Maine Sea Grant

Katherine Mills Gulf of Maine Research Institute Kanae Tonkunaga Gulf of Maine Research Institute David Reidmiller Gulf of Maine Research Institute Ben Martens Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association The Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest-warming places in the ocean. Marine fish and invertebrate communities are likely to change, as species tolerant to warming waters […]

Lisa Kerr Gulf of Maine Research Institute Katherine Mills Gulf of Maine Research Institute Warming in Maine’s coastal waters is reshaping the ecosystem and impacting key fishery resources. In this study, researchers will work closely with stakeholders to identify what information they need in order to support fisheries decision-making. Using an approach called integrated ecosystem […]

Beverly Johnson Bates College Claire Enterline Maine Coastal Program, Department of Marine Resources   Salt water marshes are known carbon sinks, providing habitat for organisms that absorb carbon from the atmosphere. However, when road crossings or other structures reduce the amount of tidal water flowing into and out of a salt marsh, the habitat may […]

Christoph Aeppli Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences Perfluoroalkyl substances, otherwise known as PFAS or “forever chemicals,” are becoming more prevalent in Maine’s land and water. This project includes field studies to measure levels of PFAS in coastal marine ecosystems and investigate how those chemicals make their way into estuaries. In a laboratory setting, the researchers […]

Alison Bates Colby College  Coastal and communities are increasingly faced with calls for offshore wind that may impact livelihoods or cultural well-being. Impacts to various ocean users and marine-dependent communities – both in tangible ways, such as lost revenue or increasing space-use conflict, or in non-quantifiable ways, such as changing the seascape or cultural practices, […]

Kate Beard-Tisdale University of Maine No comprehensive, fine-scale temporal-spatial coverage of the lobster fishery currently exists that supports navigating a marine environment that is rapidly changing with respect to human use and ocean climate. This project aims to fill the gap by developing a standardized procedure for constructing accurate spatial and temporal representations of the […]

Heather Leslie University of Maine To successfully site ocean renewable energy in the US Northeast, we need to know how values and beliefs influence people’s responses to ocean renewable energy development and how those values and beliefs differ by place. Yet limited baseline social data exists to support states, developers, and communities to understand where […]

Paul Rawson University of Maine Huijie Xue University of Maine Caitlin Cleaver FB Environmental Associates Phoebe Jekielek Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership The sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) fishery is the third most lucrative fishery in the United States, and in Maine, sea scallop aquaculture is a largely untapped industry that presents aquaculturists and […]

Jennifer Perry University of Maine Denise Skonberg University of maine Marissa McMahan Manomet Gabriela Bradt University of New Hampshire The European green crab (Carcinus maenas) is an invasive species that was first detected in New England in the early 1800s. European green crabs are contributing to the decline of wild and farmed populations of bivalves […]

Laurie Connell University of Maine Christopher Davis Maine Aquaculture Institute Meredith White Mook Sea Farm Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp), a bacterial pathogen found in brackish and marine environments, can cause illness in humans when it is present in raw, consumed oysters. Vp and other Vibrio pathogen species are becoming more abundant in warming waters, and current […]