Where do baby lobsters come from?
Steneck and the graduate students who work with him are studying the Gulf’s lobster population brood stock lobsters in particular in the hope of learning where the fishery’s future lies. For the last century, fishery managers have warned that lobsters are being over-fished. But in recent years, harvesters have questioned how the population can still be considered to be in danger when their catches were bigger than ever. A record 23,000 tons/20,866 tonnes were landed in Maine in 1997. Lobster catches in Maine dipped last summer, but, Steneck said in November, “It might be a little early to know if there will be a real dip throughout the Gulf of Maine.” In the fall, an infection sickened and killed Maine lobsters on a daily basis. Were these just blips in lobster livelihood, or signs of something serious to come? “It’s essential to know if fluctuations [in lobster populations] are oceanographically or environmentally controlled, or the result of overfishing” to understand the status of t
