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Maine Lobster Reprieve
In Maine's Portland Harbor, reported the Portland Press-Herald, enlightened action by the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company will win a reprieve for some 32,000 threatened lobsters.
Last year, as reported in the June 1998 issue of Atlantic CoastWatch, local lobstermen removed juvenile lobsters from their burrows in the harbor before a major dredging project began, and relocated them outside the harbor.
The idea was that the dredging would be completed before the lobsters would begin their spring migration back toward the shore. But with one third of the job still undone, the Army Corps of Engineers diverted the company's dredge to another task in Virginia.
Now, however, Great Lakes has been persuaded to change its schedule again so that the Portland dredging would be complete before lobsters start crawling back into the harbor. Lobstermen and Maine officials applauded. |
