Global Warming Affecting Lobsters

How are warm waters affecting lobster populations?
This year Maine had a huge increase in lobster population.  As the water heats up the lobsters reproducing more quickly and hatching earlier.  The warmer waters, along with over fishing, have also depleted the population of cod.  Cod eat lobsters, so if there are no Cod, there is nothing to eat the lobsters.  This has created the cycle to be unbalanced and lobsters have become abundant.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/states-lobster-explosion-an-economic-boon-biodiversity-bust_2012-11-29.html?pagenum=1

Why could the growing lobster population be bad for fisherman?
With the lobster population growing in gulf of Maine, there is plenty to catch.  This large supply pushed the prices for lobster down.  It became very hard for fishermen to profit from even big catches because the prices were so low.

http://www.neaq.org/conservation_and_research/climate_change/effects_on_ocean_animals.php

Why is the growing lobster population bad for lobsters?
The growing lobster population is becoming a problem for a few reasons.  First, higher water temperatures increase the spread of shell disease.  This is bad for a big lobster population because the disease could quickly spread and kill off all the lobsters in the area.  Second, if water temperatures stay too warm for too long, lobsters do not take enough time off from growing to reproduce.  The lobsters become very stressed in warmer waters and do not have enough oxygen to do everything that needs to be done.  This can result in both death of the lobster, and inability to reproduce.  Though the population is great now, in the future it may deplete very quickly.  Last, lobsters have been resulting to cannibalism.  Lobsters are known to eat each other when stored tightly packed together, this is why their claws must be banded.  In the gulf of Main, with the growing population, there has also been a decrease in large fish.  With the ecosystem mostly made up of small fish, lobsters do not have enough to eat and have resorted to eating smaller lobsters that are very abundant.

http://magblog.audubon.org/lobster-populations-boom-are-they-set-crash

Is global warming affecting the lobster quality?

There have been many reports of increased catches of soft shell lobsters.  Soft shell lobsters are lobsters that have recently molted and are in the process of growing a new, bigger shell.  The problem with soft shell lobsters is that they have less meat and lobstermen do not get as much money for them as they would for a hard shell lobster.  Soft shells are also harder to transport because they die much quicker.  The increase in soft shell catches may be a result of the faster reproduction and molting process that is caused by warm water temperatures.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/soft-shell-lobster-prices_n_1643796.html