Saving Seafood

Gulf of Maine waters spiked to record warm temperatures in fall 2021

February 3, 2022 — Anyone who enjoyed the ocean last fall may have noticed the water felt unseasonably warm. That’s because it was.

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute reported last month that between September and November 2021, the sea surface temperatures of water off the coast of Maine were the warmest ever recorded.

How much warmer are we talking about? Close to six degrees Fahrenheit warmer on any given day than the average, according to David Reidmiller, Climate Change Director at GMRI. The sea surface temperatures hovered around 60 degrees almost through the month of October.

Warming ocean waters are a global trend, but in 2010 scientists really started to notice an increase in the warming trend in the Gulf of Maine, which lies from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia and extends several miles into the open ocean.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

 

Pingree Announces $500K in USDA Funding to Support Growing Aquaculture Industry in Maine

December 10, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Congresswoman Chellie Pingree:

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has awarded a $500,000 grant to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) to establish a comprehensive aquaculture workforce training system to support Maine’s rapidly growing aquaculture industry.

“Maine’s aquaculture industry is vital to our state’s economy but needs a skilled workforce to continue to grow and innovate. The Gulf of Maine Research Institute has developed a forward-thinking solution. This comprehensive, collaborative training program will train aquaculturists with in-demand knowledge and skills, helping students to secure good jobs and supporting the workforce needs of this important sector,” said Congresswoman Pingree. “As a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, I have long worked to secure funding for these NIFA grants, which have helped to launch many careers in the nation’s food and agriculture sector. This substantial NIFA award will help ensure Maine’s aquaculture industry reaches its full potential now and in the future.”

The funding will:

  • Help GMRI develop and pilot a Maine Department of Labor Aquaculture (ME DOL) Aquaculture Apprenticeship Program where participants will gain valuable experience, receive mentoring, get trained and tested on defined occupational competencies, and learn to use cutting-edge technology at Maine’s most sophisticated commercial shellfish and sea vegetable farms.
  • Develop and administer a series of stackable, credentialed, aquaculture short courses at Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) that form the basis of an Aquaculture Certificate.
  • Update the Maine Aquaculture Occupational Standards for Shellfish and Sea Vegetables, Recirculating Aquaculture Systems, and Marine Finfish to ensure that aquaculture workforce training remains relevant to Maine’s rapidly evolving and growing industry.
  • Coordinate program development and delivery between SMCC, Washington County Community College, The Mid-Coast School of Technology (K-9 Career Technical Education High School), and ME DOL Apprenticeship to establish matriculation pathways and dual-credit programs that enable fast-tracked degree completion.

The programming developed will have the potential to be expanded to other community colleges in Maine and throughout the Northeast.

In April 2021, Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center in Walpole was awarded $500,000 from NIFA to develop an aquaculture workforce training pilot in partnership with Washington County Community College.

Pingree serves on both the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture and the House Agriculture Committee.

 

Aramark partners with GMRI to up New England seafood sourcing

October 5, 2021 — Major U.S. hospitality supplier Aramark is committing to increase local seafood sourcing in New England via a partnership with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI).

Coinciding with the start of National Seafood Month, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.-based Aramark said in a press release that all of its higher education, healthcare, and business dining accounts in New England will pursue several local sustainable sourcing goals over the next three years.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Gulf of Maine Research Institute will use $750K grant to expand region’s ‘blue economy’

October 4, 2021 — The Gulf of Maine Research Institute, a Portland-based marine nonprofit, was awarded $749,815 for its Blue Economy Initiative, which is developing a collaborative commercialization platform for the marine-related startup sector.

The money follows a federal grant of $749,856 awarded to the initiative in April to help seafood businesses recover from the pandemic.

The new funding, from the federal Economic Development Administration, aims to enhance the global competitiveness of the Gulf of Maine seafood industry, create high-quality jobs, and generate blue economy entrepreneurship, according to a news release.

“Between changing ocean conditions due to climate change and supply chain challenges brought on by the pandemic, Maine’s seafood and fishing industries need our support now more than ever,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, said in the release.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

Artificial intelligence to help New England fishermen be more eco-friendly

August 3, 2021 — New England Marine Monitoring is working on making things easier for fishermen here in Maine and across the region. To do that, the nonprofit is implementing new technology like better video review platforms, better cameras on boats, and increased artificial intelligence, which CEO Mark Hager said is the most exciting.

New England Marine Monitoring, in partnership with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Vesper, is developing artificial intelligence for fishermen.

Shamit Grover, a partner at Vesper, said while Vesper is not a fishing company, it can still help collect data that will help the fishing industry.

“We think we can create solutions that will be really helpful to fishermen,” he said.

The goal is to make commercial fishing both economically and ecologically better. Hager added that artificial intelligence will be able to get through much of the “white noise” on a vessel as it’s moving around looking for fish, and the video will create a colorful box around the fish.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

Gulf of Maine Research Institute Announces Sale of New England Marine Monitoring

July 23, 2021 — The Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) has sold New England Marine Monitoring, Inc. (NEMM) to Vesper Company.

NEMM is a leader in video electronic monitoring technology and services for fisheries. Its technology solutions lower the cost of monitoring relative to traditional human at-sea monitors and also improves data quality. Founded by Mark Hager, NEMM was one of GMRI’s first ventures to support and grow the region’s waterfront economy and ocean technology markets. Now, thanks to the sale to Vesper Company, a private firm that partners with entrepreneurs, NEMM will be able to grow its service to New England’s fishing fleet and develop its technology platform.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Are sprawling fish farms coming to swallow Maine?

