[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/EW-05-08-12-Lobster-Fishing.mp3|titles=EW 05-08-12 Lobster Fishing]
For decades lobster has been associated with white table cloths and waiters. But for the past few summers, lobster has been making its way onto chain restaurant menus, from Ruby Tuesday to Panera. What gives?
The lobster catch is booming. In 2011, Maine hauled in over 100 million pounds of lobster, or five times the amount caught in the 1980s. Fisheries scientists, like Carl Wilson, the lead lobster biologist at the Department of Marine Resources in Maine, suspect that there are a variety of contributing factors…
“This is due in part to increasing water temperatures, decrease in predators that would eat lobsters on the bottom, and you also have to give credit to a very strong conservation ethic with fishermen in the Gulf of Maine, and that they largely support the rules that are in place, and have advocated for conservation measures over time.”
Maine has a strong record for sustainably harvesting lobster, which has left its fisheries productive. Limits are set on licenses and animals can only be caught using lobster traps; the state prohibits trawlers.
If egg-carrying female lobsters are caught, their tails are notched. They can’t be sold with cut tails, allowing breeding to extend for another three to five years. And lobsters that fall above or below size thresholds are returned to the ocean, to ensure a viable population of the crustaceans.
Lobsters make up over 70% of Maine’s seafood harvest. Scallops, urchin, and other fishing sectors have declined. Lessons learned from lobstering should be applied to other fisheries, to diversify catch portfolios.
Web Extra
Full interview with Carl Wilson, lead lobster biologist at the Department of Marine Resources in Maine…
[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Wilson_full_web.mp3|titles=Wilson_full_web]Photo, taken on June 27, 2005, courtesy of Rob Kleine via Flickr.