WARWICK, R.I. — It's a tiny sliver of the New England economy, but lobstering attracted jumbo attention at a public meeting Thursday in Rhode Island on a proposed five-year ban, which a Connecticut lobsterman called "almost biblical."
More than 100 people at the Crowne Plaza Hotel watched the lobster management board, part of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, debate how best to boost the dwindling lobster population from Cape Cod to North Carolina. Among the options: a five-year ban on harvesting.
Although the seven-hour meeting provided no resolution, the board shifted focus from a moratorium toward less severe measures. One motion passed calls for the committee that initially proposed the moratorium to evaluate three alternatives: reducing lobster fishing by 75 percent, 50 percent or maintaining the status quo.
Still, some lobstermen objected to a cut of those sizes. Michael Grimshaw, president of the Southern New England Fishermen's and Lobstermen's Association, said a 50 percent reduction would destroy the Connecticut lobster industry.
The lobster management board's next meeting will be in two weeks. A decision is not expected till November and could come as late as next spring.
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