Speaker Addition to the Coastal State Discussion Series

Dr. Kathy Castro, a fisheries scientist specializing in lobster ecology at the University of Rhode Island and who runs the university’s Fisheries Center, has been studying the effects of lobster shell disease for over 15 years. The disease spread rapidly in Rhode Island and continues to expand north where it could also have a dramatic effect on the iconic Maine fishery.Dr. Castro will join Dr. Rowley as a speaker on Monday, March 23 for the Coastal State Discussion Series to present ongoing work testing Dr. Rowley’s probiotic hypothesis to fight lobster shell disease that is thought to be linked to a new bacterium found in local waters. “The results showed promise for both the freshwater and the probiotic treatment,” Castro says.