People of the Coast: Bob Bayer retires from the Lobster Institute

Bob Bayer, 74, did not set out to be a renowned lobster scientist. Bayer, who grew up in New York, started out in high school working in the summer on a dairy farm in Austerlitz, N.Y.. “And I delivered newspapers,” the retiring director of the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute said with a chuckle. Bayer pursued his interest in animal science while an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Vermont.

He received his doctorate in animal science in 1972 from Michigan State University. “I was looking for a job after grad school and I wanted to be in rural New England,” he recalled. He was offered a position at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City but instead took a job at the University of Maine. “I was hired to do poultry research and teach classes in animal science,” he said.Bayer found his way into the marine world via one of his graduate students, who hailed from Scarborough. “Dale Leavitt was doing his master’s thesis on rabbits and it had failed. He came to me and asked if I’d be interested in supervising him in something to do with lobsters,” Bayer said. “I bit.”

The professor and the student studied specific nutritional requirements for young lobsters, refining the animals’ diet to promote growth. “We realized that we might be developing the most perfect diet for these lobsters but they might not like it. So then we started looking at attractants and that later led to  alternative baits.” Bayer has continued to investigate alternative baits for lobsters since that time. It was while working with another graduate student, Jim Rittenburg, that Bayer began studying gaffkemia, a deadly disease commonly known as red tail which had for years attacked lobsters held in pounds. “That was the first time I had seen it,” Bayer said, referring to his student’s research.

Through studies into the nature of the disease and its communicable properties, Bayer created an injectable vaccine to protect lobsters from infection, for which UMaine holds a patent. Then he developed a medicated feed that pound owners could use to prevent an outbreak of the disease among their pounded lobsters. “Now red tail is gone,” Bayer said.Always curious about lobsters, Bayer also turned his attention to the quality of a lobster once cooked and frozen. Working with food scientists at UMaine, he developed and patented a method for maintaining fresh flavor in frozen lobster for several years. “I also developed a dog biscuit made from lobster byproducts,” Bayer added. “It’s called Lobster Bisque-its and it’s still available at Blue Seal Feeds.”

“The University didn’t take kindly to me transitioning into lobster research,” Bayer said drily. After all, he was an animal scientist in the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture at a time when the University did not even have a School of Marine Sciences, as it does today. At one point, Bayer recalled, the U.S. Department of Agriculture came to Orono for its review of the Animal Science department. “I talked about my lobster research,” he said. “One reviewer basically offered me a job at UNH. I took a serious look at it. Then the Dean decided that lobsters were O.K.!” Bayer was allowed to pursue his interest in lobster but without financial support or assistantships from his department. “It was the Sea Grant program that gave me support. Ron Dearborn [Maine Sea Grant director] underwrote much of my disease research and helped me work with lobstermen,” he said. Bayer found himself working alongside lobstermen like Jack Merrill of Islesford and David Cousens of South Thomaston, as well as legendary lobster pound owner Herb Hodgkins. “Then pretty soon the phone started ringing with questions from all over.

I went out to the islands to talk to kids, I did the Kiwanas Club circuit. There was just a lot of interest in lobster,” Bayer said. He received the University of Maine’s Presidential Public Service Award for his work in 1988.In 1987, Maine Lobstermen’s Association president Eddie Blackmore, vice-president Joe Vachon and Bob Brown from the Maine Import/Export Lobster Dealers Association sat down in Nobleboro to talk. They had an idea for creating a lobster think tank that could address the various issues facing both lobstermen and lobster dealers. “They wanted to bring science into lobstering,” Bayer explained. “They each put $5,000 in to get the Lobster Institute started.” Maine Sea Grant extension agent David Dow helped move the idea from concept to reality. In 1987, the University of Maine Board of Trustees approved the Institute’s creation. Dow was appointed first executive director and Eddie Blackmore became chairman of the Institute’s Board of Advisors.  “It was a truly innovative way to link lobstermen to scientists and vice versa,” Bayer said. “Of course, the lobstermen did most of the work because we had no money then.”

Projects supported by the Lobster Institute provided an opportunity to demonstrate that lobstermen could collect good data. Bayer became director of the Lobster Institute in 1995. As he recalled, there was never any lack of topics to address. “We were looking at lobster shell disease long before it became a major issue because we could see it would be. This was before the big die-off in Rhode Island in 1999,” Bayer said. “The problems that presented themselves were always different from day to day. Pollution issues. Contaminants in lobsters in Massachusetts. Now it’s climate change and ocean acidification.” Bayer and Lobster Institute associate director Cathy Billings created the popular Lobster College as a way to educate people about the lobster industry and lobster biology. “It started as a learning vacation and fundraiser,” Bayer said. “Unfortunately the first session took place the week after 9/11.” Despite the tumult after the September attacks, many attendees still managed to make the drive to Winter Harbor to take part.

The Lobster College was later moved to Boothbay Harbor for a few years. The popular program continues today. Michael Tourkistas, founder of East Coast Seafood, one of the world’s largest lobster companies, brought some customers to Lobster College in Boothbay.  He adapted the Institute’s Lobster College into East Coast’s annual Lobster Academy, currently housed at the Huntsman Marine Laboratory in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Bayer also instigated the bi-annual Lobstermen’s Town Meeting, a gathering of lobstermen and fisheries scientists from Canada and the U.S. The event rotates from a Canadian to a U.S. site every other year. After 46 years delving into the world of animals and, more specifically, lobsters, Bayer continues to exude energy. He is planning an online class on lobster biology and sustainability for Husson College. And he just completed a 26-mile bicycle circuit of the Penobscot River. “I plan to continue to support the Maine Marine Patrol in prosecution of individuals illegally removing eggs from lobster. I will also be working on lobster food product development with a couple of different companies. Plus I’m working with Giada Giachino in Milan, Italy, on using lobster shell in her jewelry as a replacement for endangered coral. I wouldn’t say I’m retiring,” he said.