With tourism booming and demand for local lobster as popular as ever, life in eastern Maine this summer is good. But there's a catch.
Lobster prices have recovered very little from their historic lows last year, squeezing profits for lobstermen. That's prompted community leaders to push an idea that may seem radical to many Down Easters—making Maine less dependent on a single species from the sea. They're creating incentives for fishermen to catch a variety of high-quality marine food, at a fair price for the long haul.
Their collective efforts include the removal of Maine river dams to allow fish—including the endangered Atlantic salmon—to return to historic spawning grounds. Call it a lesson in fish diversification in eastern Maine, where lobster dominates the ecosystem.
"Long term, that's not a stable situation to have very few, other species and so much lobster," said Robin Alden, a longtime fisheries management expert and former Maine commissioner of marine resources.
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