As we discussed last week, lobster gangs are seen by American society as aggressive, fierce competitors who create mayhem by cutting each other’s lines and shooting each other’s boats. However, in reality, these lobster gangs cooperate and share information while remaining competitive and territorial. In Acheson’s The Lobster Gangs of Maine, he mentions, “Territoriality does not exist in any other Maine fishery” (3). It is this reality, specifically ‘being territorial’, that sets the lobster gangs ahead of those who fish for other species. Conkling states, “in the late 1980s – in contrast to virtually every other fishing resource in nearshore or distant waters, which have been decreasing – reported lobster landings began to rapidly increase in Maine” (200). Even though there has been upheaval over what appears to be “feudal control [by lobster gangs] over large areas of public resources”(Conkling), they have in fact protected and successfully managed lobster populations for generations.
Ben’s comment about the Gulf of Maine being the fastest warming body of water concerns me. As climate change progresses the lobsters will move north to find colder water. The Portland Press Harold informs us that lobsters have already abandoned Long Island Sound, retreating from warming waters (Woodard). I am concerned because as lobsters move north and out of Maine’s lobster gang territories, then the lobsters will not be protected or properly managed. The lobsters will be exploited because the public, who remains uneducated on and inexperienced with lobster fishing, will have full access to the valuable species.
Economically, the lobster gangs of Maine have slowed time-space-compression by caring for their lobster farms, not allowing the lobsters to be exploited, and therefore not forcing new markets to be introduced. As the waters continue to warm, I hope lobster gang territories mobilize north so the lobster market can be sustained.
Colin Woodard — http://www.pressherald.com/2015/10/25/climate-change-imperils-gulf-maine-people-plants-species-rely/