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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by Catherine Schmitt On Friday, I visited the Downeast Salmon Federation for their annual Smelt Fry celebration. Director Dwayne Shaw gave a tour of the salmon hatchery, where staff and volunteers raise salmon fry for stocking in the Pleasant River. Next to the hatchery is a new fish shack being built to replace an historic […]
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by Catherine Schmitt At the March 12 Orono Farmer’s Market, I picked up half a pound of fresh scallops from the Lobster Shack truck (as well as some Stonington crab meat and one lobster, but that’s another story). Some of the scallops had a peachy-pink hue, which I knew was a natural tint, thanks to Marine […]
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by Catherine Schmitt After a lovely meal of diver-harvested Maine sea scallops at The Salt Exchange, I am making a note to myself to eat more scallops before the season in Maine waters ends March 27. Maine fishermen deliver fresh sea scallops to local restaurants the same day they are caught. The eye, or adductor […]
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by Catherine Schmitt Within 24 hours of the latest Fathoming feature, about a harmful disease that now threatens Maine’s oyster industry, national news wires sizzled with reports of a study in the February issue of the journal BioScience. A survey of oyster reefs around the world found that 85% of oyster habitat has disappeared. The […]
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by Catherine Schmitt I’ve been working on a story about sardines since last April, when Bumble Bee Foods announced the closure of the Stinson Seafood factory, the last sardine cannery in the United States. As newspaper headlines across the country announced “the end of an era,” I began my own pursuit of the enigmatic sardine. I […]
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by Catherine Schmitt Maine shrimp made the front page of today’s style section in the Bangor Daily News. Reporter Emily Burnham wrote a nice feature of this native seafood, including a handful of recipes. The timing aligns with Northern shrimp season, which began in December and runs until April. Female shrimp move close to shore […]
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