by Catherine Schmitt Shrimp season is upon us, and with big cuts in catch limits, winter-hungry souls should waste no time getting their share. That’s what I was attempting to do a few weeks ago, when I stopped by a Portland fish market to pick up a few pounds of Pandalus borealis. However, instead of […]
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by Catherine Schmitt Earlier this month, I joined my Sea Grant colleagues from around the Northeast on a tour of Matunuck Oyster Farm & Bar in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. I had met the oysterman, Perry Raso, last June, and was excited to see his farm. I was also interested to see whether and how […]
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by Catherine Schmitt Our friends at Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Maine Aquaculture Association successfully kicked off this year’s Harvest on the Harbor with a mid-day seafood event featuring “lesser-known, yet abundant and well-managed species,” which GMRI is promoting with its Sustainable Seafood Project, and salmon, cod, mussels, oysters, and seaweed raised in Maine […]
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by Catherine Schmitt A great time had by all at the eleventh annual Pemaquid Oyster Festival on Sunday. The warm, sunny weather helped bring people out to the coast, although oyster aficionados don’t need much more enticement than thousands of fresh-from-the-river Crassostrea virginica. This year’s event featured an oyster-shucking contest, won by Maine Sea Grant […]
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by Catherine Schmitt The new issue of Maine Policy Review is a special issue all about food. It is the journal’s largest issue ever, perhaps a testament to the importance and interest in the economy and environment of food. Several articles are focused on seafood in particular, including one by the Island Institute‘s Rob Snyder […]
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by Catherine Schmitt Fresh Crabmeat. Live Lobster. Cherrystones, Mussels, Clams. The hand-made signs that decorate the roadsides of Downeast Maine are clues to the region’s seafood industry, an independent and entrepreneurial collage of individuals and families who dig for clams and worms, collect periwinkles, dredge for scallops, rake seaweed, trap lobsters and crabs, and tend […]
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by Catherine Schmitt One of the highlights of Day 3 of the Baird Symposium on Sustainable Seafood was the scup versus tilapia challenge. Tilapia is a freshwater, farm-raised fish that has skyrocketed in popularity in the last decade due to its low cost and ease of production (it is an herbivore and is raised in […]
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by Catherine Schmitt This week is the 10th annual Ronald C. Baird Sea Grant Science Symposium in Rhode Island. The topic is “Developing the Rhode Island Seafood Knowledge Economy: Perspectives on Seafood Sustainability.” Our colleagues at Rhode Island Sea Grant pulled together a spectacular assemblage of chefs, culinary expertise, seafood industry professionals, fisheries scientists, economists, […]
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by Catherine Schmitt Last Saturday at the Orono Farmer’s Market, the Lobster Shack had a crate of live Jonah crabs for $1 apiece. Crabs are rarely sold live in Maine; crabmeat is the dominant product. I was so excited I forgot to ask where they were from. (A follow-up phone call to Lobster Shack proprietor […]
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by Catherine Schmitt Last night Beth Bisson and I went down to Ellsworth to catch up with elver dealer Bill Sheldon. Beth needed some glass eels for a research/education project she’s been working on with the Mitchell Center, SERC Institute, and Acadia National Park called Acadia Learning. Me? Well, I’d been wanting to write an […]
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