Lobster Stocks South of Cape Cod Experience Sharp Decline

A managing partner with Laidlaw & Company, James (Jim or Jimmy) Ahern provides capital raising solutions to public and private firms in the health care sphere. An avid fisherman, Laidlaw executive James Ahern enjoys fishing trips in the Nantucket area as well as grilling steamers and lobsters. 

A recent Boston Globe article brought attention to a troubling situation in which, despite record lobster catches in the colder waters off Maine, the coastline south of Cape Cod has seen a devastating loss of its lobster population. With warming sea temperatures singled out as the major cause, lobster catches in Rhode Island and New York have been particularly impacted. The New York catch was only 218,000 pounds in 2016, a fraction of the 9.4 million pounds netted in 1999. Buzzards Bay south of Cape Cod has also been affected, with the 2016 catch only 60 percent of what it was two decades ago. 

The warming sea temperatures are reflected in almost 100 days in 2012 when readings in the Long Island Sound were above 68 degrees. The Atlantic lobster is best suited to temperatures within the 53 to 64 degree range. Reflecting a growing sense that maintaining a stable population may be futile, there have been no new regulations set in place by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to conserve dwindling lobster stocks.