Maine lobstermen see their plight reflected in Alaska salmon trollers' saga

SEAFOOD SOURCE • July 4, 2023

Fresh off legal victories, lobstermen in the U.S. state of Maine and  salmon trollers across the country in Alaska are finding kinship in a shared narrative. In a letter sent to the Alaska Trollers Association, Maine Lobstermen’s Association President Kristan Porter said both organizations had fought similar battles against environmentalists who want to end commercial fishing over concern about the threat it poses to whales. “The situation you are all in is very similar to the one we are in. Basically, it is the environmental groups trying to put hard working fisherman out of business, using whales as a vehicle to do it,” Porter said.

Restoring the Ancient Sturgeon

NOAA • July 4, 2023

Did you know that there’s a family of fish found along the East Coast of the United States that dates back to the Cretaceous period more than 120 million years ago when dinosaurs were still in existence? Two species of these ancient fish, the Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, are found in coastal waters, estuaries, and rivers from Florida to Maine. NOAA Fisheries and Maine-based animation team, Puckerbrush Animation, recently partnered to create a new digital animation that talks about these two species of sturgeon and the threats that have led to their protection under the Endangered Species Act. Though sturgeon have been around for millions of years, there’s still a lot we need to learn about these ancient fish to help inform recovery efforts.

This Maine boat launch dispute devolved into a 3-year legal quagmire

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 4, 2023

More than three years after a dispute arose over changes to a small privately owned boat launch in a tiny midcoast town, the controversy is grinding on in court while a selectman opposed to the changes has been barred from participating in the town’s legal deliberations. Jeffry Spinney, who lives in the Lincoln County town of Alna, wanted to make modifications to the small boat launch on his property on a tidal section of the Sheepscot River. He applied for permits, was granted them and made the improvements including lining the ramp with gravel. But the town later reversed itself and tried to revoke its approval. Spinney is suing Alna in Lincoln County Superior Court. The fight is both costing the town money and exposing the pitfalls of small-town governance, in which elected or appointed officials may not have the authority they think they do.

Promising research at UMaine may help curtail browntail moths

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 4, 2023

Scientists are studying how to disrupt the moth's mating patterns by using a synthetically made product to confuse male moths and drastically reduce their ability to reproduce. The goal of the university researchers is to find out how to drive down the browntail moth population in an environmentally friendly way.

It’s been so rainy that even Mainers are cutting camping trips short

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 4, 2023

Campers in many state parks around Maine are going home early or not showing up for their reservations as the rain that left last month as one of the rainiest Junes in a quarter century stretched into the four-day July 4 holiday weekend. State parks around Maine all reported early departures. Last year, Maine’s 48 state parks and historic sites saw a record 319,000 visitor nights and more than 3.28 million people spending time, according to Maine’s Bureau of Parks and Lands. This tourist season still looks promising, especially on sunny days, but it has gotten off to a soggy start.

Portland opens a new park, giving North Deering neighborhood a green space

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 3, 2023

A new city-owned park is coming to Portland’s North Deering neighborhood. The 24-acre park will mostly preserve existing wooded areas and trails, with little development planned. But city and state leaders say the park helps fill a need in an area that lacked public green space. The sale of the land went through last week, with the city purchasing two private properties for $833,000 – paid for with state and federal grants and private fundraising.

Aquafarms legal battle continues following Maine's highest court's recent ruling

FOX NEWS • July 3, 2023

An update on the legal battle between Nordic Aquafarms INC and a number of conservation advocates along with local land owners. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ruled in one of the many court actions related to that ongoing land dispute. As we previously reported back in February Maine's highest court deemed Jeffrey Mabee and Judith Grace the true owners of a stretch of inter-tidal land that was previously promised to Nordic Aquafarms to build piping for an Aquafarm project. On June 29th Maine's Supreme Judicial Court decided that the Board of Environmental Protections and the Bureau of Parks and Lands should determine the impact of the courts February land ownership ruling in relation to the previously approved title permits.

Bear euthanized after attacking woman in western Maine

CBS 13 • July 3, 2023

A Porter woman is shaken up but recovering after she says she punched a bear in the face and was bitten. Maine is home to one of the largest black bear populations in the eastern U.S., though attacks are extremely rare. Lynn Kelly was out in her garden on Friday morning when her dog started barking and ran into the woods. She heard him yelp and then he came running out with a bear right behind him. The woman stood up as tall as she could and punched the bear in the nose. It bit her right hand, puncturing her wrist. The bear was euthanized and is getting tested for rabies. “It’s scary but look where we live. You’ve got to expect stuff like this. I mean, we live out in the wilderness,” said Christine Sanborn, who lives next door.

Maine campgrounds report slow start to the summer with rainy weather

MAINE PUBLIC • June 3, 2023

Across the state there has been a slow start to the camping season as the rainy weather keeps people inside. At Sagadahoc Bay Campground on Georgetown Island, owner Pat Kosalka said she has seen a spike in canceled reservations and campers leaving early. Brian Fay, a manager at Lily Bay State Park in Greenville, said the park has had quite a few empty campsites this summer. Another effect of the rain has been more mosquitoes this year.

