December 17, 2012 — Officials have suggested that higher temperatures in the gulf have been a factor in bacterial outbreaks in bivalves and in sea lice infestations in Cobscook and Passamaquoddy bays. Some have put partial blame on the gulf’s warmer waters for a northeasterly shift of cod in the gulf into colder waters, for declining shrimp catches and for the glut of soft-shell lobsters this past summer that plummeted prices lobstermen were receiving for their catch.
Patrice McCarron, executive director of Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said this month that rising temperatures in the gulf are “a huge concern” for the organization, the membership of which includes approximately 1,200 of the state’s 5,300 or so licensed commercial lobstermen. She said she has heard from some association members that water temperatures in the mouth of Penobscot Bay still, as of December, are unusually and consistently warm, from depths of a few feet to more than 150 feet.
“It’s 50 degrees throughout the water column,” McCarron said. “That’s crazy.”
According to data recorded by the Northeast Regional Association of Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems, temperatures close to shore remain about 10 degrees warmer than they were last winter.
McCarron said one big concern among fishermen is that, if water in the gulf does not get cold enough this winter, the lobsters won’t go through their usual relatively dormant winter state, which could continue to throw off their molting schedule. Large catches of lobster in the spring, when market demand for Maine lobster is fairly low, likely would continue to have a depressing effect on the price.
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