BUCKSPORT — The former mill town, home to an aquaculture facility in development, is channeling itself as a cruise port as well with plans to expand the capacity of the harbor. “The interest in our waterway especially since the closing of the Verso paper mill has only increased especially this year during the pandemic,” said …
ELLSWORTH — Grant funds continue to flow into the Maine commercial lobster fishery on the heels of $2 million research grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative announced in September. NOAA is also behind these awards directed at monitoring the fishery: A grant of $250,000 to further test and …
ELLSWORTH — Do you have thoughts or questions about a pending aquaculture lease application? Curious about how to engage in the lease hearing process? Three upcoming sessions will offer tips on how to participate. Maine Sea Grant and the state Department of Marine Resources are offering learning sessions for members of the public. Examples of …
BAR HARBOR — On a recent sunny morning in late October, before fall winds swept the rest of the leaves from the trees, several students at College of the Atlantic gathered on the lawn of the college for an unusual task: the necropsy of an Atlantic white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus) that had washed ashore in …
BLUE HILL — Press the play button on the online map on climatecentral.org and you too can watch as pixelated tentacles of blue creep farther and farther inland as the sea level rises: across Parker Point Road and Maple Lane, slowly eating into Main Street and up Pleasant, flooding across the town landing and the …
ELLSWORTH — Hancock County residents can look forward to feasting on freshly harvested sea scallops when the 2020-21 scallop fishing season kicks off in coming weeks. Maine’s scallop fishery landed 415,818 pounds of scallop meats worth $4.359 million in 2019, making it the state’s 10th most lucrative seafood. On Nov. 5, the Maine Department of …
ELLSWORTH — Downeast Trout Unlimited will present an online talk by Lindsey Rustad, “Angling in a Warming World: Impacts of a Changing Climate on Forests, Fisheries and Angling in Northern New England,” on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 5:45 p.m. Rustad’s presentation will be preceded by a business meeting at 5:30. The program will be followed …
BAR HARBOR — After waiting a month to discuss possible alternatives, members of the Zone B Lobster Management Council last week agreed to present to the state a proposal for regulations aimed at protecting the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The Department of Marine Resources had asked the zone council and others around the state …
ELLSWORTH — Winner, winner, scallop dinner? The Maine Department of Marine Resources is holding two upcoming lotteries for a total of 14 available scallop licenses. The agency on Oct. 29 announced that it would extend the application period by a week over fears that the lottery was not well enough publicized. There are two separate …
ELLSWORTH — Scientists this winter will revive a long-running survey of plankton in the Gulf of Maine. Plankton, drifting microscopic sea organisms, are food for endangered North American right whales and other marine species. The Gulf of Maine plankton survey was originally performed from 1961-2017. It is returning under a new agreement between the National …
ORONO — Over the past decade, Maine has seen 2.2 percent annual growth in aquaculture, which has had an overall economic impact of $140 million annually. Tackling the growing challenges for the sector — from emerging finfish and shellfish diseases to the effects of climate change — is the impetus behind a new partnership. The …
By Stephen Rappaport ELLSWORTH — With the National Oceanic Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under a fast approaching, court-imposed deadline to develop new whale protection rules, the Zone C Lobster Management Council held a special meeting on the internet in late September to get an update on the situation from Department of Marine Resources Commissioner …
