Due to a combination of climate change creating warmer water conditions and continued pressure from fishing, lobster stocks in southern New England have been badly depleted, and a five-year moratorium is needed for recovery.
This is the recommendation of a technical panel for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in a report discussed last week.
“Overwhelming environmental and biological changes coupled with continued fishing greatly reduce the likelihood of southern New England stock rebuilding,” the report said.
Robert Glenn, senior fisheries biologist for the state Division of Marine Fisheries and a state expert on lobsters, spoke at an informational meeting at the University of Massachusetts at South Dartmouth last Thursday. More than 60 lobstermen attended. If it is approved, the moratorium would take effect in July of 2011 from the southern New England coast to Virginia, for both commercial and recreational lobster fishing.
Read the complete story at The Vineyard Gazette Online.