Wright Bill Bans Insecticide Use Linked to Lobster Die-Off

By Ellyn Santiago

To Deidre Mears, owner of Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough of Noank, this bill doesn’t matter much; she buys the majority of the hard-shell lobsters her famous eatery serves from cold Canadian waters. But if her lobsters did come from the Long Island Sound, she wouldn’t want them full of insecticides.  

The state House of Representatives Thursday passed a bill that would curtail the use of insecticides linked to the catastrophic die-off of lobsters in Long Island Sound. Co-sponsored by Rep. Elissa Wright, D-Groton, the bill would prohibit the use of methoprene and resmethrin in storm drains along the coastal boundary of the state except where a case of West Nile Virus or Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) has been detected.  

Many municipalities use both these insecticides to attack mosquito populations during the summer, according to a media release.    

“Improved techniques used to detect the presence of the insecticides show clear bioaccumulation in female lobster tissue collected from Long Island Sound, which suggests exposure is a factor to degraded health,” Wright said.   

“Lobster are especially vulnerable to the insecticides in their larval stage which compromises their immune system.  I believe there is sufficient evidence to merit this restriction,” Wright said.  

A once-thriving lobster industry in Connecticut was devastated by a 1998 insecticide application, according to Rep Linda M. Gentile, co-Chair of the Environment Committee. She said the “market has been struggling ever since.”  

“This bill is a positive step in the right direction to rebuild this industry and once again create a thriving, booming enterprise,” Gentile said.       

Following a massive insecticide application in 1998, the catastrophic lobster die-off began in 1999 and has devastated the Connecticut industry. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is currently studying the potential long-term effects of the insecticides on the lobster population.       

The bill also requires the DEEP and Department of Public Health to continue an outreach program to significantly reduce mosquito breeding in the state.       

The bill now heads to the state Senate for consideration.