Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

hike_me t1_isex09f wrote

The cod fishery collapsed. The shrimp fishery collapsed. It’s naive to think the currently sustainable lobster fishery will remain so forever. Fewer lobsters thanks to a rapidly warming gulf combined with the same number of traps being dropped is probably not going to end well.

There has been speculation that the collapse of the cod population helped the lobster fishery continue to land large hauls because there is less predation of juvenile lobster. What happens when some warmer water fish moves up here and takes the place of the cod?

2

gulfofmainah t1_isgg76o wrote

Comparing the Cod Fishery or Shrimp Fishery to the Lobster Fishery is comparing two completely different things. If it be net fishing for Cod or hooking the vast majority caught was kept while the vast majority of lobster caught in traps are realized because of min and max size restrictions and 100% of breeding females are released. Saying the Shrimp fishery has collapsed isn’t a truthful statement Canada still has a thriving fishery Maine could as well but it’s a three state council that decides the shrimp season and quota and for a decade now Mass and NH have voted no on opening the season and Maine has voted yes and has backed it up with data collected by the Maine DMR showing the healthy stock within Maine waters. The shrimp have moved into more Northern waters of the gulf but have no disappeared. You can go to any seafood store and buy gulf of Maine day boat frozen shrimp from Canada. Beyond that if it had collapsed it’s because net dragging for shrimp catches and harvest every shrimp be it small big male female while trap based shrimp fishery only harvest non egg bearing shrimp because they stay further up in the water column while carrying eggs and only go to the sea bed to release them. Maine has very strictly regulated fishery with sustainability and visibility as the base of all state regulations. On a average day lobsterman throw back into the ocean alive 10x as many as they keep.

−1