Temperature as a possible factor in the increased abundance of American lobster, Homarus americanust during the 1980s and early 1990s

Abstract

ABSTRACTThrough most of the geographical range of the American lobster, Homarus americanus, from Newfoundland to the Middle Atlantic Bight, catches reached new historical maxima or near maxima in the late 1980s or early 1990s. Because of the high exploitation rates, this increase in landings is believed to reflect increased recruitment. Previous studies have shown that increased lobster landings in certain areas were linked to rising sea temperatures. This paper examines the hypothesis that the increased landings during the 1980s and early 1990s were temperature induced. When temperature‐dependent regressions of lobster landings, developed by earlier authors, were extended to the present they failed to predict the sharp rise in landings during the 1980s. In addition, the increase in lobster landings is shown to have occurred over a larger spatial scale than coherent temperature fluctuations. These results, together with an exploratory correlation analysis between sea temperatures and lobster landings, lead to the conclusion that the increase in lobster catches in the 1980s was not linked to changes in ocean temperatures.