Mainebiz cites Steneck in article on warming oceans, threat to lobster industry
Mainebiz quoted Bob Steneck, a professor of marine sciences at the University of Maine, about discussions that took place at the 11th International Conference & Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management hosted by UMaine and Boston University. Scientists and lobstermen meeting in Portland agreed they need to share information and be more proactive about the changes coming with warming oceans, Mainebiz reported. “There was an adversarial role between scientists and fishermen in the past,” Dave Cousens, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, told the 200 attendees. He added that state biologists in the 1980s told lobstermen that the industry was crashing because of warming water temperatures, but then he met Steneck, who dove to the bottom of known lobster areas with his students and saw tons of lobsters. “He told me, ‘You’re going to be OK,’” Cousens added. “It was the beginning of good sea sampling [by fishermen working with] scientists.” Steneck added that, “at the end of the day we are talking about sustainability, staying afloat in a complex world … sustaining Maine’s maritime heritage falls squarely on the lobster. If anything happens to the lobster, there’s no safety net.”