Wahle, Bayer quoted in National Observer article on New England lobsters
Rick Wahle, a marine scientist at the University of Maine, and Robert Bayer, executive director of UMaine’s Lobster Institute, were quoted in the National Observer article, “New England lobsters swim to Canada, bringing jobs with them.” Warming waters off the Atlantic coast are driving lobsters north, disrupting fisheries, according to the article that was part of the publication’s “Special Report: Race Against Climate Change.” While the southern New England lobster fishery has all but collapsed, fishers in Maine, Prince Edward Island and even farther north are benefiting from the crustaceans’ movement, the article states. Wahle attributes the collapse of the southern New England lobster fishery to climate change and points to previous mass die-offs in Long Island Sound as a result of extreme warm temperatures. “You’ve got to think of it not so much as a case of lobsters are packing their tents and moving north, as much as they’re more successfully re-populating every year in the northern locations relative to the southern location,” Wahle said. Bayer said the collapse of the industry south of Cape Cod may partially be caused from temperature changes, but adds that pesticide run-off from lawns, golf courses and roads in major cities are a likely culprit. “I think that’s probably just as important as climate change; water temperatures,” he said.