by Catherine Schmitt The Salarius blog has been running for nearly three years. In that time, I’ve covered the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico; the Boston Seafood Show; restaurants and festivals that serve Maine seafood; Sea Grant-funded research on seafood; lobster, oysters, shrimp, scallops, alewives, smelt, sardines, crab, eel, salmon, and […]
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Today’s post comes from marine extension associate Chris Bartlett. Chris is based in Eastport, and for the past few years he helped monitor populations of rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax), which is considered a species of special concern. As a result, Chris has learned a lot about these little fish. I was driving home from work […]
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by Catherine Schmitt The alewives are running. Jeffrey Pierce, Executive Director of the Alewife Harvesters of Maine, reports that alewives are appearing coastwide. I contacted Jeff because of an interest in tracking the timing of the alewife run as a way to extend the Signs of the Seasons phenology monitoring program to coastal flora and […]
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by Catherine Schmitt Just as I anticipated, sustainability messaging was ubiquitous on the trade show floor at the 2013 Boston Seafood Show. Repeated exposure to the word felt less like an illusion and more like dilution. My mind flooded with questionable claims and elusive adjectives, I ducked into one of the seminars for some education. […]
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by Catherine Schmitt 10. We can’t trust our food. An estimated 10% of seafood is not the species it is sold or marketed as, and certain species are more likely to be false than others. 9. People are paying for more than they get – maybe 40% of the time. 8. Faking it is easy. […]
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by Catherine Schmitt As I prepare to head south to the Boston Seafood Show, where I’ll be reporting for The Working Waterfront, I’ve been catching up on the latest national media stories on “sustainable seafood.” I don’t want to take an incredible bite only to find out that the fish I just sampled is not […]
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by Catherine Schmitt Feeling the scallop season get a way from me, I’ve been in pursuit of fresh Placopectin magellenicus harvested from Maine waters by dayboat draggers and divers. But fresh, local seafood can be hard to find where I live in Bangor, within reach of the tide but 30+ miles from saltwater. Since I […]
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Scallop season began on Sunday December 2 and runs through March 20. With new management measures in place, including closed areas, limited access to other areas, and reduced fishing days, the harvest may be lower this year and prices may be higher. Neither factor should be a deterrent to seeking out Maine scallops this season; […]
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by Catherine Schmitt The symposium attracted an impressive media response, starting with the Associated Press (first at the CBS News website, and then a story from the conference about guessing the age of a lobster). Both WCSH6 and WGME covered it on their evening news, as did MPBN radio (including some more extensive interviews available online). […]
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by Catherine Schmitt Today was the first full day of the American Lobster in a Changing Ecosystem: A US-Canada Science Symposium. More than 100 of the region’s top lobster scientists have gathered in Portland, Maine, to share their research. Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher in his welcome remarks reminded the scientists that […]
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