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In This Edition - Spring 2001
The Frenchman Bay Conservancy and Lobster Institute Bring Lobster Research Back to Tidal Falls
Aerial view of Tidal
Falls Lobster Pound in the mid 70s
The Tidal Falls Lobster Pound at Taunton Bay in Hancock, Maine was an
active site for Lobster Institute research in the mid-1970s and early 1980s.
Vitamins for lobsters, lobster bait attractants, artificial diets for
lobsters, and gaffkemia studies were just some of the research projects
undertaken using the lobster pound and other facilities at Tidal Falls.
The owners of
the pound sold the property at Tidal Falls in the mid-80s and the pound
operation was shut down. Over the
past several years the dam and most of the outbuildings have fallen into
disrepair and access to the area has been limited.
This past year, however, the Frenchman Bay Conservancy purchased the property and plans to once again provide access to the general public. The Conservancy was particularly attracted to this site because of the view of the unique reversing falls, which are a remarkable natural feature of Taunton Bay.
The Conservancy has agreed to let the Lobster Institute revitalize a
small field laboratory at Tidal Falls and have access to a mooring for the
Institute’s boat, R/V Black Fly. There
are no immediate plans to reconstruct the lobster pound.
Initially, the Institute will resume bait studies at the facility and
also hopes to create a health-monitoring station to facilitate identification of
emerging health issues in the lobster stock as well as environmental problems
that could affect lobsters.
The Maine Lobster Pound Association has
provided funding for preliminary planning of the health- monitoring program and
the revitalization of the field station. The
Institute has contracted with Dr. Elizabeth Stone, DVM, for this feasibility
study, including a search for additional funding.
Lobster
Institute’s Website
With over 100,000 hits a year on its
homepage and hundreds of thousands more on “Lobster Cam” alone, www.lobsterinstitute.org
is fast becoming one of the most visited lobster websites worldwide.
The site includes a lobster library (with past issues of the Lobster
Bulletin), news releases, information on Friends of the Lobster Institute,
the recent New England Habitat Report, a lobster quiz, a video clip of a day on
a lobster boat, a lobster chat section, and more.
Future plans call for a lobster photo gallery and an enhanced page of
links to other informative lobster-related website.
The site is popular all across the
United States and internationally. It
has been visited by fishermen and others from the lobster industry as well as
school children, college students, scientists, and lobster lovers in general.
Here is a sampling of some of the comments written in our guest book:
I
am very delighted to see for the first time this page and I am sure it will help
all the corners in the world...especially here in Africa which has a lack of
education of processing and handling. Please keep up the hard work.
Just checked out your web site, very cool. An excellent job and very
informative. I am out on the west
coast, and new to lobstering, will be visiting this site frequently and have
added it to my favorites.
I'm
just a dislocated fan and reading about your work helps me feel not quite so
miserable in corn and barbed wire country.
We
are looking forward to seeing the promising future of industry of lobster
aquaculture, and hoping we can have further information about that.
Taiwan Fisheries and Marine Technology
Consultants, Inc.
This
is a great web site. I am starting
graduate studies this spring on v-notching female lobsters and found
your web site very useful.
T.C., Fishermen and Scientists Research Society
z
Preliminary
Report of 2000 Lobster Landings Released
The NOAA Fisheries Northeast Region
Office of Fishery Statistics and the Maine Department of Marine Resources have
released the following preliminary 2000 numbers for Maine American Lobster
landings:
|
County |
Landings (lbs.) |
Value ($) |
|
Washington |
4,888,484 |
18,653,782 |
|
Hancock |
14,735,289 |
47,166,492 |
|
Knox |
18,896,591 |
60,677,317 |
|
Lincoln |
4,896,245 |
15,517,342 |
|
Sagadahoc |
905,903 |
3,088,365 |
|
Cumberland |
9,388,960 |
30,077,090 |
|
York |
3,034,216 |
10,930,882 |
|
TOTAL |
56,745,688 |
186,111,270 |
Barring any changes in the preliminary 2000 totals, this represents an overall landing increase of 6% and dollar value increase of approximately 8%. z
(Note: Commentary and letters to the editor do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lobster Institute. We invite reader feedback.)
Maine policy-makers need to take
another look at the state’s approach to the use of creosote-treated timbers in
coastal waters. Rules developed to implement the Natural Resources Protection
Act in effect prevent the use of timber treated with creosote for marine piers
and other structures. Last summer, we began to pay the price. In a single year,
shipworms destroyed pilings in Belfast, Rockland and Searsport, and an
aquaculture company in the Damariscotta River had damage to its oyster-growing
facilities. Roberto Lopez-Anido and colleagues at The University of Maine have
assessed the extent and nature of the damage caused by shipworms in those
communities. Similar problems
elsewhere in Maine may very likely have gone unreported.
Shipworms, also called the termites of
the sea, are not actually worms. They are highly modified clams that have
evolved into efficient wood-eating machines. In their search for a home, the larvae bore tiny holes
on the surface of woody materials. The adults use their shells as a rasp and
create larger tunnels inside the wood, in effect turning solid timber into a
brittle honeycomb. Damage is often discovered too late to do anything except
replace the infected structures.
