HARTFORD, Conn.—Nick Crismale made his career as a lobsterman, but lately there are not enough of the crustaceans in Long Island Sound to make it worth putting out the traps.
Crismale, who dedicated himself to clamming this year, had been among the few remaining holdouts in an industry devastated by a steady decline in lobster stocks. Only about 30 full-time lobstermen are left in Connecticut, down from more than 300 in the years before a devastating lobster die-off in 1999.
"We're losing a way of life. We're losing a heritage," said Crismale, 61, the leader of the Connecticut Commercial Lobstermen's Association.
Some argued last year that the species was rebounding, and fishermen fought back a proposal for a five-year ban on lobster fishing south of Cape Cod, Mass. But that optimism is fading. Researchers who trawl the waters of Long Island Sound for a survey that began in 1984 say they have never seen so few lobsters.