PBS NewsHour cites Wahle, Lobster Settlement Index in report on rising ocean temperatures
PBS NewsHour mentioned Rick Wahle, professor and director of the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, in the report, “What rising temperatures in the Gulf of Maine mean for the state’s lobster industry.” Due to climate change, the waters off southern New England have become too warm for the temperature-sensitive crustaceans, leaving Maine as the “sweet spot” for fishing lobsters, PBS NewsHour reported. But the Gulf’s own rising temperatures mean the lobster boom may not last forever, the report states. Wahle leads the American Lobster Settlement Index. In recent years, he and his team have found many fewer juvenile lobsters on the seafloor, according to the report, which could be the first indication a population decline is under way.