MAINE PUBLIC • April 21, 2025
Blue mussels in Casco Bay “have been either disappearing or they haven't been able to find mussels where they usually have been able to find them for generations.” Some have linked the loss of a once-vibrant wild mussel population to an ocean heat wave in the Gulf of Maine about a decade ago. A 2016 study estimated blue mussel populations in the intertidal zone between high and low tides declined more than 60% in the last 40 years. But what if the mussels didn't disappear entirely? What if they retreated to deeper, cooler water? "We are still finding them in these subtidal or deeper water areas," aquaculture program manager at Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Carissa Maurin said. "And these are locations that people wouldn't normally see unless you're there exactly at the right time, on the right date, within a two hour window."