Opinion: Water is at the heart of the Gardens’ mission

BOOTHBAY REGISTER • July 3, 2023

When asked to join the Boothbay Region Clean Drinking Water Initiative, we did not hesitate. The work of the Initiative aligns with and is connected to our mission, both from an education and from a conservation perspective. At the highest level, our purpose here at the Gardens is to have a positive impact on people and on the planet. In recent years, we've been leaning into a focus on inspiring action on climate change – a situation many people feel overwhelmed by. The gardens are our vehicle to inspire and teach people to make small changes in their backyards. A big part of the Clean Drinking Water Initiative is about land conservation and making the connection between land use and water quality. ~ Gretchen Ostherr, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Greater Portland Landmarks executive director leaving amid other staff departures

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 3, 2023

Executive Director Sarah Hansen is the fourth staff member to leave the nonprofit, along with the director of advocacy, the director of philanthropy and the community outreach manager. Bruce Roullard, president of the Greater Portland Landmarks Board of Trustees, would not comment on the other staff positions or the reasons why so many employees have left. Greater Portland Landmarks is a nonprofit whose mission is to “ensure that Greater Portland preserves its sense of place for all and builds vibrant, sustainable neighborhoods and communities for the future,”

NOAA wants to expand 'ropeless' fishing gear pilot to include some Maine lobstermen

MAINE PUBLIC • June 3, 2023

Last winter as part of a pilot project, some Massachusetts lobstermen were allowed to fish in areas that are seasonally closed to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. But they had to use so-called "on-demand" or "ropeless" fishing gear and work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to share their feedback. Now NOAA wants to expand the program to include lobster and other fixed-gear fishermen throughout New England. Federal officials have proposed issuing permits to more than 200 people, with priority given to those who fish closed areas during the winter. More than 100 people in Maine fish those closed areas. And fishermen aren't thrilled with the idea of opening access to only some of them, said Patrice McCarron of the Maine Lobstermen's Association — unless there's enough on-demand gear to go around to everyone.

Maine hay farmers set back by wet June

MAINE PUBLIC • June 3, 2023

Maine experienced one of its wettest Junes, with nearly five inches of rain. While last month's rainfall was favorable for Maine crops like blueberries, hay farmers are at a considerable disadvantage. "Heavy rainfall has made it so we've made hardly any hay this year. Whenever it stops raining, the ground is going to be so wet, it's going to take weeks of drying to even get equipment back out there," says Scott Ferland, the owner of Ferland Farms in Poland, Maine. "Usually, we make 70,000 bales a year. We've made 1,000 so far."

The whale in this Vinalhaven video is even more rare than we realized

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 3, 2023

The whale video provided recently by Jay Borden, a summer resident of Vinalhaven, created quite a stir. we incorrectly identified as a minke whale. According to Christopher Tremblay, a whale biologist at the University of Maine, was the first to recognize that the whale was actually a pygmy sperm whale. “They are not common visitors to this area, and the video provided is absolutely wonderful, but it is definitely not a minke whale, and instead from an entirely different sub-order,” said Capt. Toby Stephenson, Director of Marine Resources at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, in confirming the pygmy sperm whale identification.

Interactive curriculum at Maine MILL teaches students about renewable energy

SUN JOURNAL • July 3, 2023

The Maine Museum of Innovation, Learning and Labor Innovation Kit, is a curriculum designed to teach students about energy, how it is converted and the history of hydroelectric power in Lewiston and Auburn. According to Mary MacVicar, educator and community outreach manager, the development of large water turbines in the 1850s allowed residents to harness the power of the Androscoggin River to power large machinery in factories, including the former textile factory where the museum is located.

137 orphaned, abandoned black bears returning to the wild

WBUR • July 3, 2023

This time of year, young black bears who are about 1 1/2 years old leave their mothers. The males travel in search of their own territory. Females stick closer to their mother’s home range. The Kilham Bear Center in Lyme New Hampshire, which raises orphaned cubs, tries to mimic this behavior by releasing bears into the wild in late spring and early summer. This year they raised and are releasing 137 black bears. Jaclyn Comeau, the black bear project leader with the state of Vermont, said, “We know our bears in Vermont disburse to New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Canada, southern New England. So, this is all part of the normal genetic mixing even without us moving them around like this."

Maine Conservation Corps Environmental Steward serves with Land Trust

DAILY BULLDOG • July 3, 2023

Julia Morin of Broad Brook, CT, is the 2023 Maine Conservation Corps Environmental Steward with the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust. While serving with RLHT, Morin will coordinate the Headwaters Lake Protection Program, which oversees the water quality health in the Rangeley Lakes region. She is a certified Water Quality Monitor, LakeSmart Evaluator, and Courtesy Boat Inspector and will be an Invasive Plant Patroller.

A company now owns a majority share of the Hampden waste facility it aims to restart

MAINE PUBLIC • June 3, 2023

An organization representing 115 Maine towns and cities has finalized the sale of a shuttered Hampden waste facility to a new majority owner. A company called Innovative Resource Recovery now owns 90% of the facility and aims to fully restart it by early 2025. The Municipal Review Committee still has a 10% share. The plant closed in 2020 amid startup and financial challenges. In the meantime, communities have been forced to send much of their trash to landfills or incinerators.

Monterey Bay Aquarium pushes back against lobster groups, cites First Amendment rights in defamation case

INTRAFISH • July 3, 2023

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is standing by its Seafood Watch seafood sustainability ratings guide, which last year downgraded the rating of Maine-caught lobster from “yellow” to “red,” recommending consumers and businesses avoid Maine lobsters, citing NOAA scientific data on risks associated with right whale deaths and injuries. In May, lawyers for the aquarium filed a 200-page motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought earlier this year by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association and other lobster businesses in the state, challenging the ratings change and charging the aquarium with defamation.