May 18, 2017 — The lobster population in the Long Island Sound is at a record low — so says a multi-state commission that will soon make changes to how and when lobsters can be harvested from the sound.
As CBS2’s Carolyn Gusoff reported, lobstermen from Connecticut to Long Island warn this could be the end of their struggling industry.
At Northport Fish And Lobster Company, the tanks are filled with fresh lobsters, but not from the nearby Long Island Sound.
“Most of our lobsters are coming from Maine and Canada right now because all the lobsters have been dying for the last 10 years,” chef Brett Kaplan explained.
Northport Harbor once buzzed with dozens of lobster boats, but now has just a handful. Most of the twenty lobstermen left harvesting the sound from Long Island and Connecticut gathered in East Setauket to tell New York state regulators that tighter restrictions will be the last straw in an already decimated industry.
“You’re sacrificing the lobstermen for the lobsters. They get paid to manage the fisheries and are doing it at our expense,” lobsterman and Northport Mayor George Doll said.
“We will be done. Lobster fishing in Long Island sound will be no more, it will be a distant memory and it’s unacceptable,” lobsterman Mike Kalaman added.