CBC interviews Wahle about Northumberland Strait warming, lobsters

CBC interviewed Rick Wahle, director of the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, for an article about climate change-related warming in the Northumberland Strait near Prince Edward Island, Canada and the effects it could have on the lobster fishery. Wahle, who has surveyed the waters off PEI, said the good news was that there were record levels of baby lobsters, and he expects populations in the area to remain strong for the next 30 years. But warming also could spell disaster. “The prevalence of shell disease is strongly correlated with warmer temperatures,” said Wahle, who has noted such a correlation in waters off Rhode Island. “As of now we don’t see shell disease as being a serious factor in Canadian waters, but I would think that some of the warmer areas — such as the south side of Prince Edward Island and maybe the southern part of Nova Scotia — may be the most vulnerable to that disease.”