Crismale, who dedicated himself to clamming this year, had been among the few remaining holdouts in an industry devastated by a steady decline in lobster stocks. Only about 30 full-time lobstermen are left in Connecticut, down from more than 300 in the years before a devastating lobster die-off in 1999.

"We're losing a way of life. We're losing a heritage," said Crismale, 61, the leader of the Connecticut Commercial Lobstermen's Association.

Some argued last year that the species was rebounding, and fishermen fought back a proposal for a five-year ban on lobster fishing south of Cape Cod, Mass. But that optimism is fading. Researchers who trawl the waters of Long Island Sound for a survey that began in 1984 say they have never seen so few lobsters.

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