Marine scientists have said they believe a tiny parasite known as the paramoeba, which is deadly to lobsters but not to humans, has caused hundreds of thousands of lobsters to die in Long Island Sound this fall. Fewer lobsters are being caught, and one lobsterman said that three-quarters of the live lobsters he pulled out died before he could get them to market.
Scientists say it is the worst die-off in Long Island Sound in almost a decade.
It comes on the heels of a lobster population explosion and several years of record catches. But it is the current troubles, not the past successes, that are on the minds of the lobstermen and their families. Two Huntington Town Council members, Mark Cuthbertson and Susan J. Scarpati-Reilly, attended the Dec. 8 meeting. Afterward, Mr. Cuthbertson said that each of the town's 100 licensed lobstermen would be mailed a petition they could sign requesting that state and federal lawmakers help lobstermen secure federal disaster aid. Governor Pataki subsequently wrote to Commerce Secretary William Daley asking for a disaster declaration so low-interest loans could be made available.