A ONCE thriving fishing industry off the coast of New York lies ruined, after
the mysterious death of 95 per cent of the local lobster population. The prime
suspects are pesticides鈥攚hich have been sprayed over the surrounding area
in a desperate attempt to prevent another outbreak of West Nile virus.
In several eastern coastal states, the use of insecticide skyrocketed last
year after an outbreak in New York of the virus, which is spread by mosquitoes
(快猫短视频, 2 October 1999, p 13).
A month after the spraying began, hundreds of fishermen returned from Long
Island Sound鈥攁 190-kilometre long inlet bordered by New York state and
Connecticut鈥攚ith traps full of dead or dying lobster. John Makowski, a
former lobsterman in Rowayton, Connecticut, says that in his 40 years he has
seen many small die-offs, but nothing this catastrophic. Most fishermen suspect
the pesticides are to blame. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a coincidence,鈥� says Makowski.
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Growing scientific evidence is now supporting the fishermen鈥檚 suspicions. One
of the insecticides used, based on compounds called pyrethroids, not only kills
mosquitoes but is also toxic to the insect鈥檚 close arthropod relative, the
lobster. 鈥淚f it gets into the water, it will kill aquatic life,鈥� says pesticide
expert Richard Bromilow of Britain鈥檚 Institute of Arable Crops Research in
Rothamsted. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why pyrethroid use is banned in the UK.鈥�
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restricts spraying to land, but
pesticides may reach local waters on winds and during heavy rainfall.
Researchers think that at the time of spraying, the heavy storms of Hurricane
Floyd may have washed large amounts of insecticide down sewage drains. Many of
these drains flow into Long Island Sound.
Preliminary tests on lobsters in the Sound confirm the presence of traces of
pyrethroid, says Bill Smith of the conservation group Fish Unlimited, based in
Shelter Island Heights, New York. An independent lab has already detected the
toxin at levels close to the potentially fatal threshold of one
part-per-billion, in fat near the tails of the crustaceans. Robert Bayer of the
Lobster Institute at the University of Maine agrees with Smith. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no
smoking gun, but it鈥檚 very likely insecticides [are the cause].鈥�
Even if the insecticides are not directly killing the lobsters, they
triggered the population crash, say other investigators. Richard French of the
University of Connecticut and his colleagues found no evidence of bacterial,
viral or fungal disease. But they discovered a Paramoeba parasite in
the nervous system of all the lobsters studied. 鈥淭he insecticide probably
lowered their immune system, allowing the infection to overwhelm the
population,鈥� says French. However, he has yet to prove the parasite actually
kills the lobsters.
The EPA has now launched an investigation into the cause of the lobster
crash. 快猫短视频s estimate it will take at least 10 years for the population to
recover. Hundreds of lobstermen, however, will never fish again. 鈥淭he next time
I go on a boat,鈥� says Makowski, 鈥渋t will be for pleasure only.鈥�
