Biologists at the Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research are breeding 3,000 lobsters to be released next year into the Borkum Riffgat offshore wind farm near the island 70 km off the German-Dutch coast….”The new wind parks mean lobsters may settle in a new habitat, because the stony foundations offer a favorable environment,” project leader Heinz-Dieter Franke said.
The 700,000 euro ($923,500) scheme is funded by compensation paid to the state of Lower Saxony by utility EWE for any potential ecological damage caused by the construction of its wind park. The money will fund breeding, reintroduction and monitoring of the lobsters for roughly two years.
Seems a bit spendy for a bunch of bugs. Also interesting to see WHY the population took a dump:
Scandinavian and Mediterranean lobster stocks have collapsed in the past few decades from a combination of environmental factors.
But some scientists cite British explosives as one reason for the decimation of the lobster population around Heligoland.
In one of the biggest bombing runs on Heligoland during the war, the Allied air force destroyed almost every building on the island, raining down 7,000 bombs in a two-hour raid on April 18, 1945.
For five years after the war, Britain used Heligoland for target practice, and in 1947 it set off some 7,000 metric tons worth of explosives to blow up U-boat pens in one of the biggest non-nuclear detonations on record.
Britain released the crater-scarred island for resettlement in 1952, but scientists say that was too late for the lobsters.
The toxins from the bombs may have hurt the crustaceans’ sense of smell, which is essential in finding a sexual partner and so damaged their ability to reproduce, Franke said.
I also suspect the shock wave from the explosions didn’t do them any favors.
Interesting story!
