Less Effort, More Lobster? New Research Suggests That Fewer Traps Can Still Yield Profitable Results

MAINE PUBLIC • May 28, 2020

New research suggests that the U.S. lobster industry could place fewer traps in the water and still gain just as much profit. And that finding could play a role in the debate over what should be required of Maine lobstermen to reduce entanglements with endangered North Atlantic right whales. "We found that Canadian fishers in the Gulf of Maine caught about the same amount of lobster using seven and a half times less effort than Maine fishers on the U.S. side," says lead researcher Hannah Myers.