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Peak Lobster crisis ???
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Peak Lobster crisis ???
by JayHMorrison » Sat 04 Sep 2004, 16:34:43
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by Leanan » Sat 04 Sep 2004, 16:46:50
I saw that. I hope it's not true. I love lobster. 
Ironically, lobster was once considered a trash fish - what poor people ate because they couldn't afford real fish. (If you think about it, they're just big, underwater cockroaches!) People would be embarrassed if caught cooking lobster. They would hide the pot of lobster stew if someone came over, so no one would know how poor they were.
Ironically, lobster was once considered a trash fish - what poor people ate because they couldn't afford real fish. (If you think about it, they're just big, underwater cockroaches!) People would be embarrassed if caught cooking lobster. They would hide the pot of lobster stew if someone came over, so no one would know how poor they were.
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by Devil » Sun 05 Sep 2004, 04:29:17
Unfortunately, man is causing all fish stocks to dwindle to near-extinction. When will we learn that sea-husbandry pays off? Cod, tuna, herring, sole, red mullet, shrimps, octopus, you name it, they are all being fished faster than they can reproduce. As for salmon...
Devil
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Re: Peak Lobster crisis ???
by Lore » Thu 24 Apr 2014, 15:55:41
There goes the McLobster Sandwich!
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Baby Lobsters Are Disappearing, And Warming Oceans May Be To Blame
It might be time to put away the butter.
Lobsters may be tough to come by in the coming years, according to a Tuesday report from the Associated Press. That report cited a University of Maine study showing that the number of baby lobsters settling off the state’s coast has declined by more than half from their 2007 levels.
Eight years is the amount of time a baby lobster takes to mature to legal harvesting size, so the real dinner table impacts would not likely be felt for at least some time.
As for the cause of this decline, the AP interviewed scientists who cited rising ocean temperature as a distinct possibility, though it failed to make the connection of warming oceans to man-made climate change. Rick Wahle, a marine ecologist at the University, cited rising ocean surface temperatures of .26 degrees Celsius per year since 2004, a dramatic increase from the .026 degree Celsius average increase Wahle was seeing each year since 1982.
Other possibilities for the decline include pollution, atmospheric condition, changes in predation, and availability of food, the report said — still not mentioning any of these elements’ potential connection to human-caused climate change.
The connection is pretty simple. Oceans are extremely sensitive to climate change, more so than the actual atmosphere. Indeed, more than 90 percent of global warming goes into heating the oceans, while less than three percent goes into heating the atmosphere. A good illustration of those findings can be seen in this 2011 study from Dr. John A. Church, the co-convening lead author for the IPCC Third Assessment Report’s chapter on sea level rise.
Because lobsters are cold-blooded, they have to use more energy to breathe when the water around them gets warm. Breathing places more stress on the lobster, and may make it more susceptible to pathogens, the International Business Times notes. Climate-driven warming in gulf of Maine waters may also increase the prevalence of “lobster shell disease,” an unsightly sickness which stresses the lobster often leading to death, according to a study from the New England Aquarium.
As of now, though, harvests of full-grown lobsters are at an all-time high — which, ironically, is also due to warming waters, Stenck told ThinkProgress back in August. But as the Gulf continues to warm, the results won’t be as fruitful.
“We’re getting closer and closer to that point where the temperature is just too stressful for them, their immune system is compromised and it’s all over,” he said.
In anticipation of a decline, scientists in Maine are now competing for a share of $11 million of NASA grant money in hopes of creating a real-time lobster distribution monitoring system. That system will use satellite data and observations from fishermen and researchers to create an online map showing where and when lobsters and other key marine species can be found, taking pressure off fishery managers that in the past had to rely on historical catch data to plan for the upcoming season.
Lobsters make up 80 percent of the value of Maine’s fisheries, supporting not only fishermen, but boat builders, mechanics, bait sellers and the local tourist industry. The economies of the northernmost counties in Maine are 90 percent dependent on lobstering.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/0 ... -lobsters/
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Baby Lobsters Are Disappearing, And Warming Oceans May Be To Blame
It might be time to put away the butter.
Lobsters may be tough to come by in the coming years, according to a Tuesday report from the Associated Press. That report cited a University of Maine study showing that the number of baby lobsters settling off the state’s coast has declined by more than half from their 2007 levels.
Eight years is the amount of time a baby lobster takes to mature to legal harvesting size, so the real dinner table impacts would not likely be felt for at least some time.
