Proposed 5-year ban upsets Long Island lobstermen

The handful of Long Island lobstermen still in business after the 1999 lobster die-off now face a new hurdle - a proposed five-year fishing ban on lobsters in waters south of Cape Cod.

Biologists recommended the moratorium at a meeting last month of regional fishery managers. While they acknowledged the "catastrophic effects" it would have on fishermen and coastal communities, they said it was still the best bet to ensure a sustainable lobster fishery in southern New England waters, which include Long Island Sound.

The proposal has upset local lobstermen, who said there were too few of them left to make much of a dent in the lobster population. There are only about 20 active lobsterman on this side of the Sound, said John German, president of the Long Island Sound Lobstermen's Association.

"Years ago you could almost walk across the buoys," said Joe Finke of Bayville. "Now you're lucky to see one. We've shut down our own fishery."

Less than 10 percent of the lobsters caught in the United States now come from the area of the proposed closure, which stretches from southern Massachusetts to North Carolina. But it remains the second-largest lobster fishery and accounted for 19 percent of the nation's catch between 1981 and 2007.

It used to be more productive. Back in 1996 - the high point of Long Island Sound's lobster fishery - New York fishermen landed 9.4 million pounds of lobster.

Soon after, the population crashed. Scientists blame a combination of factors, including warmer water temperatures, pesticide runoff and shell disease. New York fishermen landed 1.1 million pounds of lobster in 2008.

"Since the die-off in 1999, landings in Long Island Sound as well as abundance levels in Long Island Sound have declined," said Toni Kerns, a senior fisheries management plan coordinator with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages coastal fisheries in the region. "The population is so low that the technical committee is concerned that if we continue to fish, it would not be able to rebuild itself."

Long Island lobstermen said the proposal, which follows stricter regulations on the size of lobsters they can keep, would put even more fishermen out of business. "The average age of fishermen is 55 to 65," German said. "If they shut us down, most of them don't have five years left in them."

And they were skeptical about the motives behind the proposed ban. German said fishermen from Maine and New Hampshire would benefit from a closure of the southern New England lobster fishery. "If they can eliminate the effort down here, they've got the market to themselves," he said.

A final decision on a moratorium is not expected until November at the earliest, Kerns said. The commission's lobster board will consider the matter at a meeting next month.

If the moratorium is ultimately adopted, Kerns said the commission would recommend that National Marine Fisheries Service institute an equivalent rule for federal waters.