UMaine Study: Baby Lobsters Down Over 80% on Maine's Midcoast in a Decade, Adults Halved
A new University of Maine study found that baby lobsters along Maine's midcoast declined 80% between 2010 and 2022, followed by a 70% decline in young lobsters since 2015 and a 50% decline in adults large enough for lobstermen to catch.
Published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, the study was conducted by UMaine researchers working with the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), using scuba divers, traps and trawls to sample lobsters at different life stages. Lead researcher Robert Jarrett II, a recent Ph.D. graduate, said the midcoast — running from Brunswick to the Schoodic Peninsula — showed the clearest chain from fewer babies to fewer adults and recorded the steepest declines in the Gulf of Maine. The losses followed a period in which sampled lobster numbers doubled from the 2000s to the 2010s, and are tied to warmer water temperatures.
The Gulf of Maine lobster population has declined since the mid-2010s, even as the fishery generated more than $461 million in Maine landings in 2025. Researchers said baby lobster counts are an early warning signal for adult populations, posing a long-term challenge for the state's signature industry. In southern Maine, lobster numbers across all life stages have remained relatively stable since 2010. (GSM, from the University of Maine study and Seacoast Online, October 20)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 美洲龙虾实拍；Wikimedia Commons，公共领域，美国国家海洋和大气管理局 NOAA 照片库
