Some students and lobstermen are participating in a new state program designed to restore the Long Island Sound's dwindling lobster population.V-notch is a voluntary program that has lobstermen and local students returning female lobsters to the water so they can continue to reproduce. When lobstermen pull up their pots, high school students from one of Connecticut?s three marine vocational high schools measure the females. If they are a certain size, the students cut a v-shaped notch off the tail and throw them back. The lobsters will then be protected for two years so they can reproduce. Currently, the students and lobstermen are not being paid to participate in v-notch. However, the state hopes to one day pay the students for their work and compensate the lobstermen for females thrown back into the water. The program will stop once the water temperature reaches 68 degrees to prevent infections in the marked lobsters. Participants hope by the time the water gets cold again, they?ll be getting paid for their efforts.