New England’s coastal waters, which are home to endangered whales and the majority of the U.S. lobster fishing industry, recorded their second hottest year on record in 2017.
An area roughly the size of Indiana, the Gulf of Maine is bordered by four states and one country: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Canada. Last year fell short of setting a new high mark for hottest year by less than half a degree Fahrenheit, said scientists with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, a science center in Portland.
The scientists reported that the average sea surface temperature was 53.66 degrees (12 degrees Celsius), which is almost 3.7 degrees above the 40-year normal. According to them, the rapid increase in temperature is altering an environment that supports multiple significant commercial fishing enterprises, particularly those reliant on lobsters.
