Maine Sea Grant

Tourism and the shellfish industry are both integral components of the Maine economy and way of life. Yet elevated fecal bacteria levels in coastal waters may pose a human health risk, leading to closures of valued beaches and shellfish growing areas. Identification and remediation of harmful bacteria sources may require special studies and in-depth sanitary […]

Exploring Husbandry and Equipment Solutions to Infestations of Polydora sp. on a Maine Oyster Farm Polydora websteri is a marine polychaete worm that has had strongly negative effects on oyster farmers in Maine, and the world over. P. websteri builds burrows inside the shell of an oyster, where it deposits its eggs, waste and mud. […]

Oyster gardening is an educational program, which uses the process of growing oysters to engage participants in topics like estuarine ecology, shellfish biology, aquaculture regulation, stewardship, public health, natural resource management, and a host of others. Oyster gardening got its start in the Chesapeake Bay region, and has since spread to many other coastal states. Our program […]

Present-day Atlantic salmon losses at sea are higher than documented prior to 1990 but scientists and managers are often overwhelmed at the scale of the issue and multiple unknowns. This is confounded by the small biomass of salmon in a large ecosystem – a needle in a haystack. Maine Sea Grant provided convening and facilitation […]

The Four P’s of a Safe and Sustainable Aquaculture Industry: Practices, Presentation, Promotion and the Press – Saving Your Business and Your Markets On October 7, 2011, we hosted the National Aquaculture Association in for this workshop.  It was a road show of sorts, since this workshop had been given in other parts of the country; […]

Fisherman Babe Stanley and his son Shain have been working on a novel piece of equipment, a submersible mussel raft, to pursue their interests in growing mussels in Downeast Maine. Extension Associate Dana Morse helped by obtaining funding from Maine Sea Grant to do some scale modeling of the proposed system. John Riley of the […]

Downeast Forum on Coastal Access, Carter Conference Center, Machias, Maine, January 19th, 2006. Recent, widespread shifts in coastal land ownership and uses are bringing about change in the traditional patterns of coastal access in Maine. These changes have important impacts on water-dependent industries, as well as recreational and private property users. The purpose of this […]

How to Catch Tourists Session at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, 2014 Friday February 28, 2014 at 9 am, Pen Bay Room, Samoset Resort, Rockland. The Maine coast abounds with resources of various kinds, and though most people would probably point to our seafood and our scenery as the greatest marketable resources we have, we can […]

Scallop drag selectivity has been of interest to fishermen and scientists working in Maine’s sea scallop fishery, and in late 2003, a collaborative project was undertaken to look at the effects of ring size on selectivity. Capt. Steven Patryn, owner of the Jonesboro-based F/V Northern Eagle, teamed up with Extension Associate Dana Morse, to evaluate […]

A public affairs radio program on WERU Community Radio, Coastal Conversation is supported by Maine Sea Grant, in partnership with co-hosts at Schoodic Institute and The First Coast. What is Coastal Conversations? Coastal Conversations is a public affairs program that explores current issues facing Maine’s coastal communities through conversations with people who live, work, and play […]