Maine Sea Grant

Thomas Trott Suffolk University 41 Temple Street Boston, MA 02114-4280 617.573.8246 codfish2@earthlink.net Among the New England coastal states, the least is known about invasive species introductions and distributions in Maine. Information about the status of the Maine coastal environment and the health and diversity of habitats impacted by invasive species is needed for local and […]

Jean MacRae Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering University of Maine Orono, ME 04469 207.581.2137 Jean.macrae@umit.maine.edu Marine and freshwater environments are vulnerable to pollution from spills, shipping and boating activity, runoff, and waste discharge. Many organic contaminants accumulate in sediment where they can affect habitat and the health of marine organisms. Once in the sediment, […]

William Ambrose Carnegie Science Hall Bates College Lewiston, ME 04240 207. 786.6114 wambrose@abacus.bates.edu In the past decade, fishery scientists, managers, and ecologists have expressed increasing concern about the effects of commercial fisheries on benthic communities. Although the effects of dredges and trawls on sub-tidal, hard and soft bottom communities have been studied, very few studies […]

Nishanta Rajakaruna College of the Atlantic 105 Eden Street Bar Harbor, ME 04609 207.288.5015 ext. 261 nrajakaruna@coa.edu Plants that grow in metal-rich soils are often physiologically and taxonomically distinct populations, providing model systems to examine the process of plant evolution. Current understanding of how new plant species arise has benefited from research conducted on metal-tolerant […]

Hilary Neckles USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center 196 Whitten Road Augusta, ME 04330 207-622-8205 ext.119 hneckles@usgs.gov Eelgrass (Zostera marina L) is the dominant seagrass occurring in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, where it often forms extensive meadows in coastal and estuarine areas. Eelgrass beds are extremely productive and provide many valuable ecological functions […]

Ruth H. Carmichael University of Maine at Machias 9 O’Brien Ave. Machias, ME 04655 207.255.1206 Email Ruth Carmichael Maine is home to the northernmost population of the Atlantic horseshoe crab. Species at the edge of their range are often considered unique and potentially fragile. If Maine’s horseshoe crabs are at the fringe of their viable […]

Pat White Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation PO Box 523 Kennebunk, ME 04043 207-985-8088 The commercial lobster fishery, the economic engine for so many coastal communities in the Gulf of Maine, is undergoing extreme changes. In 2008, an apparent drop in landings, lower prices paid to lobstermen for their product, and rising fuel and bait […]

Robert Vadas Department of Biological Sciences and School of Marine Sciences 209 Deering Hall University of Maine Orono, ME 04469 207.581.2974 vadas@maine.edu Peter Larsen Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences PO Box 475 West Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575 207.633.9600 plarsen@bigelow.org Project funds will be used to produce the publication, "Ecosystem Modeling of a Macrotidal Estuary," which […]

Scott Hall Research Coordinator Audubon Seabird Restoration Program Belfast, ME 04915 Most information about Atlantic puffins is derived from studies of their breeding colonies on Maine's outer coastal islands. Where they go during the winter, when they are thought to roam the ocean from the Gulf of Maine to Greenland and Iceland, however, is still […]

Brian F. Beal Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education PO Box 83 Beals, ME 04611 207.255.1314 bbeal@maine.edu One strategy used by fisheries managers seeking to enhance wild lobster stocks is to raise lobsters in a laboratory and then release the larvae in large numbers. An experimental approach at the Downeast Institute transfers hatchery-grown […]