S. Belknap quoted in Hakai Magazine article on warming waters, lobsters
Samuel Belknap, a Ph.D. student in the Adaptation to Abrupt Climate Change NSF IGERT Fellowship program pursuing a degree in anthropology and environmental policy at the University of Maine, was quoted in the Hakai Magazine article, “A warming threat to Maine’s lobsters.” In 2012, lobstermen started showing up at Belknap’s family dock in Bristol with lobsters covered in lesions from shell disease, according to the article. The appearance of the disease inspired Belknap to start his Ph.D. program at UMaine where he studies the ways shell disease and climate change 05 affect the lobster industry, the article states. Belknap said that on a longer timescale, temperature monitoring could add urgency to ongoing efforts to diversify the fisheries industry in Maine. Today, Belknap said lobster fishermen seem much less concerned with shell disease than they were in 2012 and 2013. “When things are good, people don’t see looming threats on the horizon,” he said.