It was a bitterly cold winter morning (probably) on Jan. 27 when New York State Environmental Conservation Officers Bieber and Keegan, fresh out of basic school (the Department of Environmental Conservation’s six-month-long training program for its specialized police officers) visited Star Market at 1778 86th St. in Brooklyn for a seafood inspection. The officers were only there to assist as part of their supervised field training, but little did they know that this day, they would make a shell-shocking discovery.
At Star Market, which appears to have opened in Bath Beach during the early days on 2021 (and might not fully grasp the concept of expiration dates, according to several Google and Yelp reviews), Bieber and Keegan found 60 undersized lobsters for sale, which are illegal to sell in New York. The recent-grads issued an Administrative Notice of Violation to the market and seized the crickets (the name for baby lobsters). In New York, lobsters must be between three and five-and-a-quarter inches to be legally possessed.
While smaller lobsters often have more tender meat than their larger counterparts, there are important reasons why laws against the catch and sale of undersized lobsters exist: the populations essentially depend on it.
“If you fish and and sell an undersized animal in general, then you’re putting the population of next year and the following year and the following year at risk,” said Dr. David Hudson, founder, CEO and research scientist at Remote Ecologist, a non-profit organization working to expand conservation science.
Animals reproduce at different rates and at different ages. And if they’re not allowed to reproduce, then there will soon be no more animals. The gauge size for American lobsters in New York exist to allow juveniles to reach maturity and reproduce before they’re caught, and so that the large lobsters remain in the waters, so that the “really big lobster” gene remains within the population.
In essence, its about sustainable population management. It is quite a fine line to walk, though. A lot can impact marine life like lobsters and other crustaceans, beyond how many are fished out of the ocean every year. A storm can hit, there can be an oil spill, and even minor changes in water temperature or salinity can be a death sentence for lobster larvae. To counter some of these risks, the limits on catchable crustaceans help to ensure sustainable population growth.
The key question is, Dr. Hudson said, “How are we going to get growth while still having fishers’ impact on our population?”
Lobsters are, of course, most known from the New England region (particularly in Maine), but the critters can be found in New York waters, as well. Although far from as many as there once was. The New York lobster population thrived in the 20th century, as did the fishing industry. New York lobstermen working in the Long Island Sound brought in millions of pounds of lobster every year, raking in millions of dollars in the process. But suddenly, in 1999, something happened. A combination of rising water temperatures (lobsters in this region of the country are accustomed to colder water), changes in oxygen levels, pesticides used inland and a number of other factors, caused a population that was already on the brink of being overfished, to collapse. “Death by a thousand cuts,” Dr. Hudson said.
The American lobsters still haven’t recovered today. New York lies within the Southern New England stock, which at the most recent assessment was at a record low in abundance and number of mature individuals. According to the DEC, the stock has poor prospects of recovery.
This, clearly, doesn’t stop people from catching undersized lobsters in New York waters and illegally selling them.
In the case of Star Market, it is not clear who supplied the illegal lobsters, and the DEC stated that it cannot comment on specifics of ongoing investigations. Dr. Hudson deems it unlikely to be a commercial fisher, as it could put their business at risk, but doesn’t rule out neither commercial or recreational poachers.
But could it happen by accident? Maybe Star Market wasn’t aware that the lobsters they had crammed into a little aquarium were too small? Maybe, but unlikely. “If they’re selling undersized lobsters, they know,” Dr. Hudson noted, adding, “It’s not rocket science. This is one of the easiest things to avoid.”
All that is needed to avoid committing a crime in this case is to measure the carapace (the shell), which begins at the eye balls and ends at the start of the tail. It’s even easier with a shellfish gauge, which is already designed based on the minimum and maximum measurements.
DEC couldn’t specify how common it is to find undersized crustaceans in New York City, but news reports from the last decade indicate that it happens occasionally. In 2016, the state agency caught several Price Chopper stores across the state peddling, in total, over 1,100 pounds of juvenile lobsters. (Price Chopper blamed the supplier.) In December 2022, officers found 245 undersized lobsters at a Brooklyn market. Vendors of illegal shellfish can be fined up to a $100 per animal.
Generally, fish seized during investigations are donated to wildlife rehabilitation facilities as food for other animals, a DEC spokesperson wrote in an email.
Environmental crimes or incidents, like finding baby lobsters at your local supermarket, can be reported to the DEC by calling the agency’s 24-hour dispatch at 1-844-DEC-ECOS.
Author
I’m a New York-based journalist from Sweden. I write about the environment, how climate change impacts us humans, and how we are responding.
