By Colin Woodard, staff writer Portland Press Herald news story Machias Seal Island, home of the largest puffin colony in the Gulf of Maine, has had the worst breeding season ever recorded, with the vast majority of chicks starving to death in their burrows. The disaster followed a sudden drop in the puffins’ food supply Read More
Gulf of Maine
Legislature to Consider $3 Million Bond to Study Ocean Acidification
by Andy O’Brien Free Press news story In the coming weeks, the Maine Legislature will consider several bond proposals, including a bipartisan measure aimed at tackling the monumental problem of ocean acidification (OA) in the Gulf of Maine. LD 998, sponsored by Rep. Wayne Parry (R-Arundel) and Rep. Mick Devin (D-Newcastle), would ask voters to Read More
Warm Waters Off Maine Point to Repeat of “Ocean Heat Wave”
With the worst of the cooling season over, temperatures in the Gulf of Maine are just slightly below the period of disruption four years ago. By Colin Woodard, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story With the United States coming off the warmest winter on record, scientists are monitoring the Gulf of Maine for a Read More
Study Finds Gulf of Maine Warming Faster Than Thought
By Sean Horgan, The Daily News of Newburyport Portland Press Herald news story The news just keeps getting worse for cold-temperature fish such as cod in the ever-warming waters of the Gulf of Maine. A new study, conducted by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers and appearing in the Journal of Geophysical Research — Oceans, Read More
Businesses, Conservation Leaders, Sen. King Discuss Climate Change from Businesses Perspectives
Describe importance of tackling climate for businesses, and how responding creates new opportunities NRCM news release South Portland, ME – About 150 people, mostly from Maine businesses, gathered in South Portland today to examine climate change from a business perspective at an event put on by the Natural Resources Council of Maine and co-sponsored by Read More
Shellfish Can’t Keep Up with Shifting Ocean Chemistry
by Colin Woodard, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story In seawater tanks in a refrigerated room at the Darling Marine Center, the baby mussels are thriving. Two months ago they were near-invisible larvae, swimming around in the tanks. Now tens of thousands of the tiny mollusks, each just a few millimeters long, have attached Read More
Gulf of Maine’s Cold-craving Marine Species Forced to Retreat to Deeper Waters
by Colin Woodard, staff writer Portland Press Herald news story For 178 years, dams stood across the Penobscot River here, obstructing salmon and other river-run fish from reaching the watershed’s vast spawning grounds, which extend all the way to the Quebec border. Now, two years after the dam’s removal, the salmon’s proponents fear the fish Read More
Maine Lawmakers Reject Bill to Bar Alewives from Upper St. Croix River
Guides and sporting camp owners in the Grand Lake Stream area want to block alewives, for fear that the sea-run fish will harm the important smallmouth bass fishery. By Kevin Miller, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story AUGUSTA – A legislative committee voted unanimously Wednesday to reject a bill that would have once again Read More
Latest Dispute Over Alewives in St. Croix River May Lead to Independent Review
The LePage administration is proposing a working group to examine the scientific arguments over the fish. By Kevin Miller, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story AUGUSTA — The LePage administration wants to create a working group to examine the scientific arguments over alewives in the St. Croix River as a way to defuse the Read More