Effects of Climate Change on the Maine Lobster Industry

Climate change is affecting many industries in Maine and all over the world, but this research aims to highlight the effects of climate change on Maine’s lobster industry. Data from the Maine Department of Marine Resources allow for analysis of landings, price per pound, and real value between 2004 and 2015. The ideal model would include proxies for fishing effort, natural cycles of species, commercial fishing laws, management changes, temperature, weather severity, salinity changes, social hierarchy changes etc. Due to data limitations, the quantitative research question is: do increasing water temperatures have a negative effect on the lobster industry? There is supplemental qualitative research detailing possible effects on the aforementioned systems to gain a broader, more complete analysis. The future of the lobster industry is unknown because the intensity of climate change effects on each system would need to be known and this could not be determined due to time constraints. This paper outlines possible preliminary effects