HAMPDEN — The traditional mooring has never been a plus to a harbor’s eco-system; it has few nooks and crannies for sea creatures to hide, and its granite surface isn’t hospitable for colonizing microorganisms. But a Maine company has a new take on the mooring it says offers enhanced habitat for lobster and other sea creatures.
Habitat Mooring Systems in Hampden has worked with University of Maine researchers to design a mooring that includes a series of holes to provide shelter for sea creatures. The newly designed mooring is also made of reinforced concrete, which is easier for microorganisms to colonize and cheaper to produce, said Stewart Hardison, the company’s founder.
“We re-engineered the brick, basically,” Hardison said.
Since 2009, the company has sold moorings along the Maine coast and as far south as Connecticut. It donated a mooring for the harbor at Seal Cove, and researchers have been studying the mooring’s ability to provide habitat there and elsewhere.
The results have been better than expected, said Dr. Ian Bricknell, a UMaine aquaculture biologist. As expected, juvenile and adolescent lobsters are using the moorings as habitat that can help them hide from predators.
In addition, many other organisms, from kelp to Atlantic cod, are utilizing the structures, as well. So far, researchers have documented more than 50 species found on the moorings. That number represents more than four times the biodiversity found on traditional moorings, and the list is still growing, said Bricknell.
“Every time we go over the observation data, we tend to find one new group of organisms there,” Bricknell said.
On average, the newly-designed mooring is home to four lobsters. That may seem a drop in the ocean among Maine’s overall lobster population, but Bricknell believes it could have a real impact in harbors filled with the moorings.
The moorings also could help grow civic awareness of aquatic eco-systems, said Curtis Bohlen, director of the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership. Bohlen has not studied the moorings, but he says the concept sounds similar to efforts to repopulate oysters in Chesapeake Bay by growing them off piers. In both cases, the overall ecological effect could end up being negligible, but it gets waterfront residents to take ownership of local ecosystems, he said.
“Getting people to take some responsibility for the Maine coast and the Maine environment is always a good thing,” Bohlen said.