June 5, 2017 — Scientists will meet in Portland this week to discuss how a changing ocean environment and global economy is affecting the biology and business of lobsters.
More than 250 biologists, oceanographers, fishery managers and industry members from 15 nations plan to attend the 11th International Conference & Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management, said University of Maine marine scientist Rick Wahle, a co-chairman of the symposium.
It is only the second time the U.S. has hosted the event, Wahle said. The first was in Florida in 2000. Since then, the American lobster fishery has exploded, he said.
“It was about time,” Wahle said. “It’s been hosted all over the world, but never in New England, which we all know to be one of the world’s lobster hot spots.”
American lobster is the country’s most valuable fishery, Wahle said. While they can be found as far south as the Carolinas, 80 percent of America’s lobster haul comes out of Maine waters. In 2016, Maine commercial lobstermen trapped more than 130 million pounds, or $533.1 million worth, of the greenish-brown creatures, making it a record-breaking year in both volume and value.
But they aren’t the only lobsters out there. Scientists at the conference will present research on the tiny orange-pink Norway lobster, the clawless Florida or Caribbean spiny lobster, and the European lobster, the species that almost sparked a European Union-American trade war in 2016. There will also be panel discussions on commercially important lobster-like species, such as the spiny lobsters of Australia and New Zealand.
As the host species, however, the American lobster will be the star of this year’s conference, as will the New England fishing system, Wahle said.