By
Sami J. Grimes
An average day for a lobsterman, let’s call him “Joe,”
might look something like this: He puts on fishing gear, loads
his boat with about $600 worth of bait, and heads out in the
hopes that he will catch enough lobsters to sustain what has
become a marginal business. On March 7, 2003 Joe’s day
began a little differently; instead of taking out the boat,
he headed to the Third Annual Long Island Sound Lobster Health
Symposium in Bridgeport, Connecticut hoping to find a reason
for the lobster die-offs.
Since Fall 1999, there have been unprecedented mortalities
of lobsters in the Long Island Sound (LIS). The New York and
Connecticut Sea Grant Programs, along with their affiliates,
are conducting research to investigate lobster-related health
concerns and providing the latest information at www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/LILobsters.
On March 7th, Connecticut Sea Grant hosted the Third LIS Symposium,
where researchers presented their preliminary results.
The Issue
The lobster resource in Long Island Sound supports a multimillion-dollar
bi-state fishery. In New York, lobsters are the most economically
important marine species harvested, while in Connecticut,
lobsters are second only to bivalve shellfish. Lobstermen
have been suffering since Fall 1999, when the state of the
LIS lobster fishery began to decline.
Lobsters have been stuck by unprecedented outbreaks of disease
that have resulted in massive mortalities, particularly in
the Sound’s western basin. At the same time, lobsters
in the eastern Sound have been suffering from “shell
disease,” a bacterial infection that has been around
for a while but appears to be on the rise in recent years.
“ Our hope is that research from this cooperative initiative
will provide evidence to select the real causes of the lobster
mortalities,” says New York Sea Grant Director, Jack
Mattice.
There
are
many
possible
factors
that
could
have
contributed
to
declines
on
an
ecosystem-wide
basis.
These
environmental,
physiological
and
biological
stresses
include:
water
quality
conditions,
extreme
variations
in
bottom-water
temperatures,
lobster
crowding,
disease-causing
organisms
and
pesticides.
Sea
Grant
Research
Lobster
mortality
research
is
funded
jointly
under
the
Long
Island
Sound
Lobster
Research
Initiative,
an
endeavor
of
the
New
York
and
Connecticut
Sea
Grant
programs,
along
with
other
affiliates.
Approximately
$3.5
million
was
provided
to
support
research
that
seeks
to
reveal
the
causes
of
the
lobster
mortality.
The
Atlantic
States
Marine
Fisheries
Commission’s
Lobster
Disease & Research
Steering
Committee
is
coordinating
the
work.
At the March
2003 symposium,
researchers presented
studies exploring
a number of possibilities
for the lobster
die-offs. These
included new
diseases, such
as calcinosis
that was diagnosed
in Long Island
Sound lobsters
during the Summer
2002 (for more
on this topic download
pdf) and
the crustacean’s
physiological
responses to
stress, as reflected
by their immunological
health (for more
on this topic download
pdf) State
agency monitoring
of bottom water
and sediment
conditions at
critical stations
in the western
LIS and other
environmental
stressors were
also discussed
at the event
(for more on
this topic download
pdf)
Research still
continues. Biologists
have not yet
pinpointed a
cause for the
die-off, and
it is likely
that not one
factor alone
caused the die-off.
In order to help
lobstermen, such
as Joe, Sea Grant
Programs remain
committed to
research that
could help solve
this problem.
Read more general
information about
lobsters and
the industry
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