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BraskysAnSOB t1_it0a8e2 wrote

Reply to comment by TarantinoFan23 in Does Alaska's canceled snow crab season impact Maine lobsters? by JustAMaineGirl

Don’t you think the “lobster people” would be the first to know if the the thing they spent their lives catching was going extinct?

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ZealousidealTreat139 t1_it0evf0 wrote

It's the "frog in a pot" complex. Ask any lobsterman how their haul has been throughout their career and you'll find a substantial number of cases where reports come back of a gradual decline over the years. Be this from overfishing, climate change, or a combination of those combined with other outside factors it all points in the same direction.

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lafnmatt t1_it260h4 wrote

My thoughts exactly. I fish for them everyday we can get out and we catch em like no one’s business. More than 60% go back overboard cuz they’re too small and/or punch tails but we always do well.

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TarantinoFan23 t1_it0ibj3 wrote

How would they know?

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BraskysAnSOB t1_it0k79x wrote

Their catch would be decreasing. Instead It’s gone up since the 90s.

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KYazut t1_it0p8ux wrote

By what metric? Like, if everyone else goes out of business, I’m probably catching more fish than I used to.

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lafnmatt t1_it26l91 wrote

There are noteworthy devices called scales that weigh the catch which is then portrayed on the receipt “slip” that the co-op gives you to keep track of what you’re selling. It’s a pen and paper thing which then goes into each’s records. Crazy right?

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TarantinoFan23 t1_it2q38w wrote

The scales tell you how many lobsters are in the ocean? What did it say this year?

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lafnmatt t1_it2x2n4 wrote

No, they weigh our catch. The lobsters in the traps I haul tell me what’s in the ocean. The majority of them are undersized and therefore go back over the rail along with the eggers. There’s no lack of lobster in the 200ish square miles we are allowed to fish (which isn’t even a thousandth of percent of the Gulf of Maine) let alone the rest of the ocean which covers 70% of the globe. You can’t imagine the vastness of the ocean. So I answered your question. My question to you is do you fish? If not then what makes you think you’ve got a clue what is going on in the northern Atlantic Ocean?

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TarantinoFan23 t1_it2xqtt wrote

If I fished everyday in the same 2x2 spot in a lake, I wouldn't assume I knew the ecology of the lake just from fishing that tiny fraction of the lake.

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lafnmatt t1_it2y0it wrote

Right. But you’re assuming lobsters are going extinct and have broken how many traps over the rail of a fishing vessel?

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