27-30 November 2012              Holiday Inn by the Bay, Portland, Maine

The status of the American lobster over the last decade is a story of contrasts. While lobster numbers from the Gulf of Maine northward have climbed to historic highs, southern New England has been plagued by disease and mass mortality. Coastal communities in Atlantic Canada and Maine are more dependent on the lobster fishery than ever before. For the first time, southern New England harvesters face a moratorium on lobster fishing.

Sponsors

Fundamental changes have occurred over the past few decades in the climate and food web of the Northwest Atlantic, as well as the economics of fishing. After decades of relative stability in the fishery, we need to improve our understanding of Homarus americanus in the context of its changing environment. The symposium is timely as fishery managers grapple with how to integrate traditional single-species management with the mandate for ecosystem-based approaches, and because major research initiatives are generating interesting results across the species' range. The symposium will be a forum for new findings, aiming to identify region-wide research gaps and priorities, and catalyze new research collaborations.

Check this website for updates, including draft agendas, call for abstracts, and registration information.

Conference Steering Committee:

Paul Anderson, Maine Sea Grant College Program (co-chair)
Rick Wahle, University of Maine (co-chair)
Andrea Battison, AVC Lobster Science Centre,
          University of Prince Edward Island (co-chair)
Robert Bayer, Lobster Institute, University of Maine
Cathy Billings, ­ Lobster Institute, University of Maine
Kathy Castro, ­ University of Rhode Island
Dounia Daoud, Homarus Inc., Maritimes Fishermen's Union, New Brunswick 
John Garland, ­ Clearwater Seafoods, Nova Scotia
Jonathan Grabowski, ­ Northeastern University
Patty King, Fishermen and Scientists Research Society
Patrice McCarron, Maine Lobstermen’s Association
Angelica Silva, Fisheries and Oceans Canada,
           Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Nova Scotia
John Tremblay, Fisheries and Oceans Canada,
           Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Nova Scotia
Carl Wilson, Maine Department of Marine Resources
 
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