Lobstermen and lawmakers hope a bill passed during the recent legislative session to restrict the use of certain pesticides will help revive a quintessential New England industry that has experienced a painful decline in Connecticut.
The bill, H.B. 6441, will require the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to establish a plan by September to restrict the use or application of the pesticides methoprene and resmethrin ”” which have been found to impact the lobster population ”” near the coastline.
The Long Island Sound has historically been home to some of the richest waters for lobster fishing, but over the past 15 years, lobster landings ”” the term for lobsters caught by fishermen ”” have fallen by 99 percent in the central and western portions of the sound, according to the DEEP.
For the sound as a whole, lobster landings have declined from 3.7 million pounds in 1998 to 142,000 pounds in 2011.
The industry has crumbled as a result and fishermen have blamed the use of pesticides that can flow into the sound as a result of storm runoff.
Today, the West End Long Island Sound Lobster Association estimates there are just 15 to 20 lobstermen left in Connecticut, down from more than 1,200 in the 1990s, decimating what Roger Frate said had been a $100 million industry in Connecticut.
“I”™ve been fishing for almost ”” over ”” 50 years,” said Frate, owner of the Darien Seafood Market and president of the Lobster Association at a June 24 press conference at his shop. “We”™ve been fighting this ”¦ for the last 13 years. I can”™t believe something was done. I wish the DEP (now the DEEP) would have listened to us years ago.”
Tony Carlo, a fellow fisherman, said he has been working less the past several years due to the lobster population decline.
“I”™m hoping it”™s not too late and I”™m hoping that there can be a future out in Long Island Sound for us,” Carlo said. “It”™s been a bittersweet thing for everybody to rally, finally, after all this time. Bitter about a lot of things, basically because we lost our livelihoods.”
In 2011, the DEEP discovered small amounts of the pesticides methoprene and resmethrin ”” which are found in commercial mosquito-control products such as Altosid, Scourge and Crossfire ”” in the tissue of lobsters caught in the waters south of Norwalk. The pesticides are primarily used to combat West Nile Virus, which first surfaced in Connecticut in the late 1990s.
Lance Stewart, a retired professor of marine biology at the University of Connecticut who began his career studying lobsters and their growth and reproduction cycles, said there is evidence that methoprene and resmethrin can inhibit the development of lobsters, which, as arthropods, possess a number of genetic similarities to mosquitoes.
In response to the discoveries, the DEEP ordered a broader study of whether the lobster population is being impacted by the two pesticides, with results expected by late July, in addition to any changes brought about by H.B. 6441.
With the passage of H.B. 6441, Connecticut joins Rhode Island and Massachusetts in restricting the use of methoprene and resmethrin. Many of the legislators who spoke at last week”™s press conference said the onus is now on New York state.
“New York state is still using these chemicals, and obviously they”™re using it to try to curtail the West Nile Virus, but there are alternatives out there and what we need to do is put pressure so that they can follow along with what the other states are doing,” said state Sen. Carlo Leone, whose district includes Darien and Stamford.
NOTE: This is an updated and expanded version of an article that first appeared online June 25.
It’s important to take these steps ASAP. Decades ago there were thousands of lobster men making a good living, while today a few dedicated believers can’t make ends meet. The entire ecosystem of the LI Sound will hopefully rebound some day, as it’s a mere fraction of itself in terms of aquatic life. Exploring less toxic pesticides is a mandatory investment in conserving Connecticut.