Maine Sea Grant

Gary Edwards Down East Resource Conservation & Development Council 87 Milbridge Road PO Box 210 Cherryfield, ME 04622 207.546.2368 gary.edwards@me.usda.gov The extensive mudflats and coves along the eastern Maine coast provide habitat for clams, scallops, mussels, and oysters, which in turn sustain the economies of coastal communities. However, recent habitat loss and harvest decline has […]

Stephen Fegley Maine Maritime Academy 101 Andrews Castine, ME 04420 207-326-2396 sfegley@mma.edu Although sandy beaches in Maine are relatively scarce, they attract tourists and coastal development and generate substantial annual revenues. Unfortunately, beaches and their associated dune systems are fragile and, in many areas, have been reduced or lost through natural events and human activities. […]

Sandra Shumway Department of Marine Sciences University of Connecticut 1080 Shennecossett Road Groton, CT 06340 P. 860.405.9282 sandra.shumway@uconn.edu The 100th annual meeting of the National Shellfisheries Association took place April 6-10, 2008, in Providence, Rhode Island. The meeting overlapped with the 37th annual Benthic Ecology Meeting. Sessions at the conference featured topics such as horseshoe […]

Aimee Phillippi Unity College 90 Quaker Hill Rd. Unity, ME 04988 207-948-4313, x 282 aphillippi@unity.edu Invasive species can have serious impacts on ecosystems in which they are introduced and on human commercial interests. The Asian shore crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus , is an invasive species first documented in Maine in 2000. There has been only one […]

Mary E. Rumpho-Kennedy Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology 5735 Hitchner Hall University of Maine Orono, ME 04469 P. 207.581.2806 Like many vast and diverse ecosystems on Earth, the sea represents an oasis of potential medicines and healing substances, including anticancer compounds. For example, the toxic chemicals generated by some organisms as protection against […]

Alison Sirois Maine Department of Marine Resources P.O. Box 8 West Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575 207-633-2430 alison.sirois@maine.gov The volunteer phytoplankton monitoring program in Maine works as an early warning system for Maine Department of Marine Resources’ Biotoxin Program in detecting harmful algal blooms. Learning to correctly identify Alexandrium cells, the cause of paralytic shellfish poisoning, […]

Robert Snyder Island Institute P.O. Box 648 386 Main Street Rockland, ME 04841 P. 207.594.9209 The Island Institute in Rockland, Maine, coordinated an assessment of climate change impacts on the Maine lobster fishery. They completed several months of research on fishermen’s observations regarding trends in weather, climate, water temperature, runoff, and salinity in relation to […]

Kevin Athearn University of Maine at Machias 25 Kimball Hall Machias, ME 04654 207-255-1216 kathearn@maine.edu Resource managers, regional planners, fishermen, seafood dealers, fish farmers, and others in eastern Maine need information about the economic value of various marine industries, as well as the economic consequences of pollution, red tide closures, conservation or stock enhancement efforts, […]

Heather Koopman Biology and Marine Biology University of North Carolina Wilmington 601 S. College Road Wilmington, NC 28401 P. 910.962.7199 koopmanh@uncw.edu Lobster larvae that are released in the waters around Grand Manan Island are picked up by tidal currents and distributed hundreds of kilometers from the Bay of Fundy and southwestern coast of Nova Scotia […]

Shey Veditz Island Institute 386 Main Street PO Box 648 Rockland , ME 04841 207.694.9209 Working access to the Gulf of Maine is threatened by real estate development and other changing land uses. In order for fishermen, water-dependent businesses, land trusts, economic development groups, municipalities, and the public to succeed in preserving Maine’s working waterfronts, […]