July 23, 2021 — On a chilly Sunday in June, Sarah Redmond steers her pickup outside of an old sardine cannery here in Gouldsboro, Maine, leaps out, and pulls from the truck bed what looks like lobster traps oozing with slimy, withered vegetable matter. “I’m doing research on dulse,” she says, about the tough, purplish seaweed that is higher in protein and lower in iodine than other varieties. Seaweed is popular in Japan, she says, but Americans find it too intense. “We sell it mostly as an ingredient and as seasoning,” she says. “It’s a flavor enhancer, in chips, bread, cereal — you can sprinkle it on as a barbecue rub. It’s got vitamins, minerals, fiber.”

Wearing thick rubber muck boots, jeans, and a camouflage baseball cap pulled low over a loose ponytail, Redmond looks every inch the farmer she is. But unlike most farmers, her crop is seeded on ropes strung through 55 acres of saltwater. Redmond, 40, owns Springtide Seaweed, the nation’s largest organic seaweed farm, based in this onetime cannery on the shores of Frenchman Bay. In addition to dulse, she grows sugar kelp, skinny kelp, and alaria kelp.

Redmond’s farm is part of a state-supported effort to build an edible-seaweed farming industry. Maine is home to the bulk of the country’s kelp farms; the state’s seaweed harvest is expected to grow from 54,000 pounds in 2018 to 3 million pounds in 2035. It’s an audacious experiment in a country that does not traditionally eat much seaweed, but it is seen as essential to bolstering Maine’s fragile economy.

Driving this investment is fear: Last summer, the Gulf of Maine recorded its all-time hottest temperature — 69.85 degrees. The Gulf is one of the fastest-warming bodies of saltwater on the planet, and the locals know full well that as water temperatures continue to rise, lobsters — by far the state’s most lucrative fishery — will abandon Maine for cooler Canadian waters. Lobster brings over $400 million dollars in direct revenue to Maine each year, and lures visitors from all over the world to restaurants, seafood shacks, and festivals. But perhaps not for long: In 2018, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and several research partners estimated that by mid-century Maine’s lobster population will plummet by as much as 62 percent.

To fend off economic disaster, Maine is striving to wean itself from its dependence on lobster, and on all wild fisheries. It has little choice. Wild Atlantic salmon all but disappeared from the state decades ago, as have cod and northern shrimp. Sea urchins have been harvested to near extinction, and wild clams and mussels are increasingly scarce. As one wild fishery after another falters, a growing number of ambitious, far-sighted people like Redmond see the future of Maine — and in some sense the future of food — in the cultivation of water-dwelling plants and animals.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

MAINE: Digital platform program will bolster seafood industry

April 19, 2021 — The Economic Development Administration has awarded the Gulf of Maine Research Institute nearly $750,000 to help connect small businesses and entrepreneurs with leaders in the seafood industry to create digital platforms to promote growth, job creation and resiliency.  

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Angus King (I-Maine) announced the award on Monday that will establish the institute’s Gulf of Maine Blue Innovation Recovery program.  

“Maine’s working waterfront is central to the livelihoods of families, communities, and small businesses throughout our state,” the senators said in a statement.  “We welcome this investment in the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, which will help our seafood industry weather the coronavirus pandemic through innovative technology.” 

The seafood industry has been hit hard by the pandemic, with restaurants closed, trade disrupted and new safety protocols put in place.  

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Two new promotions seek to shore up Maine’s seafood industry

December 15, 2020 — Two new initiatives are underway to support Maine’s seafood industry through the downturn it has experienced this year.

The state has launched a promotion aimed at home cooks, who have been one of the bright spots for seafood sales this year.

And on Dec. 16, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland will hold “Split the Seafood Bill Day,” an initiative that will cover half the cost of meals that include seafood sourced from the Gulf of Maine at any of 20 participating restaurants for the first 200 diners.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources, with support from Gov. Janet Mills, launched the branding and promotion initiative last week with a $1 million investment from $20 million in CARES Act relief funds allocated for Maine’s commercial fishing and seafood industry.

The largest wholesale markets for Maine seafood traditionally include restaurants and food service. With those industries shut down or sharply curtailed, marketing shifted to retail sales aimed at home cooks.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Pandemic has taken a bite out of seafood trade, consumption

November 24, 2020 — The coronavirus pandemic has hurt the U.S. seafood industry due to a precipitous fall in imports and exports and a drop in catch of some species.

Those are the findings of a group of scientists who sought to quantify the damage of the pandemic on America’s seafood business, which has also suffered in part because of its reliance on restaurant sales. Consumer demand for seafood at restaurants dropped by more than 70% during the early months of the pandemic, according to the scientists, who published their findings recently in the scientific journal Fish and Fisheries.

Imports fell about 37% and exports about 43% over the first nine months of the year compared to 2019, the study said. The economic impact has been felt most severely in states that rely heavily on the seafood sector, such as Maine, Alaska and Louisiana, said Easton White, a University of Vermont biologist and the study’s lead author.

It hasn’t all been doom and gloom for the industry, as seafood delivery and home cooking have helped businesses weather the pandemic, White said. The industry will be in a better position to rebound after the pandemic if domestic consumers take more of an interest in fresh seafood, he said.

Read the full story at the Associated Press