As for the cause of this decline, the AP interviewed scientists who cited rising ocean temperature as a distinct possibility, though it failed to make the connection of warming oceans to man-made climate change. Rick Wahle, a marine ecologist at the University, cited rising ocean surface temperatures of .26 degrees Celsius per year since 2004, a dramatic increase from the .026 degree Celsius average increase Wahle was seeing each year since 1982.
Other possibilities for the decline include pollution, atmospheric condition, changes in predation, and availability of food, the report said — still not mentioning any of these elements’ potential connection to human-caused climate change.
The connection is pretty simple. Oceans are extremely sensitive to climate change, more so than the actual atmosphere. Indeed, more than 90 percent of global warming goes into heating the oceans, while less than three percent goes into heating the atmosphere. A good illustration of those findings can be seen in this 2011 study from Dr. John A. Church, the co-convening lead author for the IPCC Third Assessment Report’s chapter on sea level rise.
Because lobsters are cold-blooded, they have to use more energy to breathe when the water around them gets warm. Breathing places more stress on the lobster, and may make it more susceptible to pathogens, the International Business Times notes. Climate-driven warming in gulf of Maine waters may also increase the prevalence of “lobster shell disease,” an unsightly sickness which stresses the lobster often leading to death, according to a study from the New England Aquarium.
As of now, though, harvests of full-grown lobsters are at an all-time high — which, ironically, is also due to warming waters, Stenck told ThinkProgress back in August. But as the Gulf continues to warm, the results won’t be as fruitful.
“We’re getting closer and closer to that point where the temperature is just too stressful for them, their immune system is compromised and it’s all over,” he said.
In anticipation of a decline, scientists in Maine are now competing for a share of $11 million of NASA grant money in hopes of creating a real-time lobster distribution monitoring system. That system will use satellite data and observations from fishermen and researchers to create an online map showing where and when lobsters and other key marine species can be found, taking pressure off fishery managers that in the past had to rely on historical catch data to plan for the upcoming season.
Lobsters make up 80 percent of the value of Maine’s fisheries, supporting not only fishermen, but boat builders, mechanics, bait sellers and the local tourist industry. The economies of the northernmost counties in Maine are 90 percent dependent on lobstering.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/0 ... -lobsters/
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Re: Peak Lobster crisis ???
by Lore » Thu 24 Apr 2014, 16:41:00
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'S')eems to contradict recent record hauls.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')aine lobster haul valued at record $364.5 million for 2013
Summary Maine's lobster catch grew in value to a record $364.5 million last year, and the catch topped 100 million pounds for a third consecutive year, indicating the fishery remains healthy. The value of the catch grew more than 6 percent from the previous year, welcome news for fishermen.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')aine lobster haul valued at record $364.5 million for 2013
Summary Maine's lobster catch grew in value to a record $364.5 million last year, and the catch topped 100 million pounds for a third consecutive year, indicating the fishery remains healthy. The value of the catch grew more than 6 percent from the previous year, welcome news for fishermen.
It takes lobsters about 6 -8 years to grow to legal catch size. The article was referring to baby lobsters.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Drop in number of baby lobsters in Gulf of Maine puzzles scientists
BOWDOINHAM — The number of baby lobsters in the Gulf of Maine has dropped by half since 2007, a phenomenon that has puzzled scientists as the population of adult lobsters remains near a record high, contributing to robust catches.
Scientists note that baby lobsters take eight years to reach harvestable size, meaning the dip could yet be felt by the state’s 4,200 lobstermen, who last year hauled in a record catch worth $365 million, representing nearly 70 percent of Maine’s total seafood harvest.
Despite the record hauls, scientists, including University of Maine researcher Rick Wahle, who founded the baby lobster study in 1989, contend overfishing is not likely the culprit. The lobster industry, they note, is among the country’s most closely regulated.
“This remains the most productive lobster habitat on the planet,” Wahle said. “The evidence points elsewhere.”
Instead, Wahle and other researchers believe shifting ocean currents, wind and weather patterns may have led drifting lobster larvae astray, contributing to the decline.
The survey relies on divers who use vacuum cleaner-like suction tubs and traps to count baby lobsters on the rock ocean floor of the New England and Canadian coasts.
Scientists said it is unclear whether the decline in the count of young lobsters will eventually cut into the high harvests, which have pushed prices down and left lobstermen scrambling to find new markets.
“We don’t know if we’re coming to a stable period, or if we’re going to come back down to Earth,” said Carl Wilson, Maine’s state lobster biologist. “But I think for the first time, we’re starting to see a change in the system.”
http://bangordailynews.com/2014/04/23/n ... cientists/
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.
... Theodore Roosevelt
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