Quartz interviews Steneck, Wahle for article on lobster boom

University of Maine marine scientists Bob Steneck and Rick Wahle, as well as their research, were cited in the Quartz article, “The enigma behind America’s freak, 20-year lobster boom.” Maine’s lobster business is the only fishery that has endured for more than a century and yet produces more volume and value than ever before, according to the article. As the Gulf of Maine warms, Steneck has traced the lobstering “sweet spot,” from Casco Bay in the 1980s to where it is today — in Stonington, about 100 miles to the northeast, the article states. The report also cited Wahle’s research on baby lobsters that have settled in the Bay of Fundy since 1989. For more than a decade, Wahle and his team of divers found fewer than one baby per square meter, on average. In 2005 and 2008, they found more than seven settled baby lobsters per square meter, on average, the article states. In the last few years, Wahle and his team have tracked what he calls a “widespread and deep downturn” in the number of settled baby lobsters. The slump in babies started around 2011, which means “the next two years are going to be very telling because of that downturn in settlement,” he said. The Bangor Daily News cited the Quartz report in the article, “3 theories on why lobster babies are disappearing and what they mean for the industry.”