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
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
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
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
Grand Lake Stream Guides Seek to Restrict Alewives from Upper St. Croix
By Johanna S. Billings, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story GRAND LAKE STREAM, Maine — The decades-old debate over the introduction of alewives in the St. Croix River watershed is heating up again. Sport fishing guides and camp owners from the area are seeking to cut off alewife access to the upper St. Croix Read More
LePage Joins Governor Coalition That’s Working to Expand Offshore Drilling
The group’s first member from the Northeast says the state could benefit from more natural gas exploration, and some ask: Is he eyeing the Gulf of Maine? By Steve Mistler. Portland Press Herald Portland Press Herald news story AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage has joined a coalition of governors supporting offshore drilling and exploration for Read More
Gulf of Maine is Warming Faster than 99% of World’s Oceans, Say Scientists
The water level is rising and species such as cod and herring are moving to colder waters. By Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press Watch full news video FRIENDSHIP — Imagine Cape Cod without cod. Maine without lobster. The region’s famous rocky beaches invisible, obscured by constant high waters. It’s already starting to happen. The culprit Read More
Atlantic Salmon Fishing Returns to Maine
Portland Press Herald editorial It’s not a long season, there are plenty of restrictions and fishermen can’t keep their catch. But starting this morning, anglers will once more be angling for sea-run Atlantic salmon in Maine. The month-long, experimental season is limited to a short stretch of the Penobscot, the river that has the healthiest Read More
