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Lobstermen use so much herring to bait lobster traps it dramatically boosts the population. All the females and juveniles are thrown back, so to a lobster a fisherman's pot(trap) is an easy meal. Even the market size males will frequently go in a pot to eat and then escape before they can be caught.

Lobsters are a species that actually benefits from fishing. Herring on the other hand...

> people buying lobsters and freeing them back into the oceans?

I hope that not. Would be a disaster

Why?

Just drives up demand for lobsters.

If I were a lobster fisherman this would be my ideal customer.

Pay me, then put the lobster back so I can catch it again!

Probably because it will incentive more people to catch lobster.

I can't see the point of releasing a pacific lobster from America in Brighton, for example. Would be like releasing coyotes in France.

And there are the damages over $400 million dollars also and increasing... Did I mention that?

> people

I assume the lobstermen are hoping that this is what their government will pay them to do (i.e. subsidies). I would rather hope that we leave the poor sea bugs alone.

It is. https://www.mvtimes.com/2018/07/17/lobsters-returned-water/

And again in 2019: https://www.mvtimes.com/2019/07/29/lobsters-claw-way-back-fr...