AP quotes Beal in article about coastal warming, shellfish
The Associated Press quoted Brian Beal, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine at Machias and the director of research at the Downeast Institute, in an article about the impacts of coastal warming on shellfish populations. The article focused on a study by researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Maryland Department of Natural Resources linking increasing ocean water temperatures with a decline in populations of shellfish on the East Coast. The researchers said ocean warming has contributed to phenomena including an increase in predator populations, and contradicted assumptions that shellfish population decline is a result of overfishing. Beal, who was not involved in the study, said rising ocean temperatures could mean “doom and gloom for the clamming industry and probably for other industries as well,” especially those that are important food products, like clams and mussels. “None of this can be attributed to overfishing, a term that is used willy-nilly and applied erroneously to these declines in commercially important shellfish,” said Beal. Bangor Daily News, Portland Press Herald, Merced Sun-Star, The Daily News of Newburyport and Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette published the AP article.