Pesticides used to control mosquitoes have been detected in a locally harvested luxury food — Long Island Sound lobsters.
In what’s believed to be the first such finding involving local lobsters, Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection found trace amounts of resmethrin, also known as Scourge, in at least three out of 10 lobsters tested, and methoprene in at least one.
The lobsters were collected in September from the mid-Sound after Connecticut lobstermen reported hauling up more dead and weak lobsters than usual. The study was released earlier this month.
“We frankly didn’t expect to find pesticides,” Dave Simpson, the agency’s director of marine fisheries, said Friday. “We need to figure out how widespread this is . . . and what it means to lobster health.”
Scourge has been sprayed over the Island to kill adult mosquitoes, which can carry West Nile virus. Methoprene briquettes have been placed in North Shore marshes and limited areas of Connecticut to stop larvae from growing.
A spokeswoman for Nassau County’s health department, which is responsible for mosquito control, referred questions to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, saying that agency reviews and approves mosquito-control plans.
