Title: The American Lobster – Poster Child of a Changing Marine Ecosystem, by Dr. Richard Wahle (University of Maine)

Abstract:
"As global fisheries experience ever increasing pressures of ecosystem change, the iconic American lobster has become an instructive case study of the sometimes contrasting impacts of environmental change and exploitation on our living marine resources and coastal communities. Dynamic food webs and climate are changing lobster ecology and management. Although optimal conditions have receded from southern New England with a warming climate, they have expanded into the Gulf of Maine, reinforcing the positive effects of the widespread depletion of predatory groundfish, such as Atlantic cod, to trigger an unprecedented boom in lobster production, one that has elevated the lobster to its current status as the most valuable single-species fishery in the US and Canada. But the future of this fishery is far from certain, and to be prepared for change it is increasingly important to embrace ecosystem-based management and forecasting tools that account for environmental interactions.”