Lobster Institute Receives Funding for Lobster Health Coalition
Contact: Prof. Bob Bayer, Lobster Institute, University of Maine
(207) 581-2785, bob.bayer@umit.maine.edu
ORONO — The University of Maine’s Lobster Institute will initiate a project aimed at enhancing lobster health and preserving that commercial fishery, which has an estimated annual national economic impact of $700 million- $1.2 billion. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will provide $178, 421 in funding for the Lobster Health Coalition, part of the Lobster Institute’s Conservation, Outreach Research, and Education (CORE) initiative, which provides strategic framework for the institute’s academic and outreach activities.
“We must be proactive in sustaining both the lobster resource and the lobster industry, which employs thousands of citizens, many in economically depressed areas,” says Prof. Robert Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute. ” The lobster fishery’s continued success is particularly dependent on the long-term health of the lobster and its habitat, both of which are major and continuing research priorities of the Lobster Institute through its C.O.R.E. Initiative. We have Maine’s Congressional delegation to thank for helping us secure this much-needed funding to monitor the health of the premier fishery of the Northeast.”
Bayer notes that thousands of Maine people depend on lobstering for their livelihoods, including 5,800 who hold commercial licenses to fish for lobsters. The fishery’s 2007 landings totaled approximately 56 million pounds, valued at approximately $248,000,000. These account for about 80% of total U.S. landings. In addition, the American lobster ranked second on the U.S. seafood export list, ranked by dollar value, in 2006.
The Lobster Health Coalition will include scientists and industry representatives from throughout the lobster fishing regions of the Northeast U.S. and Atlantic Canada. The coalition will work to collect baseline lobster health data, and encourage coordinated research to address lobster health issues.
“This format will allow us to collaborate and to build upon work that’s already been done,” Bayer says. “It help us us to be efficient, to avoid duplication and to move toward the research stage quickly. The coalition will also unify efforts to obtain the necessary research funding.”
Bayer and his Lobster Institute colleagues will work closely with Deborah Bouchard, manager of the Maine Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory (MAAHL) at UMaine.
“We intend to develop a region-wide lobster health program focusing on pathogenbiology and disease epidemiology – with strategies for prevalence testing,disease diagnostics, and health management,” Bouchard says.
She also points out that the coalition will use a 2007 MAAHL project as a model for regional sampling. That project included bacterial screening, viral testing, histology and electronmicroscopy of samples taken from ambient wild lobster populations.
Bayer and Bouchard are co-principal investigators on the Lobster Health Coalition project.
“A successful coalition will create a major communications channel among and scientists and those who work in the industry,” Bayer says. “It will be instrumental in safeguarding the lobster stock from current and rapidly emerging diseases, thus helping secure the future viability of the lobster industry. Once firmly established this coalition will serve as a model for tackling other issues of concern to the lobster industry — a model that can then translate to other fisheries as well.”
Those interested in more information about the Lobster Health Coalition should contact the Lobster Institute at (207) 581-2751.