Connecticut’s lobster fishing industry is facing tough times as the authorities have announced to cut the number of lobster commercial fisherman can catch by 50 or 70 percent. A hearing on the catch limitations is set to begin at 7 p.m. at the Department of Environmental Protection Marine Headquarters in Old Lyme. One lobster fisherman said the quota reduction will kill the industry.
Lobster quota reduction might be a debacle for the industry, says Mike Theiler, who has been fishing for lobster off the Connecticut shore his whole adult life. His boat, the Jeanette T keeps three families afloat. He said cutting the lobster quota would sink them. He told that it is impossible to survive on 50 percent of his income.
The Lobster Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is proposing a 50 to 75 percent reduction of the lobster harvest, or a moratorium. Theiler said the reason isn’t to improve the lobster population here, but to improve the lobster market in Maine and New Hampshire.
The commercial fishing industry supports fuel suppliers, restaurants, insurance, marine services and other related businesses. Theiler said if he doesn’t fish, others don’t eat because every dollar generated from a boat like mine equates to $5 in the local economy.
