Warm ocean could mean early boom in 2016 lobster catch

[In_The_Wind]

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/warm-ocean-could-mean-early-boom-2016-lobster-catch

By PATRICK WHITTLE | March 4, 2016 | 9:45 AM EST


ROCKPORT, Maine (AP) — Maine's lobster catches will likely peak early this year, which could mean an abundance of cheap lobster for consumers and bad news for the state's signature industry, a group of scientists reported on Thursday.

Maine's busy summer lobster fishing season typically picks up around early July, the same time the state's tourism industry gets in gear. But scientists with the Portland-based Gulf of Maine Research Institute predict this year's lobster season will get rolling two or three weeks early.

The scientists, who unveiled their findings during the Maine Fishermen's Forum in Rockport, pinned the early lobster season on warming ocean temperatures. Along Maine's coast, temperatures are 2 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal. That means lobsters are likely to move inshore, shed their shells and become more easily trapped earlier this summer, they said.

An early lobster season can disrupt Maine's valuable lobster supply chain, which is partially dependent on big July and August catches, and make prices plummet. Prices at the dock fell 16 percent in 2012, a year of early catches, and prices to consumers fell, too. The 2014 haul shattered state value records because of a high-volume catch that arrived on schedule.

"If the timing is off by just a few weeks, it can have a major impact throughout the supply chain," said Andrew Pershing, the chief scientific officer with the research institute.