UMaine research cited in Press Herald report on Maine lobster haul decline
University of Maine research was cited in the Portland Press Herald article about Maine’s lobster industry seeing both its value and volume fall sharply in 2017. Landings declined 16 percent in 2017, and the boat value of the statewide catch fell 18.6 percent, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, which released its annual catch data at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport. Recently, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and UMaine published a study that predicted a sharp decline in Gulf of Maine stock over the next 30 years, using a computer model that predicts the population will fall 40 to 62 percent by 2030, depending on the rate of warming, the article states. In 2015, Rick Wahle, a research professor at UMaine’s Darling Marine Center, also tied shrinking larval habitats to ocean warming, the Press Herald reported. The Associated Press also cited Wahle’s research in an article on Maine’s lobster catch. Wahle has warned that the population of baby lobsters in some parts of the Gulf of Maine has fallen to low levels in recent years, the AP reported. San Francisco Chronicle and WTOP carried the AP article.