Our Mission
“To foster collaboration and communication in support of a sustainable and profitable lobster industry in the Northeast U.S. and Canada.”
”Pour parrainer la collaboration et la communication en soutien d’une pêche durable et profitable de l’industrie du homard du Nord-Ouest des É.-U. et du Canada.”
The Lobster Institute is a center of scholarship and outreach in the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture at the University of Maine. Institute staff engage with the lobster industry, scientists, fishery managers, health regulators, and legislators to address industry priorities through collaborative research, educational workshops and conferences.
Goals
- Be UMaine’s center for information and opportunities in lobster research
- Enhance faculty and student engagement with stakeholders and policy makers
- Enhance outreach and visibility
Please Support the Institute as we work for and with the lobster industry to reach our goals!
Recent Media Coverage
- Maine Public interviews Wahle about new lobster studies
- Researchers predict end of state’s lobster boom, media report
- New studies attribute warming waters, local differences in oceanography to rise and fall of American lobster populations in the Gulf of Maine
- Lincoln County News quotes Wahle in report on slow start for lobster fishery
- Numerous UMaine and UMM experts tapped for Maine Climate Council, a subcommittee and working groups
PBS News Hour: What rising temperatures in the Gulf of Maine mean for the state’s lobster industry.
The Gulf of Maine is known for lobsters, which form the foundation of an industry critical to the state’s economy. Due to climate change, the waters off southern New England have become too warm for the temperature-sensitive crustaceans, leaving Maine as the “sweet spot” for fishing them. But the Gulf’s own rising temperatures mean the lobster boom may not last forever. Miles O’Brien reports.
Richard Wahle, Director of the Lobster Institute, is one of the researchers featured in the segment.
