A Look at the Quality and Safety Issues Facing Crustacean Suppliers

Using his two-year $399,293 Sea Grant funding, Dr. Wahle will examine the disconnect between historic highs in lobster egg production in the Gulf of Maine and low numbers of young-of-year recruits showing up in coastal nurseries. “This project will help us test our hypothesis that, before larvae even settle to the seabed, their survival is limited by the supply of planktonic food in the pelagic food web,” he says. “To that end, we’re conducting field studies to examine the association between lobster larvae and zooplankton prey. And, in the lab, we’ll put new DNA sequencing tools to work in what amounts to a forensic investigation to identify prey that field-collected larvae have consumed. Studying lobster larval feeding ecology should help us better understand the links between changes in the Gulf of Maine’s ocean environment and change in its iconic lobster fishery, a key economic driver in our coastal communities.”

Another of the seven Sea Grant projects is led by Damian Brady, PhD, an ecosystem modeler in UMaine’s School of Marine Sciences. Dovetailing Dr. Wahle’s project, Dr. Brady is using his two-year $399,994 grant to further explore the potential effects of climate warming on the early life history of H. americanus. “His team is developing a modeling system to examine effects of three key moving targets: location and timing of spawning, larval transport, and the distribution of a thermally suitable nursery habitat,” Dr. Wahle says.

Lobster Education

The latest research on lobsters is being used to educate fishers, food producers and consumers. Established in 2010, the Lobster Academy is an annual four-day program dedicated to increasing the value of H. americanus worldwide for all related stakeholders, including fishermen, buyers, and consumers, according to Robert Bayer, PhD, UMaine professor emeritus of animal and the veterinary sciences, as well as the Lobster Academy’s founder. Dr. Bayer is also Dr. Wahle’s predecessor as director of the Lobster Institute.

The Lobster Academy is held at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews-by-the Sea, New Brunswick. Academy tours and demonstrations are also conducted on nearby Deer Island, which is home to the world’s largest natural live lobster pound. (A pound is a commercial enclosure filled with circulating water in which lobsters are kept alive pending sale. Deer Island’s pound is considered natural because it is outdoors and fed by sea water tides.) The pound’s owner, Paturel International Company, a subsidiary of East Coast Seafood Group, packs and ships millions of pounds of live lobsters around the world annually, the firm reports.

“We focus on providing quality education and discovery for international and domestic lobster buyers, importers, culinary professionals, and other industry leaders,” Dr. Bayer says. “We provide hands-on training aboard a lobster boat and in a lobster processing plant.” To date, some 300 professionals associated with lobster have attended the academy, he notes. “The curriculum reflects industry issues including traceability, sustainability certification, demand, pricing, processing, regulatory issues, and marketing opportunities,” Dr. Bayer adds, emphasizing that the major issue affecting lobster quality is handling live lobsters in a way that minimizes mortality and shrinkage.

While lobsters are harvested in Maine year-round, fishing diminishes there during the winter, Dr. Bayer says. “But, in Canada, the most important hard-shell season runs from November to spring,” he adds. “Lobsters are more rugged and ship well during that time.”

Growth of Processed Lobster Products

The number of larger lobster processing facilities in Maine—those processing more than 100 crates of live lobsters, or approximately 10,000 pounds, per day—has increased over the past 10 years to eight, according to Jason Bolton, PhD, UMaine Cooperative Extension food safety specialist. Dr. Bolton works with food companies, including lobster processors, on facility design, good manufacturing practices, sanitation standard operating procedures, hazard analysis and critical control points implantation, thermal process validation, regulation interpretation, and new product development. He’s also an instructor at the Lobster Academy.