Lobstermen says die-off may be occurring in the Sound

There are signs that Long Island Sound may be suffering from another die-off that wiped out 80 percent of the Sound’s lobsters in 1999.

The president of the Connecticut Commercial Lobstermen’s Association says there are reports of pockets of dead lobsters of the Thames River down the coast to Darien.

The director of marine fisheries for the state Department of Environmental Protection says he has some concerns.
Eric M. Smith says state officials began to receive reports last fall of lobsters showing stress and disease problems similar to 1999.

Smith says scientists believe warmer water in the Sound was a key trigger in the 1999 lobster die-off, causing stress that turned other factors such as pesticides and pollution lethal.

New Haven Register