Gulf of Maine lobsters are experiencing a housing crisis

Lobster fishing has been a good business in the Gulf of Maine for a long time. Between 1984 and 2014, the lobster population in the Gulf of Maine jumped an estimated 515 percent, while simultaneously declining by 78 percent in southern New England as the water warmed in both regions. The result? A lobster housing crisis. Win Watson, a lobster scientist at the University of New Hampshire, said, “What you’re seeing is actually a direct result of climate change. Because there’s such an abundance of lobsters, the good rocky crevice habitat has been taken by the lobsters that got there first, and now you’ve got these other lobsters that have to sort of dig a temporary, low-rent condo out in the sand.”