Articles
Slow but Steady Success for Sea Mammals
Gulf of Maine marine mammal populations have fluctuated wildly in the centuries since European explorers first reported seas teaming with cod and seals in their logbooks. Today, populations of many whales, porpoises, dolphins and seals that inhabit the Gulf are steady or increasing, due in large part to protections afforded under the 1972 Marine Mammal
An Eye on the Sea from Above
In August 2009, an Atlantic puffin left Seal Island National Wildlife Refugeand flew northeast, through the outer Gulf of Maine and along the continental shelf of Nova Scotia, eventually reaching the Labrador Sea. Then, at the end of January, the puffin flew south, almost as far Bermuda. In May, he returned to Seal Island for
The Oyster Connection
Say the word “oyster” and most people will think of the Chesapeake Bay or Louisiana. But Maine has oysters, too, and the expertise that has developed over the last 40 years of Maine’s evolving oyster industry is now in demand in more traditional oyster regions. American or eastern oysters grow in estuaries from Canada to
Saving Fuel Doesn’t Have to be a Drag
Serendipity is a common theme in science. Accidents and mistakes lead to fortuitous discovery; questions yield unexpected answers. For Steve Eayrs, a fish behavior and gear technology researcher at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, surprise came about when a study about fishing gear selectivity found new ways for fishermen to save fuel and money,
Science Potpourri for the Holidays
We started Fathoming in an attempt to go deeper into the science behind the news about our coast and the Gulf of Maine. Over the past two years, we have written about everything from offshore wind’s impacts on marine fauna to ocean acidification, oyster disease, whales and the persistent abundance of lobsters. We’ve talked with
Scallops in Closed Areas
During November, young scallops, which have drifted in the sea and along ocean currents since their parents’ late-summer spawning, are settling down on patches of sand and gravel seafloor along the Maine coast. No one knows where they have come from, or where exactly they will go, but some will land in a sheltered area
It’s a Man Eats Fish Eats Fish World
Most days, the ocean can seem deceptively calm, with no signs of the breeding, feeding and migrating mayhem below the surface. The Gulf of Maine is home to an diversity of animals that live on and under the waves, that crawl along the seafloor, or burrow deep into the mud. Some live in the Gulf
A Balanced Meal?
Some surprising numbers: of the seafood Americans currently eat, more than 50 percent is farm-raised, and nearly 84 percent is imported. But compared to other nations, we don’t eat that much seafood, and the most recent federal dietary guidelines recommend that Americans more than double their current average seafood consumption because of the health benefits.
Loaves and Lobsters
Maine lobsters—they just keep a’ coming. And no one can quite point to the reason why the lobster fishery over the last two decades has brought an unexplained bounty to the Maine coast. For the 40 years between 1950 and 1990, the commercial lobster landings in the state hovered between 16 and 24 million pounds,
From flesh-eating monster to ecosystem engineer
“Body elongate, eel-like. Jaws absent, mouth forming broad, elliptical hood armed with horny, hooked teeth arranged in 11 or 12 rows, innermost teeth largest.” This is not a detail from some alien encounter, but the opening lines of Henry Bigelow’s description of the sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, an ancient fish with a lineage that extends