LOBSTER CRISIS: Five-year ban on lobstering possible

The New Haven Register ^ | June 11 2010 | unknown

[Brugmansian]

Lobstermen in southern New England are facing a possible five-year fishing ban after biologists made that recommendation to regulators, saying the drastic step is needed to save the depleted stock . . .

The vast majority of lobsters caught in the Northeast are trapped north of Cape Cod to Maine, an area that accounts for about 93 percent of the catch and has recently grappled with the opposite problem — a glut of lobsters on the market . . .

[Red_Devil 232]

Crawfish absoluty do have claws - and they can hurt!

[Pessimist]

Not so elsewhere.

$20 a frozen tail here in Ohio. :(

[Graybeard58]

Lobsters got claws, crawfish don’t.

Crawfish have claws.

[Graybeard58]

Sorry to have jumped on the band wagon, I should have read further before replying.

[andy58-in-nh]

I’ve frozen my tail in Ohio more than once. ;-) Come on out to the northern New England coast for your next vacation and you can get some of the finest seafood in the world at pretty reasonable prices, provided you avoid the usual tourist traps.

[Travis T. OJustice]

Lobsters got claws, crawfish don’t.

CRawfish definitely do have claws.

[Lakeshark]

Cat, um...crawfish fight.

Or would that be crayfish......

[Rebelbase]

Gulf coast shrimp and oysters, SE US red snapper and now New England Lobsters.

There me there isn’t some kind of put the fishermen out of work conspiracy going on.

[Rebelbase]

Oh forgot the Salmon restrictions in the Pac. NW.

[Gay State Conservative]

I’m *no* environmentalist but the biology here is simple.Lobsters (or any sea creature) will reproduce at a rate of “X”.There’s nothing we can do to change that fact...or that rate.If we routinely remove lobsters at the rate of “X+Y” then,eventually,they’ll disappear.

[Pessimist]

I was out there on business several months ago and we ate a Legal Seafood.

Good stuff. But that place in particular was pricey.

[andy58-in-nh]

Legal is a chain, and it is pricey (the Boston restaurants, in particular), although the food is still good. Lots of great places around the region: the Clam Box in Ipswich, MA; Woodman’s in Essex, MA; The Lobster Pound in Ogunquit, ME; the Portsmouth Brewery in Portsmouth, NH, and many more...

[Ol' Sox]

Both my brother and brother-in-law were successful lobstermen in Long Island Sound until the lobster die-off in 1999. It happened quickly, after the summer they sprayed for West Nile virus-laden mosquitos. The lower oxygen content in the Sound, an estuary, somewhat higher water temps, and run-off from the various rivers that feed into it have hampered the regrowth of the resident lobster population. After a couple of years of trying to make it work, they both ended up moving north and now fish out of NH and Maine.

My B-I-L (4th generation lobsterman) told me that there were both resident and migratory lobster populations. The migrators went from the Gulf of Maine around Cape Cod, then some went into LI Sound and others down off the southern coast of LI and New Jersey. The Jersey migration ended up with a high rate of shell infection due to a virus and the eastern residents started to show the effects of higher water temps.

All in all, there seems to be several major stressors to the lobster population, one of which is fishing, but a few fallow years won't help as much as a 2 degree drop in the local water temps.

And yes - hats off to Stew Leonard's for selling us New Brunswick lobs for $4.99/lb. one mile from my house :) for my wife of course - I can't stand the things anymore.

[ssaftler]

Ah, dear old Stewie’s! I remember when he was just starting out on Route 1 in Norwalk. Glad to see the place is still going strong, assume the kids are running the show now.

[Travis T. OJustice]

Cool, thanks, great post!

[Travis T. OJustice]

Where i grew up, they were crayfish.

[mia]

Aren't all this shortages/gluts always contrived? This is so predictable. Another industry that Obama and his ilk are destroying. He's the hand of God, don't you know.

If I remember right, this was declared several years back and was found to be bull sh*t then and sure is bull sh*t now.

[Pessimist]

Yeah, we went to the one in Marlboro MA.

[Vigilanteman]

Actually, lobster farming is possible. It has already been done successfully in labs. There were universities already doing it at their colleges of agriculture back when I was in college.

[yorkie]

Stock up your freezer, if you like lobster.