Lobster Shell Disease with Dr. Joe Kunkel

May 9, 2021

Will the Maine lobster fishery collapse?

On this special rebroadcast of the American Shoreline Podcast from March 2019, Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham revisit their first show with Dr. Joseph G. Kunkel. Joe, as he prefers to be called, is the professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Research Professor University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. As part of our ongoing coverage of the American Shoreline's fisheries, we have been following the "mass migrations" of sea life seeking preferred water temperatures. Lobsters are no exception, and scientists, like Joe, are trying to understand how climate changes are impacting the fishery and if policy changes might be able to preserve the fishery for future generations. One primary concern is Lobster Shell Disease. On this show Dr. Kunkel deep dives on the issues facing the American Lobster, a multi-billion dollar industry facing an uncertain future.

Show Transcription
This transcription was generated by a computer. Please excuse any errors.
Peter Ravella & Tyler Buckingham

Peter and Tyler joined forces in 2015 and from the first meeting began discussing a project that would become Coastal News Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network. At the time, Peter and Tyler were coastal consultants for Pete’s firm, PAR Consulting, LLC. In that role, they worked with coastal communities in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, engaged in grant writing, coastal project development, shoreline erosion and land use planning, permitting, and financial planning for communities undertaking big beach restoration projects. Between and among their consulting tasks, they kept talking and kept building the idea of CNT & ASPN. In almost every arena they worked, public engagement played a central role. They spent thousands of hours talking with coastal stakeholders, like business owners, hotel operators, condo managers, watermen, property owners, enviros, surfers, and fishermen. They dived deep into the value, meaning, and responsibility for the American shoreline, segment-by-segment. Common threads emerged, themes were revealed, differences uncovered. There was a big conversation going on along the American shoreline! But, no place to have it. That's where CNT and ASPN were born.