started fishing in the 1940s, there were a lot of jumbos. They seemed to be fished out, but now we seem to be getting many more jumbos. I have records here....
I don't give my records out—they're personal—but I brought them with me. Fishermen are very secretive about what they have done, I can tell you. I'm up to 15% to 20% jumbos in our area. I know that because my buyer separates his catch out, so I sell the jumbos at a different price. He's the only buyer who does that in southern New Brunswick. Up to roughly 20% or 25% jumbos, you gain on the two-price system; above that, you're better off to sell in a one-price system. He gets people who are catching a better quality—I caught a better quality and better size mix—more than other buyers do. He encourages this himself.