njdiver1
Contributor
A "bug" problem
By DAN RADEL STAFF WRITER
October 29, 2010 06:05 AM
They may look like bugs but they sure do eat good.
For me, I can usually eat my weight in lobsters. That's why I was a bit concerned over the talk of a five year moratorium on the Southern New England stock of lobster this past summer.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council (ASMFC) manages the SNE stock. Lobsters in this stock have a range from Cape Cod south to Cape Hatteras. The ASMFC also manages the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. Those two stocks would not have been included in the moratorium, but stood to profit from it.
"It's simple supply and demand. The less pots in the water, the less competition the northern lobstermen have for their lobsters," said Jack Goodwin, owner of Point Lobster Co. in Point Pleasant Beach.
As both a retailer and wholesaler, Goodwin purchases lobsters from Maine, Nova Scotia and local Jersey lobstermen. The company does not have its own boats, but three lobster boats currently lease slips on his property. Goodwin said he also deals with lobstermen out of Shark River Inlet.
Joesph Horvath, Sr. is one of those lobstermen running out of Shark River Inlet. Horvath, 70, lives in Howell and has been lobstering for a living for the better part of four decades. He has raised four children harvesting the shellfish.
"I started with a 22-foot boat and taught myself how," he said.
Today he has a few boats on the water including the Fully Loaded and the Baby Doll. Both are Downeast-style boats.
"Most people aren't even aware that Jersey has a lobster industry," Horvath said.
But New Jersey does. Pots are strung along the ocean floor in places such as the Mud Hole like pearl necklaces. Their locations marked on the surface by golf course-style flags where recreational anglers like to "pot hop" for mahi-mahi.
Still, I know where Horvath is coming from, from my days working at a shore area fish market and restaurant. We served lobster and people often asked if they were from Maine as if Jersey lobsters were inferior.
It might be time for the Pepsi-Cola challenge. We'll cook up lobsters from Maine and New Jersey and let taste decide.
Goodwin and Horvath have somewhat of a different opinion on why the moratorium was proposed. Goodwin saw it more of a scare tactic.
"The National Marine Fisheries Service would get lobstermen from Massachusetts south to make concessions. Use fewer pots," he said.
Horvath said it was no scare tactic. "The fellows from Maine wanted it to go through. They're already getting a smaller lobster," he said. A moratorium would mean greater demand for their catch.
Maine is currently allowed to harvest lobsters at 3 1/4 inch size from the eye socket to the end of the body, or break in the shell. Jersey's lobsters have to be slightly bigger at 3 3/8 inch.
The moratorium, if it were to go into effect, would be for five years. The rationale for the proposed moratorium came from a report from the ASMFC's Lobster Technical Committee (TC) on April 17, 2010. The report stated that the SNE stock was critically depleted and well below the minimum threshold abundance.
The stocks in one area in particular are very low but lobstermen and the TC are at odds at what is causing it. The area of question is the Long Island Sound.
Lobstermen refer back to the catastrophic lobster die-off in the Sound in September of 1999 as a result of pesticides used in sprays to kill off mosquitoes in reaction to the West Nile Virus.
The TC sees it as a result of longer trends of warmer water. The report argues that there has been a widespread increase in the duration of water temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius in the SNE inshore range since 1999.
Prolonged exposure to water temperature above 20 degrees Celsius can cause respiratory and immune system stress and shell disease in lobster.
"There is definitely a problem with the stocks in Long Island Sound and also Narragansett Bay, but the lobster harvest off New Jersey has been the best in years. There's no need to paint the Jersey coastline in with the moratorium," Horvath said.
The ASMFC backed off the moratorium in July after advice from the American Lobster Management Board.
Horvath feels the threat of the moratorium has still not passed and looms over the industry like a rain cloud that just won't leave.
If anything, stricter regulations on the harvest could be put in place on lobstermen harvesting the SNE stock. There has been talk of cutting the SNE lobster catch by as much as 75 percent.
The American Lobster Board has a meeting scheduled for Nov. 10 at the ASMFC meetings in Charleston, S.C. to further discuss the issue. A Draft Addendum, with management options for public comment, is expected to come out of that meeting. The N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife will also be holding meetings this fall in Shark River and Cape May. The dates of those meetings have not yet been announced.
The commercial guys aren't the only ones with an interest in lobsters. There is a nominal recreational sector of divers who pick them off the ocean floor by hand.
Glenn Arthur from the Chairman for the New Jersey Council of Diving Clubs did most of his lobster diving in the 1980s when it was unlimited.
"We could get nice trophy lobsters by hand back then. You can sneak right up on them and slip your hand over the shell and grab them on the back. But you have to be careful of the crusher claws," Arthur said.
Arthur admits he's been pinched a few times. "Nothing serious," he boasted.
In Florida, diver's talk of an unusual technique called lobster tickling. They use a tickle stick to walk lobsters into a bag. With the stick in one hand, they tap the bag of the tail to get it moving backward into the bag.
Today recreational divers can take six lobsters per day between 3 3/8 and 5 1/4 inches, what Arthur calls a slot lobster. They are not allowed to spear and must come up with the whole lobster. In other words, it's illegal to break off the claws and tails, the delicious parts of the lobster, and leaving the body.
Arthur has invited Peter J. Himchak, the supervising biologist for the N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife to attend their Nov. 17 dive meeting. Interested parties are welcome to come, however, seating is limited. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at St. Lukes Episcopal Church on Washington and Chestnut Streets in Union. It's exit 138 on the Garden State Parkway. The council's website is NJ Council of Diving Clubs - Home page.
