A P.E.I. crustacean pathologist says water temperature problems that plagued the industry in Maine haven’t been felt locally, at least not yet.
Andrea Battison co-chaired a recent symposium in Portland that focused on issues such as warming ocean temperatures, the changing food web and seafood economics.
About 150 people registered, including scientists from Canada, the United States and Europe for the conference.
One of the big issues the conference tackled was fundamental changes that affected lobsters in recent years as a summer that featured a potentially record-breaking haul in Maine and Canada and a crash in wholesale prices.
“Lobsters don’t really like the water to be too warm so they’ll move away,’’ Battison said. “Warmer temperatures can also promote other diseases.’’
She said warmer water temperatures haven’t been a problem on P.E.I. just yet.
“Not saying it couldn’t happen. Just being aware of what happened in another area where they’ve seen warmer water . . . it’s good to be aware of what’s going on.’’
