The American Lobster in a Changing Ecosystem: A US–Canada Science Symposium, 27–30 November 2012, Portland, Maine

Abstract

To the American lobster (Homarus americanus) fishery in the Northeast US and Atlantic Canada, 2012 may have gone down as the year that drove climate change home. An ocean heat wave covered a large swath of the North Atlantic and broke ocean temperature records. It also triggered biological effects that upset the relatively harmonious economics of Canada’s winter and New England’s summer lobster fisheries. The earlymolt induced by the historical warm temperatures put a glut of US lobsters on the market well before the Canadian fishery closed for the season and, in turn, caused a price tumble that even caught the attention of The Wall Street Journal: “Lobster glut slams prices” (WSJ online, 16 July 2012). The story of the American lobster, especially over the last two decades, is one of striking contrasts. Just as lobster abundance in Maine, Nova Scotia, and other parts of Maritime Canada has climbed to historic highs, the fishery in southern New England has collapsed, plagued by disease andmass mortality. In the wake of thewidespread depletion of once diverse ground fish resources, coastal communities in Maine and Atlantic Canada are more economically dependent on the lobster fishery than ever before, and perilously so. Despite its 150-year history, the fishery in this region is seeing record abundance and harvests. Although the boom in lobster production has helped offset ever-rising fuel and bait costs, plummeting prices following the financial crash of 2008 and the ocean heat wave of 2012 precipitated an unforeseen crisis in the business of lobstering. In contrast, in southern New England, hot summers and disease have taken their toll. For the first time, lobster harvesters in Rhode Island have had to consider the prospect of a fishing moratorium. Waters in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence are also seeingmore frequent bouts of stressful summer temperatures that in some cases have triggeredmass die-offs. Such dramatic changes after decades of relative stability highlight the need for a greater understanding of the American lobster in the context of its changing environment. Acknowledging the merits of the mandate for “ecosystem-based” fishery science and management, fishery managers on both sides of the border are grappling with how to integrate new thinking into traditional single-species approaches. Opportunities for lobster scientists from the US and Canada to gather and talk science are few, but necessary. In the past few years, major research initiatives on the American lobster have been generating ground-breaking results. For example, in the US there has been an infusion of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) dollars to examine shell disease in southern New England, and the National Science Foundation’s Coupled Human–Natural Systems Program supports research on the ecology and socio-economics of lobster and groundfish fisheries in the Gulf of Maine. In Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) supports a lobster research “node” in one of its Strategic Network Capture Fisheries grants, and long-term studies are under way at the University of Prince Edward Island to establish baselines for health parameters and responses to disease and industry-supported fishery enhancement efforts in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The symposium grew out of a consensus among the scientific community that the response of lobsters to a changing environment is best viewed in an ecosystem context. Whether induced by man or nature, fundamental changes have occurred over the past few decades in the physical environment and food web interactions. The driving questions are as follows:What do we know now that we did not know even a decade ago? What are the common US–Canadian research priorities? How can researchers move forward with an agenda that makes the best use of dwindling funding? The two-and-a-half-day symposium was divided into four themes: