Wahle, Acheson quoted in New York Times story on climate change and lobster industry
The New York Times quoted Richard Wahle, a professor at the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine, and James Acheson, a professor of anthropology at UMaine, in a story on climate change and its effects on the lobster industry. Climate change has caused the Gulf of Maine to warm since the 1980s to an ideal temperature for lobsters, contributing to a boom in the industry. But as the ocean continues to warm, the habitat will cease to be ideal for the lobsters, which will move northward, and the industry will decline, the article states. Once water temperatures exceed 70 degrees Fahrenheit, “their system starts shutting down, one organ after another,” said Wahle of the lobsters. This results in “mass mortality,” according to Wahle, requiring action by those in the industry to adapt to the changes to come. “Conservation works,” said Acheson, noting that lobstermen are “strongly, strongly in favor” of laws that require practices like throwing back egg-bearing female lobsters and those that are too small. Acheson has written about lobstering and conservation, the Times reports. The Daily Galaxy and the Independent Recorder adapted the Times story.