MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • December 12, 2021
Lobsters, which make up the nation’s second-most valuable fishery, are sensitive to temperature, preferring the chilly North Atlantic to southerly waters. Since the 1970s, the epicenter of the lobster population has shifted more than 100 miles to the north as the Gulf of Maine warmed. That brought new prosperity to Maine coastal villages, while in southern New England, lobster populations and profits dwindled – and, in some places, all but vanished. Meanwhile, the government is set to issue sweeping new restrictions on lobster fishing to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, whose temperature-sensitive food supply has been disrupted by global warming.