It really sucks to be a lobster fisherperson working in the Long Island Sound. Twelve years ago, 90 percent of the lobsters died off because of pesticides or climate change or both. The ones still there have weird-looking shells, a result of bacteria colonizing the sounds, that keep people from wanting to eat them. Things are so bad some of the lobstermen don't even bother fishing for lobster anymore, says the New York Times:
Peter Ringen, 71, with decades of experience in the Sound, has turned to $2-a-pound conch over futile hunts for lobsters. He has about 900 lobster traps. “I’m not even looking at them anymore,” he said. “I’m bringing them home.”
There's not really a happy end to this story. Once people thought lobsters were bugs that only poor people ate. Then we decided they were delicious. Now they're harder than ever to get. Fin.
