Ah, summer! So short and so sweet. We go outside, into the long days, and stay outside in the warm nights. We work outside, play outside, sleep outside—and eat outside.

The Maine coast abounds with patios, decks, porches, picnic tables, and other outdoor seating. We search these places out, press ourselves against the edge of the sea, and feast on its bounty. There is no shortage of waterfront seafood restaurants.

May is here, and that means the annual return of many things: flowers and birds; sunshine and garden words; foliage and flowers; fish and more fish.

Signs of the Seasons Phenology Monitoring Training continues this week, with a coastal workshop on methods for monitoring seasonal changes in rockweed on Tuesday, May 3, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. at Kettle Cove State Park, Cape Elizabeth.

You don’t have to travel far in Maine before running into former Knauss Marine Policy Fellows working at all levels of state government, in nonprofit organizations, industry associations, and other organizations serving Maine’s coastal ecosystems and communities.

On Monday, April 25, Dana Morse hosts a discussion on Maine Farm Service Agency and University of Maine Cooperative Extension financing and crop protection programs that may be of interest to shellfish aquaculture producers, at the UMaine Hutchinson Center in Belfast at 5.30 p.m. 

by Chase Brunton

The Marine Sciences Club at the University of Maine in Orono has designated this week (April 18-22) “Ocean Conservation Week.” The event is an effort to spread awareness of marine issues and show how people can act in support of the world’s oceans.