Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 14 May 2018
Lobster industry fears weaker shells, but evidence is mixed

natural process necessary
for them to grow, Wahle
said.
A 2017 study that ap-
peared in the scientific
journal FACETS looked at
the subject of the health
of soft-shelled lobsters in
southwestern Nova Scotia.
It concluded that future re-
search is needed "to evalu-
ate the effects of long-term
ecosystem change on
shell-quality."
___
DO WARMING OCEANS
PLAY A ROLE?
Many lobsters live in the
Gulf of Maine, which is
warming faster than most
of the world's oceans. This
poses many challenges to
lobsters, including potential
changes to their access to
food and the abundance
of predators.
It also raises concerns
about epizootic shell dis-
ease, which disfigures lob-
sters to the point that they
can't be sold. The Maine
Department of Marine Re-
sources said researchers
In this June 12, 2015, file photo, a lobster is pulled from a crate in Kennebunkport, Maine. found the disease in about
1 percent of lobsters last
By PATRICK WHITTLE sturdy shells to survive the summer, when the crea- one- to two-daylong jour- year after almost never
Associated Press long journey to places such tures molt and are softer. ney. finding it as recently as a
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — as Beijing and Seoul. Otherwise, there isn't much Bill Bruns, operations man- decade or so ago.
More people outside the But some members of U.S. hard evidence to suggest ager for The Lobster Com- Justin Ries, a marine bio-
U.S. are enjoying the New industry have complained lobster shells are weaken- pany of Arundel, Maine, geochemist with North-
England tradition of crack- in recent years of poor shell ing, scientists said. said "finding and produc- eastern University, said it's
ing open a freshly cooked quality among lobsters, Here are some issues raised ing enough product that's important to monitor for the
American lobster, and that most of which are plucked by the industry and what possible to ship" has be- disease because it devas-
experience hinges on one from the ocean off Can- the science says: come a problem. tated the population off of
thing — the lobster getting ada and New England. ___ ___ southern New England.
there alive. They've raised concerns WHY DOES THE INDUSTRY WHAT DOES THE SCIENCE ___
That's a looming problem, about warming ocean wa- PREFER STRONG SHELLS? SAY? WHAT IS THE INDUSTRY DO-
according to some mem- ters or acidification of the There's a lot of money at Rick Wahle, a University of ING?
bers of the American lob- ocean having a negative stake in getting lobsters Maine zoologist who stud- Whether or not lobster shells
ster industry, who are con- effect on lobster shells. to their destinations alive. ies lobsters, said he hasn't really are getting weaker,
cerned that lobsters' shells Scientists said there is a American lobsters were "heard anything that lob- the industry is working on
are getting weaker. Scien- correlation between warm worth a record $669.3 mil- sters are necessarily getting ways to make them stron-
tific evidence about the is- temperatures and in- lion at the docks in 2016, softer." But he and many ger.
sue paints a complicated creased shell disease, but a year in which fishermen other scientists said lob- One Portland firm, Ready
picture. incidence of the disease is caught nearly 160 million sters do face environmen- Seafood Co., is partnering
U.S. lobster exports to Asian very low off Maine, the na- pounds of the crustaceans. tal challenges that could with the University of Maine
countries have increased tion's top lobster-producing While lobster meat is used impact their ability to be to try to harden lobster
exponentially this decade, state. in some processed prod- shipped. shells for better shipping.
and American shippers Lobstermen also are catch- ucts, such as lobster maca- Wahle and others said the Curt Brown, a marine biolo-
prefer lobsters with hard, ing lots of lobsters in the roni and cheese and lob- jury is still out on whether gist with the company, said
ster bisque, the whole live the increasing acidifica- Ready hopes to "expedite
lobster is one of the biggest tion of the ocean is one of that natural process" with
draws in the seafood world. those factors. There appear strategies such as manipu-
It's also the sought-after to be subtle effects on lob- lating the ion concentra-
item in the booming Chi- ster larvae from acidifica- tions in the tanks where it
nese market, which took a tion, but nothing to suggest stores lobsters.
record of nearly 18 million something as dramatic as The goal is to consistently
pounds of U.S. lobster last weaker shells, he said. improve a soft-shelled lob-
year It's possible that processors ster to one that can survive
A lobster with a harder, are just seeing more "soft an international flight over
sturdier shell has a better shell" lobsters that have re- the span of a week, Brown
chance to live through the cently molted, which is a said.q