Prince Edward Island lobster fishermen are submitting conservation plans to the federal government. (CBC)

Southeastern P.E.I. lobster fishermen have agreed to changes to help protect their industry.

Fishermen in the area voted Thursday on a conservation plan that would see 50 of them sell their licences back to the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and those who continue to fish will set 36 fewer traps each.

"Through a secret ballot vote in Montague, they voted 74 per cent in favour of some kind of sustainability plan," Bobby Jenkins, chairman of Area 26A advisory council, said Friday.

The department has $50 million to hand out to struggling Atlantic lobster fishermen, if they can present a strategy that ensures the conservation of lobster stocks. The Area 26A plan would be phased in gradually through to 2011, and in return the fishermen want roughly $10 million from the federal government, Jenkins said.

"Hopefully, that'll be enough to sustain this fishery, and we'll see some kind of good results from that," he said.

The plan is the final one from the province's the three fishing areas.

Fishermen between Victoria and North Cape have proposed that they sell back 34 licences to the federal government. On the North Shore, they voted to give up 40 traps each.

Mike McGeoghegan, president of the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association, is hoping that setting fewer traps will mean less lobster on the market, which in turn will drive up prices.

He said fishermen need to be able to earn a better income in order to survive.

"The ones that are left, the younger generation, the guys who are coming behind us, try to get the money up for them so they can make a decent living at fishing," McGeoghegan said.

Lobster fishermen Brody Creed, who may be hauling fewer traps into his boat next season, voted reluctantly in favour of the Area 26A plan because he isn't sure it will work.

"It's more of a carrot stick. Here's the millions of dollars — go along with the plan, this is what you get," he said.

"We need the price up. We can talk conservation until we're blue in the face, but unless we get the prices changed in this fishery, we're all going out anyway."