Groups 'seed' artificial reefs with lobsters

"If stock enhancement works, it may allow us to build up stocks for food without relying only on stringent fishery management measures." - Kathleen Castro, Rhode Island Sea Grant Marine Extension

February 17, 1999
Web posted at: 3:00 PM EST

A scientific collaboration is working to restore damaged marine habitat off the coast of Rhode Island and increase lobster populations there.

By "seeding" a section of artificial reef that already exists in Narragansett Bay with juvenile lobsters wearing microscopic tags, biologists will be able to monitor the reefs and hopefully determine how to increase local lobster populations.

The private-public partnership includes the Red Lobster restaurant chain, NOAA's Restoration Center, the Rhode Island Sea Grant program and the University of Rhode Island.

The project will build on an existing project that focuses on increasing lobster populations in Narragansett Bay. Artificial reefs built by the National Marine Fisheries Service with settlement money from the 1989 World Prodigy oil spill are providing protective habitat for lobsters in a small area of the West Passage.

Using a $30,000 award from Red Lobster, NOAA's Damage Assessment and Restoration Program will complete seeding of the artificial reefs with juvenile lobsters and produce educational materials.

The tagged lobsters, raised by the University of Rhode Island, will provide information to determine how well the hatchery lobsters survive and grow, and if stocking larval lobsters can increase local populations. With a little cooperation from nature, lobstermen will be able to start setting their traps on the reefs in about five years.

"If stock enhancement works, it may allow us to build up stocks for food without relying only on stringent fishery management measures," said Kathleen Castro, Rhode Island Sea Grant Marine Extension co-leader and principal investigator for the lobster seeding project. "This support from the Darden Group will supplement other grants to help us evaluate the success or failure of habitat enhancement and stock enhancement for lobsters."

The World Prodigy spill killed hundreds of adult lobsters and crabs and affected future lobster and shellfish catches through destruction of eggs and larvae when approximately 290,000 gallons of home heating oil spilled into Narragansett Bay, according to NOAA. By creating new habitat for lobsters and seeding them with hatchery reared lobsters, the partnership is restoring resources harmed by the oil spill. This approach to increasing lobster populations may serve as a model that can be used at other restoration sites.

For more information, contact Ben Sherman, National Sea Grant College Program, (202)662-7095, email: Sherman@nasw.org.

Copyright 1999, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.