October 24, 2019 — Last month, lobstermen in Cape Cod Bay hauled up something disturbing. In one section of the bay, all of their traps were full of dead lobsters. Research biologists went to work trying to solve the mystery, and what they found suggests we may see more of this as the climate changes.
When the fishermen first started pulling up traps full of dead lobsters, their first call was to Beth Casoni of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association.
“As you can imagine, they were concerned — greatly concerned — because they didn’t know how they died or why they died,” Casoni said.
Over the next five days or so, she got more calls about dead animals in the traps.
“And it wasn’t just lobsters,” she said. “It was skate and flounder and ling, which is an eel.”
Casoni called the state Division of Marine Fisheries, which sent divers out to take a look at the seafloor in the area.
“The fishermen were fearful that there would have been a mass die-off and the bottom would be littered with carnage,” Casoni said. “And the division was happy to report that they did not see any mass die-off in the area.”