A ONCE thriving fishing industry off the coast of New York lies ruined, after the mysterious death of 95 per cent of the local lobster population. John Makowski, a former lobsterman in Rowayton, Connecticut, says that in his 40 years he has seen many small die-offs, but nothing this catastrophic.
Most fishermen suspect the pesticides are to blame.
Growing scientific evidence is now supporting the fishermen's suspicions. One of the insecticides used, based on compounds called pyrethroids, not only kills mosquitoes but is also toxic to the insect's close arthropod relative, the lobster. Researchers think that at the time of spraying, the heavy storms of Hurricane Floyd may have washed large amounts of insecticide down sewage drains. Many of these drains flow into Long Island Sound. Preliminary tests on lobsters in the Sound confirm the presence of traces of pyrethroid, says Bill Smith of the conservation group Fish Unlimited, based in Shelter Island Heights, New York.