Shipworms have long been a global
scourge of maritime activities. In 1502, Christopher Columbus scuttled two of
his four ships because of extensive shipworm damage. Pier owners in San
Francisco Bay saw an estimated $1.3 billion (today’s dollars) in shipworm
damage in the early 1920s. In the last decade, the city of New York has spent
well over $100 million to protect and replace worm-damaged structures.
Meanwhile, wood remains the most
economical material for harbor structures and marine industries, and methods to
protect it are critical to the well being of our coastal communities. The most
common preservative in the United States for all purposes is CCA, which is
responsible for the green hue of pressure-treated lumber. CCA-treated wood is
legal in Maine waters, but it tends to be brittle and not suitable for pilings.
The purpose of Maine’s creosote ban
was apparently to prevent contamination of coastal waters by toxic PCBs. Two
decades ago, some creosotes indeed contained PCBs as a contaminant. Maine’s
ban was a precautionary move. No cases of PCB contamination in Maine coastal
waters had been traced to creosote. To be sure, creosote is a toxic chemical.
The coal tar from which it is made causes cancer in humans, and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency lists creosote as a probable human carcinogen.
As applied to wooden pilings in coastal waters, creosote poses little if any
risk to people. Creosote is largely insoluble in water and thus maintains its
protective ability in wood that is constantly wet. “Nonbleeding”
formulations are now available, but some elements are soluble. Previous research
indicates that there is minimal risk to marine organisms. More study is needed
to determine the extent of this risk as well as the best alternatives.
Legislators need to weigh the risk against ongoing damage to structures.
Research on composite materials and
environmentally safe wood preservatives may play important roles here.
Work at UMaine’s wood composites laboratory may produce new techniques
for repairing and protecting piers. It makes little sense to put raw,
unprotected wood into our coastal waters. Creosote-treated timbers have a long
record of effective use in marine waters, and those who use Maine’s marine
facilities should not be put at a disadvantage.
Submitted
by the following UMaine faculty: Douglas Gardner and Barry Goodell, Department
of Forest Management; Roberto Lopez-Anido, Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering; and Kevin Eckelbarger, Darling Marine Center.
Readers may contact the Lobster Institute for more
detailed information on any of the projects reported.
Pictured
is a commercial crab trap being used to harvest green crab.
The Lobster Institute hopes to work with the UMaine Department of Food
Science to study the use of processed green crab in seafood pastas and snack
food products. Look for more
details in the next Lobster Bulletin.
v
Viability
of Wood Composite Trap Runners to Be Studied – The Lobster Institute is collaborating on a project
with Sealure North American; Dr. John Riley, University of Maine Professor of
Biosystems Resources; and Drs. Habib Dagher and Douglas Gardner of the
University’s Advanced Structures and Composites Laboratory/Advanced Engineered
Wood Composite Center (ASCL/ AEWCC) to provide preliminary product development
research for the application of wood composite materials to construct
lobster-industry-related structures. Initial
funding has been obtained through a $20,000 seed grant from the Maine Technology
Institute.
Specifically, prototype wood composite lobster trap runners will be
constructed and tested, and the viability of creating a marketable, commercial
product will be evaluated. Trap runners made of regular wood have a life
expectancy of approximately three years. They
are susceptible to rot and invasion from sea worms and other pests.
Runners made of plastics and other materials have longer life spans, yet
have proven to be more slippery and difficult to manage than wooden runners.
Their impact on the environment is also a question not fully addressed.
A wood composite runner is environmentally friendly, would not be
susceptible to sea worm invasion, and would be slower to experience wear and
tear. When it finally does show
signs of wear, the wood composite material is recyclable – it could be
extruded for use
The successful application of wood composite material
in trap runners would open the door for such product development as wood
composite lobster cars, lobster wharfs, lobster floats, and dams for tidal
lobster pounds. The latest example of wood composite
technology developed at the University of Maine was installed this fall on a new
marine pier in Milbridge. Workers from Prock Marine of Rockland installed
sections of fiber-reinforced polymer decking (the first of its kind in the
state) that have the same strength and stiffness as pre-stressed concrete but
weigh only one third as much. To learn more about wood composites and the ASCL/AEWCC
visit their website at www.aewc.umaine.edu
v
Lobster Larvae to Be Studied in Penobscot Bay – With
a $149,781 grant over two years from the Sea Grant College Program, Huijie Xue
of the School of Marine Sciences, Lew Incze of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean
Sciences, and Gregory Lough of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center will study
lobsters in Penobscot Bay. Starting in 2002, researchers will take samples of
lobster larvae in the bay at various depths and use a circulation model to
determine how larvae are transported in coastal Maine waters. The results will
contribute to ongoing studies to help manage the lobster fishery.
v
Sea
Surface Temperature Data Applied to Lobster Fishery – With support from a $61,642 grant from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Andrew Thomas and Robert Steneck of The
University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences and Lew Incze and Richard
Wahle of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay will conduct a
project: “Applications of Satellite Sea Surface Temperature Data to the New
England Lobster Fishery”. This project will take advantage of a recently
developed 12-year time series of data on sea surface temperature for the Gulf of
Maine to study relationships between lobster ecology and the environment.
Earlier work has shown that ocean surface temperature plays a major role in
lobster ecology.
z
