Lobster fishermen are enjoying banner seasons in Nova Scotia thanks in part to climate change and 2018 is promising another bumper crop, thanks to global warming.
Climate change is pushing Atlantic lobster habitats steadily northwards, as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases warm up the oceans and atmosphere.
On the second day of lobster season Wednesday, the Jaxton Brock from Pictou Landing caught hundreds of pounds of this Nova Scotian delicacy.
“I’ve been fishing for 25 years and I haven’t seen any lobsters like this,” said Francis. “The last few years have just been unbelievable.”
The effects are also being felt by US fishermen in neighbouring Maine. There, warming waters helped fishermen catch a record-breaking 130 million pounds of lobster in 2016.
Five years earlier, fishermen in that state caught just 110 million, according to a report in The Revelator.
Such jackpot catches may not be the case for much longer, as the Gulf of Maine is rapidly warming and other commercial fish species such as cod and herring are shifting north, according to a 2014 CBC report.
If the Northumberland Strait and other waters near Nova Scotia warm too much, lobster habitats will shift further north across the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
“I think if the water continues to warm up, then all our lobsters will keep going north and we’ll be out of a lobster fishery,” said Francis. “I don’t know when, but it’s going to happen.”
A study by the Prairie Climate Change Centre warns that Atlantic Canada will see more hot weather and rainfall by mid-century.
For now though, the Jaxton Brock’s crew keeps hauling in huge catches of lobster.
Francis’ wife Suzanne said she had “no complaints about the 2018 season so far.
“Everything seems to be better than last year,” said Suzanne.
But governments around the world must act fast to curb greenhouse gas emissions and avoid a predicted three-degree rise in average global temperatures.
Global warming has already reduced oxygen levels in large areas of deep ocean, threatening marine life worldwide.
2017 was also the third hottest year on record and the most costly for extreme weather events totaling $300 billion, according to Common Dreams. Climate change helped fuel massive wildfires, hurricanes and other weather events.
While Canada signed the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 – and was instrumental in pushing for a global warming limit of 1.5 degrees C – it remains to be seen how effective it will be in fighting climate change.
