Basically, two considerations went into the original season choices. One was the biology of the lobsters. The idea was to keep as many females protected as possible that were going to be carrying eggs, and to protect soft-shell lobsters. The second consideration was in relation to the timing. The idea was to not have all the lobsters from all the Maritimes entering the market at once. They spaced it out so that you could get a smooth flow of lobsters into the system.
Then also, the oceanography is different. You can fish in the gulf in the summer, but you can't fish in the gulf in the winter, because it's ice-covered, whereas down in Southwest Nova you can fish in the winter. These were the considerations that went into the system, and they make sense.