KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The livelihood of more than 1,000 lobstermen is at risk on Long Island Sound as researchers investigate a massive lobster die off. CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more.</s>DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Long Island Sound, lobster fishing is a $100 million a year industry. But since September, lobstermen like Auggie Carbone and his father George have been pulling up traps that are virtually empty. Lobsters in the Sound, thousands and thousands of them, are dying at an alarming rate.</s>AUGGIE CARBONE, LOBSTERMAN: The die off occurred in September and 90 percent of the population died in a month and a half.</s>FEYERICK: It's a crisis threatening to wipe out the nation's third largest lobster market and put more than 1,000 lobstermen like the Carbones out of work. Scientists believe a parasite is attacking the lobsters' nervous system, killing the shellfish. They're also investigating other factors like pollution, contamination and changes in the environment.</s>DR. RICHARD FRENCH, UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT VETERINARY PATHOLOGIST: What we're trying to address is why we're seeing this agent now, where the agent came from and whether or not this agent has been in the environment but something has disturbed the lobsters' defense mechanisms or immune system so it can't fight off this agent.</s>FEYERICK: The secretary of commerce has declared the die off a commercial fishery failure, making lobstermen eligible for federal funds. But so far the money allotted is going to research, not the lobstermen. The parasite, believed not to affect humans, has killed off so many female and young lobsters its impact will be felt years down the road. And not knowing where it came from, the scientists fear, means it could spread and affect other lobster areas in Maine and Massachusetts. Deborah Feyerick, CNN.
Lobsters Dying Off at Alarming Rate in Long Island Sound