Sea Grant Science Symposium 2005

Lobsters as Model Organisms for Interfacing Behavior, Ecology, and Fisheries

The Annual Sea Grant Science Symposium was held on July 14, 2005, at Corless Auditorium, University of Rhode Island (URI) Graduate School of Oceanography, Narragansett, R.I. The symposium, entitled "Lobsters as Model Organisms for Interfacing Behavior, Ecology, and Fisheries," honored J. Stanley Cobb, URI biological sciences professor, who retired in 2005. As most colleagues and Rhode Island fishermen know, Stan Cobb started as a professor at URI in 1970, doing extensive work with lobsters, and this symposium recognized his many contributions to the field of lobster biology.

The day included two synthesis talks, summarizing recent multi-collaborator fisheries ecology research programs on the American clawed lobster, Homarus americanus, and the Carribean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, and discussions regarding current and future challenges for the lobster fishery. There was also a poster session.

Sponsors
Rhode Island Sea Grant
Maine Sea Grant

Steering committee
Dr.Peter Lawton, Research Scientist, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada
Dr. Rick Wahle, Senior Research Scientist Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Maine
Dr. Michael Fogarty, National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, Mass.
Dr. Kathleen Castro, Director of Sustainable Fisheries Extension Program, Rhode Island Sea Grant
Barbara Somers, Research Assistant, Fisheries Extension Specialist, Rhode Island Sea Grant

  • Agenda (pdf)
  • Photos & a post-symposium update (10/6/05)
  • Symposium presentations (10/27/05)
    • Stan Cobb - The Lobster Workshops: A Brief History
    • Bruce Phillips - A review of the contribution of J. Stanley Cobb to the field of lobster research
    • Mark Butler - Recent Advances in Research on the Behavior and Ecology of Spiny Lobsters
    • Lew Incze - Early Life History and the Connectivity of Lobster Populations in the Gulf of Maine
    • Rom Lipcius - Metapopulation Source-Sink Dynamics of Clawed and Spiny Lobsters
    •  
  • Published Articles from The Journal of Crustacean Biology (pdf) (12/19/06)
    • Dolan & Butler - The Adaptive Value of Aggregation Among Juvenile Carribean Spiny Lobster: An Evaluation Using Idividual-Based Modeling.
    • Steneck - Possible Demographic Consequences of Intraspecific Shelter
      Competition Among American Lobsters
    • Factor, Castro & Somers - Discussion Session Summary on Disease and Population Level Impacts
    • Steneck - Discussion Session Summary on Cooperative Research
     
For more information about the symposium, contact:

Barbara Somers
URI Fisheries
East Farm Campus
Kingston, RI 02881
(401) 874-2012 or barbs@uri.edu.