Lobster populations across all of southern New England, from the elbow of Cape Cod to the Sound, have sunk to what fisheries biologists consider dangerously low levels. Meanwhile, their kin to the north flourish, accompanied by a healthy fishery for this favorite culinary crustacean.
Since a major die-off in the Sound in the late 1990s, researchers have been studying possible causes, with most pointing to some convergence of factors including shell disease, overabundance of predators, toxins and pesticide residues from efforts to eradicate West Nile virus, overfishing and environmental changes in the Sound.
Now,
