AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A University of Maine marine biologist says abundant lobster populations in the Gulf of Maine, coupled with a lack of many other species, amounts to “a socio-economic time bomb.”

In the annual biology lecture at the University of Maine at Augusta, Robert Steneck said Maine’s coast has “the highest (lobster) population density on the planet, and that’s a problem.”

Steneck said Thursday that makes lobster stocks susceptible to the spread of disease, which could ravage the lobster population.

The Kennebec Journal quotes Steneck as saying lobsters have flourished off Maine for decades as species that traditionally preyed on them have diminished. He said that’s wonderful for the last remaining predator, the lobster fisherman.