Lobstering Ban

[pennypinch]

This is a tough one. On the one hand if the harvesting of lobsters was banned for five years along the atlantic coast, thousands would be out of jobs. On the flip side, I certainly don't want lobsters to become extinct in that region.

A ban was being proposed on harvesting lobsters along the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod, Mass. to North Carolina but it has been tabled until the Fall. The reason for the proposed ban is the declining lobster population along the coast because of disease that killed off a large number of them ten years ago in Long Island Sound.

The majority of U.S. lobsters come from Maine, which is not being considered for a ban because the population there is thriving. Lobstermen pulled in a robust 76.3 million pounds in 2009, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the largest harvest in years.

I am not a lobster eater so not having it available to me would be no bother at all but I do worry about the jobs that could be lost and the lobsters themselves.