Talking Lobsters Video
[-Back
to Talking Lobsters-]
All videos are in QuickTime format and require QuickTime player to view.
Video Text: Herb Hodgkins, Maine Lobster Pound Association: "What
brought it into existence was research work the university did with
mainly diseased lobsters and lobsters with red tail disease. So, we
founded the Maine Lobster Pound Association with the idea of support for
research, and we were one of the cornerstones for developing the Lobster
Institute."
Bob Bayer, Director, Lobster Institute: "I think the major impact is
getting people together. Getting people together that really didn't
trust or like each other--or they didn't think they liked each
other--and we're talking about groups like U.S. fishermen and Canadian
fishermen. Very fundamental, and then the dealers, processors, fishermen
on both sides of the border. I think that's a pretty major
contribution--opening the lines of communication for these folks to be
talking to each other."
Dana Rice, Lobsterman, D.B. Rice Fisheries: "Well, from an industry
point of view, I guess one of the interesting things that the Lobster
Institute has done is to promote the Lobstermen's Town Meeting--the
International Lobstermen's Town Meeting. It always has a topic to start
from but the industry always gets back to habitat and water quality and
the health of the creature from the Maritimes all the way down to the
mid-Atlantic states."
Bob Bayer: "We're doing environmental monitoring as we can. We're
looking at the interaction of the environment and lobster health,
working with the Maine Animal Aquatic Health lab to look at these sorts
of things. We're looking at the whole concept of stability of the
fishery in terms of its health."
Dana Rice: "There is no other organization and no other venue where this
happens. When we all come together, we're reacting to a proposed
regulation or a disaster or something like that, and we're all
protecting our own livelihoods. There is no other place that I know of
that we can always come together and just discuss what's on our minds."
