AP interviews Bayer about lobster bait alternative
The Associated Press spoke with Bob Bayer, executive director of the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute, for the article, “Goodbye, herring? Biotech gives lobstermen alternative.” Lobster and crab fishermen have baited traps with dead herring for generations, but an effort to find a synthetic substitute for forage fish is nearing fruition, according to the report. A small company has developed “OrganoBait,” a hockey puck-shaped product packed with an artificial attractant crabs and lobsters love, the article states. No one has made commercially successful synthetic bait, and even animal-based alternatives don’t always gain market acceptance, said Bayer, who studies lobsters and has worked on attractants for 30 years. “If somebody comes up with a good one, it will be used,” Bayer said. “If it’s effective and cost effective.” The Seattle Times and The Washington Post carried the AP report.