September 7, 2013 — NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Connecticut lobstermen have survived storms and struggled with poor prices, die-offs and a prolonged plunge in the population that they count on for a livelihood. Now the dwindling ranks of aging, full-time lobsterman are removing their traps to comply with the first seasonal shutdown on Long Island Sound.
The closure, which begins Sunday and lasts through Nov. 28, aims to reduce the total lobster harvest by 10 percent this year to give the sound's depleted lobster population a chance to rebuild. Amid skepticism it will reverse their fortunes, lobstermen are tightening their belts, shifting to other fishing, laying off crews, thinking about jobs on shore and wondering how they'll survive the latest challenge.
"You won't find a group of harder-working or more industrious guys," said Michael Theiler, one of about two dozen full-time lobstermen in Connecticut compared to more than 200 a decade ago. "If there is anyone who is going to survive something like this, it's going to be lobstermen. I couldn't tell you how we're going to do it or what it's going to take."
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission required New York and Connecticut to take steps to reduce the total lobster harvest by 10 percent in 2013. The timing was requested by lobstermen to coincide with a drop in wholesale prices to minimize the harm.
"The economic impact should be well less than 10 percent," said David Simpson, director of marine fisheries for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. "This is just another call for diversification. They've already had to diversify and not just depend on one resource."
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Anchorage Daily News