A "bug" problem | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
By DAN RADEL STAFF WRITER
October 29, 2010 06:05 AM
They may look like bugs but they sure do eat good.
For me, I can usually eat my weight in lobsters. That's why I was a bit concerned over the talk of a five year moratorium on the Southern New England stock of lobster this past summer.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council (ASMFC) manages the SNE stock. Lobsters in this stock have a range from Cape Cod south to Cape Hatteras. The ASMFC also manages the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. Those two stocks would not have been included in the moratorium, but stood to profit from it.
"It's simple supply and demand. The less pots in the water, the less competition the northern lobstermen have for their lobsters," said Jack Goodwin, owner of Point Lobster Co. in Point Pleasant Beach.
As both a retailer and wholesaler, Goodwin purchases lobsters from Maine, Nova Scotia and local Jersey lobstermen. The company does not have its own boats, but three lobster boats currently lease slips on his property. Goodwin said he also deals with lobstermen out of Shark River Inlet.
Joesph Horvath, Sr. is one of those lobstermen running out of Shark River Inlet. Horvath, 70, lives in Howell and has been lobstering for a living for the better part of four decades. He has raised four children harvesting the shellfish.
"I started with a 22-foot boat and taught myself how," he said.
Today he has a few boats on the water including the Fully Loaded and the Baby Doll. Both are Downeast-style boats.
"Most people aren't even aware that Jersey has a lobster industry," Horvath said.
But New Jersey does. Pots are strung along the ocean floor in places such as the Mud Hole like pearl necklaces. Their locations marked on the surface by golf course-style flags where recreational anglers like to "pot hop" for mahi-mahi.
Still, I know where Horvath is coming from, from my days working at a shore area fish market and restaurant. We served lobster and people often asked if they were from Maine as if Jersey lobsters were inferior.
It might be time for the Pepsi-Cola challenge. We'll cook up lobsters from Maine and New Jersey and let taste decide.
Goodwin and Horvath have somewhat of a different opinion on why the moratorium was proposed. Goodwin saw it more of a scare tactic.
"The National Marine Fisheries Service would get lobstermen from Massachusetts south to make concessions. Use fewer pots," he said.
Horvath said it was no scare tactic. "The fellows from Maine wanted it to go through. They're already getting a smaller lobster," he said. A moratorium would mean greater demand for their catch.
Maine is currently allowed to harvest lobsters at 3 1/4 inch size from the eye socket to the end of the body, or break in the shell. Jersey's lobsters have to be slightly bigger at 3 3/8 inch.
The moratorium, if it were to go into effect, would be for five years. The rationale for the proposed moratorium came from a report from the ASMFC's Lobster Technical Committee (TC) on April 17, 2010. The report stated that the SNE stock was critically depleted and well below the minimum threshold abundance.
The stocks in one area in particular are very low but lobstermen and the TC are at odds at what is causing it. The area of question is the Long Island Sound.
Lobstermen refer back to the catastrophic lobster die-off in the Sound in September of 1999 as a result of pesticides used in sprays to kill off mosquitoes in reaction to the West Nile Virus.
The TC sees it as a result of longer trends of warmer water. The report argues that there has been a widespread increase in the duration of water temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius in the SNE inshore range since 1999.
Prolonged exposure to water temperature above 20 degrees Celsius can cause respiratory and immune system stress and shell disease in lobster.
"There is definitely a problem with the stocks in Long Island Sound and also Narragansett Bay, but the lobster harvest off New Jersey has been the best in years. There's no need to paint the Jersey coastline in with the moratorium," Horvath said.
The ASMFC backed off the moratorium in July after advice from the American Lobster Management Board.
Horvath feels the threat of the moratorium has still not passed and looms over the industry like a rain cloud that just won't leave.
If anything, stricter regulations on the harvest could be put in place on lobstermen harvesting the SNE stock. There has been talk of cutting the SNE lobster catch by as much as 75 percent.
The American Lobster Board has a meeting scheduled for Nov. 10 at the ASMFC meetings in Charleston, S.C. to further discuss the issue. A Draft Addendum, with management options for public comment, is expected to come out of that meeting. The N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife will also be holding meetings this fall in Shark River and Cape May. The dates of those meetings have not yet been announced.
The commercial guys aren't the only ones with an interest in lobsters. There is a nominal recreational sector of divers who pick them off the ocean floor by hand.
Glenn Arthur from the Chairman for the New Jersey Council of Diving Clubs did most of his lobster diving in the 1980s when it was unlimited.
"We could get nice trophy lobsters by hand back then. You can sneak right up on them and slip your hand over the shell and grab them on the back. But you have to be careful of the crusher claws," Arthur said.
Arthur admits he's been pinched a few times. "Nothing serious," he boasted.
In Florida, diver's talk of an unusual technique called lobster tickling. They use a tickle stick to walk lobsters into a bag. With the stick in one hand, they tap the bag of the tail to get it moving backward into the bag.
Today recreational divers can take six lobsters per day between 3 3/8 and 5 1/4 inches, what Arthur calls a slot lobster. They are not allowed to spear and must come up with the whole lobster. In other words, it's illegal to break off the claws and tails, the delicious parts of the lobster, and leaving the body.
Arthur has invited Peter J. Himchak, the supervising biologist for the N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife to attend their Nov. 17 dive meeting. Interested parties are welcome to come, however, seating is limited. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at St. Lukes Episcopal Church on Washington and Chestnut Streets in Union. It's exit 138 on the Garden State Parkway. The council's website is NJ Council of Diving Clubs - Home page.
A "bug" problem | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
