Lobster Rap - Size Matters in the Lobster Nurseries
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Lobster Rap
Size Matters in Lobster Nurseries
Big lobsters, those with abdomens 5 inches or longer, are worth their weight in gold in terms of egg production. And starting next June they’ll be better protected in coastal waters from southern Massachusetts to North Carolina. Lobster fisherman welcome the new ruling by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission that they must "throw back the big ones," seeing how the policy has long produced a sustainable and thriving lobster industry in the Gulf of Maine—the source of 85 percent of the nation’s catch. Even with the new rule, it could take years or even decades for southern New England’s devastated lobster stocks to recover from bouts with shell disease and overfishing. Hurricanes, pollution and rising ocean temperatures present additional threats.
A five- to six-pound female lobster produces an average of 100,000 eggs per set—up to 20 times that of a one-pound lobster, says Robert Bayer of the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute in Orono. "They’re like compound interest in the bank," notes Lanny Dellinger, president of the Rhode Island Lobsterman’s Association in Wakefield. "It’s short-sighted," he says, "to take everything you can."
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
