Category: Ask the Lobster Doc

Ask the Lobster Doc: Ocean warming in a sea of change

Weather and climate.  Data and models.  Theory, fact, hypothesis, consensus? It’s easy to feel uneasy. It’s easy to get confused. What is ocean warming, where does it fit into the realm of climate science, and what’s the lobster industry to do? Perhaps the best way to start making sense of rapid climate change is to …

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Ask the Lobster Doc: Looking lobster landings in the eye

  From my vantage point, there is a lot more – and less – to lobster landings than meets the eye. In some ways, like the economics way, there’s more to landings than meet the eye. However, in the science way, landings have next to nothing to reveal. I’ll try to explain. Landings data consist …

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Ask the Lobster Doc: Part 4 – Lobsters in summer

A year in the life of a lobster: Part 4 – Lobsters in summer   Summer is the easiest time to study lobster behavior. So I suppose that’s why summer is the only season in which I’ve been an eyewitness to similar lobster antics in myriad settings – including the laboratory, and in the intertidal, …

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A year in the life of a lobster: Part 3 – Lobsters in spring

Six months ago, I laid out a plan for telling the story of what lobsters do and what temperatures they confront through the seasons based on observations and other data gathered by The Lobster Conservancy’s research programs. In Parts 1 and 2, I took a balanced approach examining behavior in the Friendship Long Island lobster …

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A year in the life of a lobster: Part 2 – Lobsters in winter

What lobsters are doing in winter depends a great deal on where they are living. The lobsters that live next door to me in the lobster pound seem to be downright inactive, but that doesn’t really mean they aren’t doing anything at all.  When I get the opportunity to look closely, I see them flick …

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Ask the Lobster Doc: A year in the life of a lobster (Part 1) – Lobsters in autumn

Over the last 23 years, The Lobster Conservancy and I have gathered data recording what lobsters are doing throughout the year using various methods, including: •  Collecting data on locations and hourly temperatures directly recorded by eggers tagged in Friendship, ME who traveled as far as Cape Cod, MA; •  Taking repeated monthly census of …

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A February to remember: Maine lobsters and lobster scientist iced-in (Print)

For those readers who do not know, Diane Cowan, Phd, is the executive director of The Lobster Conservancy, and the author of the popular “Ask The Lobster Doc” column that appeared in Commercial Fisheries News for several years. Cowan made national news recently when her struggles with being iced-in on a coastal island, and essentially …

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A February to remember

by Diane Cowan A February to remember Maine lobsters and lobster scientist iced-in For those readers who do not know, Diane Cowan, Phd, is the executive director of The Lobster Conservancy, and the author of the popular “Ask The Lobster Doc” column that appeared in Commercial Fisheries News for several years.  Cowan made national news …

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