The one-dimensional nature of the distribution system for
herring that exists today creates a potential vulnerability in the
fishery, even though demand for bait has increased. In Maine alone,
the number of lobster traps fished has increased over four-fold in
the past fifty years (2.93 million traps (ME DMR, 2015b)), increasing
the demand for bait and the amount of forage available for lobsters.
This positive feedback cycle creates a potentially risky interdependency between the herring and lobster fisheries that make the
herring fleet susceptible to changes in the social and ecological
conditions of the lobster fishery (and vice versa; see also (Steneck
et al., 2011)). Imagine what would happen to the herring fishery
if demand for bait unexpectedly decreased. This question seems
almost unimaginable given that lobster landings in the Northeast