Island Ad-Vantages, Weekly Packet cover lobster bait talk by Stoll
Island Ad-Vantages and The Weekly Packet reported on a June 28 presentation at the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries in Stonington. Joshua Stoll, a University of Maine assistant research professor who holds a joint research position at MCCF, spoke about the care and feeding of lobsters in the face of a bait crisis. With a shortage in herring, most lobstermen’s first choice to bait lobster traps, the industry is looking for solutions, according to the article. “No bait is a big problem for a state that depends so much on lobster,” Stoll said. Compounding the issue is that while lobstermen are just now starting to fish after a cold spring, already 40 percent of the total herring allocation has been reached, the article states. “Fishing industries have a long history of being entrepreneurial,” Stoll said, with fishermen, scientists, bait suppliers and lobster dealers all working to find solutions. Penobscot Bay Press also carried the report.