Exactly how 32 American lobsters wound up in Swedish waters isn’t clear. But because some of them were wearing the rubber bands that are put on lobsters’ claws in captivity, many suspect the shellfish had been exported to Europe and then either escaped into the wild or were set free by animal rights activists.
Whatever the case, their discovery has set off a high-stakes trade dispute between Sweden on one side and the U.S. and Canada on the other.
Sweden has asked the European Union to bar imports of live American lobsters into the 28-nation bloc, saying the crustaceans could spread disease and overwhelm the smaller European variety by outcompeting them for food.
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