Meet the Scientists: Sustainable & Healthy Fisheries in the Gulf of Maine

Climate change has had pronounced changes throughout our worlds oceans. Changes in the thermal environment in Southern New England are already having profound and negative effects on lobsters. Indicators of this decline may include reduced fecundity, failure of females to mate, and insufficient or low quality sperm being passed to females, and any of these indicators may be linked to the presence of shell disease.

As climate change is expected to persist, stressful environmental conditions could spread northwards into the highly productive Gulf of Maine (GOM) lobster stock, making it critical to understand how changing thermal conditions might affect reproductive output.   As a result, Jonah crab (Cancer borealis) has become a rapidly emerging fishery and landings have more than quadrupled over the past 20 years.

As a result of this increased fishing effort, only recently has a fisheries management plan has been implemented. To ensure the long-term health of this fishery, it is important to assess the growth rates of Jonah crabs and determine the implications of harvesting Jonah crabs.

Together, these types of data will help future fisheries management decisions as they pertain to current harvest practices.