Fishermen have been saying since early spring that the water this year has been warm. Mark Lazarri, an environmental monitoring scientist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), confirmed that daily temperature measurements in Boothbay Harbor indicated warmer-than-normal water in 2010, especially during March, April and July. Unfortunately, it is harder to pin down
Fathoming: Ancient Fish, Modern Methods
Like warblers and monarch butterflies, sea-run fish undertake fantastic migrations, traveling through the open ocean, up the crowded Atlantic Coast, eventually returning to the freshwater rivers and streams in which they were born. However little is known about where and how these fish travel. But in the last five years, new technology and regional collaborations
Fathoming: Oil in the Gulf of Mexico: Not as far away as you think
Hundreds of sea turtles, more than sixty porpoises and a sperm whale have been found dead in the Gulf of Mexico region since the BP oil disaster began. As of mid-July, an area of almost 84,000 square miles, over one-third of the Gulf of Mexico, was closed to fishing. While the impacts of the spill
Fathoming: One fish, two fish: The virtual reality of counting lobsters
So scientists and fishermen and everyone else rely on computer models that mimic what is known about fish. Into the models goes information like size, age, growth rate, how many fish will die of natural mortality (predation, disease, moving away from the area) and how many are taken in the fishery. But lobsters, Maine’s largest
Fathoming: One fish, two fish: The virtual reality of counting lobsters
In many ways, the ocean is still a mystery. We take things out of it, things like food and fuel, that we call “resources.” We almost never directly observe what is going on beneath the surface of 70 percent of the planet, and yet US fishing rules and regulations demand that scientists predict how many
So how many lobsters are out there?
Fathoming: Tiny plankton, big problems
This article is made possible, in part, by funds from Maine Sea Grant and the Oak Foundation. Summer is just around the corner, and that has clammers, shellfish growers and seafood-shack proprietors worried about red tide. Meanwhile, offshore in the Gulf of Maine, teams of scientists are working around the clock, collecting water samples from
Fathoming: The baitfish bet: Hedging on herring, pondering pogies
This article is made possible, in part, by funds from Maine Sea Grant and the Oak Foundation. Rumors of their arrival ripple along the docks and across the surface of bays and estuaries. Fishing boats head out to the offshore ledges and banks searching for herring. Enthusiasts of all ages head down to the wharf
Tank tests: fishing gear research goes hi-tech
All eyes focus on the aqua glow of the tank wall. The eerie blue light adds to the drama as we wait for the trawl to settle to the bottom of the flume tank. The white net is framed at the leading edge by a stretch of grey ground-gear along the sweep-with rollers smaller than
Fathoming: What we know about rockweed
This article is made possible, in part, by funds from Maine Sea Grant and the Oak Foundation. In the last several years, Acadian Seaplants Limited (Nova Scotia), has expanded their rockweed harvesting into Maine, stimulating new regulations from Maine’s Department of Marine Resources and raising old and new questions about potential impacts of commercial-scale harvesting.