March 5, 2015 — The first-ever lobster forecast is out, and it says February’s record cold will likely set back Maine’s lobster season.
There’s a 69 percent chance that Maine’s summer lobster harvest will begin later than usual, according to the forecast issued Thursday by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. That has ramifications for both harvesters and the supply chain for Maine’s most lucrative seafood.
This winter’s below-normal temperatures and stormy weather have cooled the waters in the Gulf of Maine. That means lobsters, which spend their winters in deeper waters offshore, will likely get a late start migrating to the coast and shedding their shells, says Christina Hernandez, a research assistant working on the project, which is being funded with a $100,000 grant from NASA.
The forecast is based on 13 years of data on lobster landings and water temperatures measured 50 meters – roughly 164 feet – below the surface at four buoys off the Maine coast, from southern Maine to Down East.
For example, at the buoy off Wells, the reading was 36.6 degrees on Wednesday – a record low since the buoy began recording data in 2001. At the surface, the water temperature was 36 degrees, about 2 degrees below normal for this time of year.
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald