An article in today’s New York Times explores the idea that Maine’s reliance on the lobster fishery creates a “gilded trap” for Maine fisherman.
Maine lobsters, prized for their succulence and briny sweetness, are so abundant, and so lucrative, that they support fishing communities up and down the coast.
And that is just the problem, says Robert S. Steneck, a marine biologist at the University of Maine.
In a paper in the current issue of Conservation Biology, he and a team of researchers say the lobstermen, their communities and the state economy are caught in “a gilded trap,” in which short-term profit outweighs long-term social and environmental risks.