Worried Vineyard lobstermen are breathing a little easier this week following a meeting held last week with fisheries regulators in Rhode Island, where a proposed five-year moratorium on lobster fishing was placed on the shelf — at least for now.

Though fishing restrictions are likely for next year, in an all-day meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick, R.I., the American Lobster Management Board voted before an audience of hundreds of lobstermen to explore alternative measures, including reducing the annual catch by 75 or 50 per cent. The board is made up of fisheries managers from eastern seaboard states.

The goal of the meeting was to decide what to do following a report issued in April citing the severe decline of lobsters in waters from southern New England to Virginia. Written by the American Lobster Technical Committee for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the report painted a stark picture of a devastated lobster fishery with plummeting landings and disappearing habitat amid warming water conditions. Without drastic measures, the lobster fishery will cease to exist, the report said.

The report drew critical comments from lobster fishermen around the region, including on the Vineyard, who disputed the findings and said a five-year moratorium would ruin their livelihood. Some attended the Thursday meeting and came away relieved at the outcome.

“They’ve got to do something, but I don’t think a five-year moratorium is the answer,” said David (Tubby) Medeiros, a Vineyard lobster and conch fisherman. “This is a relief for the guys who go lobstering full-time,” he added.

About a dozen lobstermen make their living on the Vineyard, most of them out of Menemsha. There are many more who fish for lobsters and also other things, including conch and groundfish.

Bill Adler, president of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, said yesterday: “I feel very good. However, I am cautious.” Mr. Adler is a member of the management board which voted unanimously to direct the technical committee to look at other options, including reducing fishing by 75 per cent, reducing fishing by 50 per cent or do nothing.

“Although everything has been put off, once this gets done and that gets done, I don’t think the commission is going to walk away from this issue,” Mr. Adler predicted.

While the daylong meeting covered many issues, Mr. Adler said the front and center issue was the April report on the state of the lobster fishery. Amid questions about the technical report, the board moved to have the April report be reviewed by outside scientists. But members were unable to come to a consensus on how this should be done. “We couldn’t agree,” Mr. Adler said.

Toni Kerns, a lobster planner for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, said yesterday that the idea of a moratorium remains on the table until a management plan is written and ready to go out for public comment. “A moratorium is still an option,” she said.

Next week the commission meets in Alexandria, Va., for their summer meeting. There will be further discussions about the technical paper written in April and its further review.

Lobster fishing around Martha’s Vineyard was once highly profitable. More lobsters were landed here than consumed, and lobsters were exported to the mainland. Now the Vineyard imports lobsters from Maine and Canada, where stocks remain plentiful. Vineyard fishermen still land lobsters, but far fewer than 10 years ago.

Mr. Medeiros said the lobster fishery is still viable and he disputes the findings of the technical report that there are far fewer juvenile lobsters out there. “You talk to the guys who fish offshore, from New Bedford, they catch and release lots of short lobsters, by the thousands,” Mr. Medeiros said. He continued:

“You listen to the old-timers. They tell you that the lobsters are in a cycle. It just takes time for them to come back, even though things are changing. It is getting better slightly.”

Mr. Medeiros and Mr. Adler were both critical of fisheries managers. “There are now less lobster traps out there. They should wait and see if those new restrictions have helped before hitting us hard again,” Mr. Medeiros said.

At the meeting last Thursday, Mr. Adler said much attention was focused on exploring ways to help lobstermen qualify for disaster relief in the event of a moratorium. “We asked the feds how they would help get lobstermen disaster relief if there was a moratorium. Listening to them, it sounded like a nightmare. When all was said, the disaster relief sounded like it was worse than the disaster,” he said.