Lobstermen say stripers' fancy diet a pain in the bass<br />By Laura Crimaldi<br />Friday, April 29, 2005<br /><br />Apparently, the striped bass is celebrating its population rebound with a lobster feast. <br /> <br /> More than 20 years after the region's striped bass population hit a low of 5 million, about 50 million stripers are swimming the Atlantic coast looking for a lobster dinner as lobstermen watch their livelihood be eaten alive. <br /> <br /> There are some people who say (the striped bass) are following our boats,'' said Massachusetts Lobstermen Association Director Bill Adler, whose agency is trying to stave off a lobster shortage by stocking the waters with millions of baby lobsters. <br /> <br /> Adler doesn't think the striped bass' appetite will force consumers to swallow higher lobster prices this summer, but that may change if the hungry stripers keep chomping on crustaceans. <br /> <br /> We found lobsters in striped bass stomachs, but we can't estimate how much of the lobster population that they are really consuming,'' said Gary Nelson, a senior marine fisheries biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries<br /><br /> http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=80795