Bass rules created lobster shortage
Undated photograph of, fom left,Timothy Strobel, Justin LaPree and Jennifer Datorre with striped bass aboard the Montauk private vessel, Big Blue. Credit:
Your article on the lobster problem and the expert opinions on remedies to correct it gives me a case of bewilderment ["Wary wait for rules," News, March 5]. The people who are the self-appointed guardians of our saltwater resources labor under the delusion that the written word will cure the lobster problem.
It was the written word that created the decline of lobster population, when the harvesting of striped bass was restricted by law. The striped bass is the alpha predator on juvenile lobster and other marine fish.
So what is their solution to their self-created problem? Why it is simple: Put a one-year moratorium on taking lobster. Meanwhile, during the moratorium, the bass will continue to decimate juvenile lobster. Remember lobster and stripers do not obey laws of man. They are governed by the laws of nature.
I opened a legal bass and counted 1,500 fluke fry in it. A South Shore angler opened a 30-inch bass that had 23 five-inch fluke in it. That is where all our lobster and fluke are going.
Henry Dam
Cold Spring Harbor
Editor's note: The writer, a naturalist, is a former bayman and is affiliated with local sportsmen's organizations.
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