Waves crashing on the Swan's Island shore.

Working Waterfront

It was a hot and stormy 2017, without El Niño

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. It may not be a surprise that 2017 has been a year of record-breaking storms and heat. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria took a devastating toll on the Caribbean and southeast United States. Harvey dumped almost 52 inches of rain… SEE MORE

Oyster restoration on Mobile Bay in Alabama.

Working Waterfront

Restoring wild oyster beds, one acre at a time

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. New York City has its Billion Oyster Project, and now New Hampshire's Great Bay has its own 25-acre project, with help from fishermen in Phippsburg. Like many estuaries along the U.S. Atlantic coast, Great Bay was once a maze of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

How Tasmania’s lobster fishery responded to algal blooms

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. What issue has the ability to close down a fishery overnight, during peak fishing season, with no idea when fishing can resume? That question was posed by Hilary Revill, manager of the rock lobster fishery for the state of Tasmania,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Digging into the data about our marine economy

Look out at Rockland Harbor and you may see a tanker heading up the bay to Searsport, a midwater trawler coming in with a load of herring, or the cement tug and barge heading south. Thanks to a federal ocean planning initiative, those interested in the maritime world can do… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine coastal towns expecting, preparing for rising seas

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. Sea level along the Maine coast has been rising at a fairly regular rate for the last 5,000 years or so. In the 20th century, sea level rose at about 1 inch per decade. Looking forward, we are expecting much… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Are the mussels really gone? Depends on where you look

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. There has been a lot of curiosity about the reported decline of blue mussels along Maine’s coast. Over the last year, we have visited 32 coastal towns and islands, from Portsmouth to Eastport, sharing our Climate of Change documentary film… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Signs of spring in our rivers and bays

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. As the warmth finally starts seeping into our bones, the grass greens up and flowers bloom, other signs of spring emerge in our harbors and rivers: the migratory and river-run fish. As anglers dig out rods, reels, lures, and flies—or… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Warmer waters pushing northern shrimp out of Gulf of Maine

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. This winter was the fourth consecutive year of a moratorium on fishing for northern shrimp. Management of the fishery remains a subject of discussion. The small, sweet northern shrimp are an Arctic species, and are at the southernmost extent of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Periwinkles an under-heralded seafood product

Life is rough in the intertidal zone. Barnacles with their heads cemented to rock and pilings wait for the tide to rise so they can resume combing for plankton with their legs. Rockweed collapses on boulders and ledges at low tide and wafts upright at high. Crabs root around in… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A tale of three winter fisheries

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. Winter on the coast of Maine in the 1980s and 1990s was a time for fishing urchins, scallops and shrimp. All three of these fisheries are now much smaller than they once were. Will they grow to create more economic… SEE MORE