Over the last four decades, the amount of soft-shell clams harvested in Maine has decreased by up to 75%. Such a significant decline clearly affects the ecology of our shorelines as well as the livelihood of hundreds of Maine clam diggers and their families.
Why are clams declining? How do we know? And what can be done to reverse the trend?
On our next program, we will talk with representatives from Blue Hill Heritage Trust, Frenchman Bay Conservancy and Maine Coastal Heritage Trust about their efforts to conserve Hancock County Lands. We’ll learn about the Schoodic to Schoodic Initiative, the Surry Forest and other recently protected lands, and ways for you to enjoy them. We’ll also explore some bigger questions, such as the benefits of conserved lands for our local communities.
How we interact with nature — the materials and designs, tools and techniques —has evolved over the centuries. But the desire to be outside endures.
Coastal residents and towns need strategies to address climate change and its effects on sea-level rise, shoreline erosion, and coastal flooding. Extreme weather events can cause millions of dollars in damage and threaten coastal ecosystems and local economies. The Building a Resilient Coast project seeks to provide stakeholders with easy access to information to facilitate planning for climate and hazards impacts.
Hosted by fishermen for fishermen, the annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum is THE place to learn about current issues facing the fishing industry and the coast of Maine. At the 2018 Forum this past Winter, Maine Sea Grant, The First Coast and College of the Atlantic recorded dozens of stories for the “Voices of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum” collection. WERU aired some of these stories on Coastal Conversations back in March, but we are ready for more!
A note from our new director, Gayle Zydlewski
I am excited to join the Maine Sea Grant team and support marine science for Maine people. I am so LUCKY to jump into such a well-established team that continues to enhance our coast by extending sound science to our communities. I look forward to working with the staff and endless partners who make up the Sea Grant network (family). Collectively we are privileged to have strong support from our federal delegation that sends us into a new fiscal year full of new opportunities...
In June 2018, the Town of Penobscot installed five new interpretive panels at Pierce's Pond. A new nature-like fishway provides passage for alewives and other sea-run fish, along with viewing platforms and a picnic area at the public boat launch. The Town and alewife steward Bailey Bowden, along with local partners at Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Blue Hill Heritage Trust, and Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries, are leading the effort to restore migratory fish to the entire Bagaduce watershed.
The Spring issue of UMaine Today magazine features an article about coastal storms-related research by Sea Grant and other UMaine programs and departments, including the Southern Maine Volunteer Beach Profiling Monitoring Program (with the Wells Reserve and Maine Geological Survey) and Ph.D.
