Lobster Fishing Ban on the Table in New England

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Lobster Fishing Ban on the Table in New England

Fran Schneidau Reporting
WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief

Could there be a five-year ban on lobster fishing? It's the subject of hearing tonight in Connecticut.

A lobsterman for thirty-eight years, Nick Crismalli says the recommendation for a ban on lobster fishing in the New England region won't solve the diminishing lobster population problem.

Lobsters are not disappearing because of over-fishing, he says, but because sporting fish like striped bass are off-limits to commercial fishermen - and the striped bass, he says, is among a group of fish eating their way down the food chain.

"Some of these fish are thirty, forty pounds, fifty pound fish. They eat lobsters like they're hors d'oeuvres," says Crismalli.

Crismalli says when they molt, lobsters are especially vulnerable to predators. The way to boost their population, he says, is to allow commercial fishermen to go after the predators.
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