How
is Sea Grant and others addressing LI Sound's lobster declines and
sicknesses?
In mid-June 2001, over $3.5 million in research grants
were awarded to 17 science research teams in seven states,
to determine the causes behind the 1999-2000 winter die-off in Long
Island
Sound's lobster fishery. Funds were made available through the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), the National Sea Grant College Program, and the Connecticut
Department of Environmental Protection. An additional 2 projects
were funded through other monies ($2.6M) for resource assessment and
monitoring through the Connecticut Department of Enviromental Protection
(CTDEP) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
(NYSDEC).
The research is funded jointly under the Long Island Sound Lobster
Research Initiative, an endeavor of the Sea Grant programs in
Connecticut and New York, along with the Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection and NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
The Initiative is being overseen by the ad hoc Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Lobster Steering Committee, which was
appointed under ASMFC American Lobster Management Board.
Why
were new funds earmarked to study sick and dying lobsters in LI Sound?
Responding
to requests from the governors of both Connecticut and New York, then
Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley declared the lobster resource
in Long Island Sound a commercial fishing failure using the "resource
disaster" clauses of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act on January 26, 2000. Lobsters, seawater, and sediments
were tested for toxins, but nothing unusual was found. Pathologists
from the University of Connecticut conducting necropsies on sick lobsters
and discovered parasitic paramoebae in their nervous tissues. It was
unclear, however, whether the paramoeba was the primary cause of the
lobster deaths, or whether other stressors were also involved. This
is why special funds were earmarked for further research studies.
How did this new lobster funding help form the
LI Sound Lobster Initiative?
The Long Island Sound Lobster Research Initiative was established
after a July 2000 Congressional allocation of $6.6
million in federal funds to NOAA for scientific research
into the causes of the die-off, and monitor stock recovery. The State
of Connecticut's Long Island Sound Research Fund being administered
by Connecticut State's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
also contributed $1
million to the research initiative, bringing the total
disaster response budget to $7.6 million.
Approximately $840,000 of the federal research funds support
two projects administered by NMFS.
New York and Connecticut Sea Grant programs each identified six research
projects (for a total of twelve
projects) that they are sponsoring. These federal research funds also
include $165,000 to each Sea Grant program to communicate the
research findings to lobster fishermen, resource managers, and the
public. In addition to these research projects, the Connecticut Department
of Environmental Protection is funding three
projects.
The awards resulted from a national competition of research projects
to investigate the causes of mortality and shell disease in Long Island
Sound lobsters. The funded research will investigate many different
factors on an ecosystem-wide basis. These include disease-causing
organisms, pesticides, pollution, lobster crowding, water quality
conditions including elevated temperatures and changes in salinity,
and environmental conditions such as storm events.
The federal funds
also include $2.6 million to the States of Connecticut and
New York for two projects to assess
the status and recovery of the lobster stocks (overseen by CTDEP and
NYSDEC). Other collaborators include representatives of Long Island
Sound lobster fishing organizations and the US Environmental Protection
Agency.
An additional $7.3 million in federal funds was also allocated
for economic assistance to the affected lobster fishermen. Lobsters
are the most economically important marine species harvested in New
York, while in Connecticut, lobsters are second only to bivalve shellfish.
Landings declined in the fall of 1999 by as much as 90 percent, forcing
many of the Sound's more than 300 lobstermen to cease their lobster
fishing operations. Lobsters continue to be harvested from Long Island
Sound in reduced numbers, mainly from central and eastern areas, but
officials still don't know what caused the die-off.
Sea Grant's "LIS Lobster Initiative":
Contact Information
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eastern
Sound have been suffering from "shell disease," a
bacterial infection that has been around for awhile but appears
to have greatly increased. 
