Female reproductive dynamics of the offshore American lobster fishery are not well understood due to the difficulties associated with biological sampling offshore. This lack of knowledge limits our understanding of population dynamics and the impacts of fishery removals on the offshore lobster resource. Addressing needs identified by stock assessment scientists, we determined the size at which female lobsters reach sexual maturity for two offshore areas (offshore Southern New England and eastern Georges Bank) utilizing data from commercial lobster gear and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center bottom trawl survey. A total of 491 female lobsters were collected and assigned a maturity status based on standard ovarian staging techniques. The size at which 50% of females in the population are mature (L₅₀) occurred at a smaller size (L₅₀ = 79.5 mm) in Southern New England compared to eastern Georges Bank (L₅₀ = 91.9 mm). Comparisons of our results to historical data from nearby regions show only a slight decline in Southern New England, but, depending on the data source, a larger decline in size at maturity for Georges Bank. These maturity estimates for offshore lobsters provide new information for assessment scientists and managers on lobster population demographics in a data-poor region of the fishery, and reinforce the value achieved by working collaboratively with the fishing industry to address data gaps in the offshore lobster fishery.

由于与近海生物取样相关的困难，美国近海龙虾渔业的雌性繁殖动态尚不清楚。这种知识的缺乏限制了我们对种群动态和渔业清除对近海龙虾资源的影响的理解。为了满足种群评估科学家确定的需求，我们利用商业龙虾设备和东北渔业科学中心底拖网调查的数据确定了两个近海区域（新英格兰南部近海和乔治银行东部）雌性龙虾达到性成熟的大小。共收集了 491 只雌性龙虾，并根据标准卵巢分期技术为其分配了成熟状态。人口中 50% 的女性成熟时的大小（L _{50) 与东部乔治银行 (L 50} = 91.9 毫米)相比，新英格兰南部的尺寸较小 (L _{50 = 79.5 毫米)。}将我们的结果与附近地区的历史数据进行比较显示，新英格兰南部仅略有下降，但根据数据来源，乔治银行的到期规模下降幅度更大。这些对近海龙虾的成熟度估计为评估科学家和管理人员提供了关于渔业数据匮乏地区龙虾种群人口统计数据的新信息，并加强了通过与渔业合作解决近海龙虾渔业数据差距所取得的价值。