For eight weeks this fall, the research vessel ALICE SIEGMUND of Rockland has been towing a plankton net once a week, searching for fingernail-size larval lobsters. Marine research staff from the Island Institute have been carrying out the fieldwork under the direction of Dr. Lewis Incze of the University of Southern Maine Biosciences Research Institute. This project aims to record the abundance and timing of the floating little lobsters, hatched this summer, which will reach market size in six to eight years. This information will help in understanding the populations of Maine’s most productive fishery, and eventually assist in developing models that could predict future catches.