Fathoming: Maine fish and birds in hot water?

Fishermen have been saying since early spring that the water this year has been warm. Mark Lazarri, an environmental monitoring scientist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), confirmed that daily temperature measurements in Boothbay Harbor indicated warmer-than-normal water in 2010, especially during March, April and July. Unfortunately, it is harder to pin down

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Fathoming: Ancient Fish, Modern Methods

Like warblers and monarch butterflies, sea-run fish undertake fantastic migrations, traveling through the open ocean, up the crowded Atlantic Coast, eventually returning to the freshwater rivers and streams in which they were born. However little is known about where and how these fish travel. But in the last five years, new technology and regional collaborations

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Fathoming: One fish, two fish: The virtual reality of counting lobsters

So scientists and fishermen and everyone else rely on computer models that mimic what is known about fish. Into the models goes information like size, age, growth rate, how many fish will die of natural mortality (predation, disease, moving away from the area) and how many are taken in the fishery. But lobsters, Maine’s largest

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Fathoming: What we know about rockweed

This article is made possible, in part, by funds from Maine Sea Grant and the Oak Foundation. In the last several years, Acadian Seaplants Limited (Nova Scotia), has expanded their rockweed harvesting into Maine, stimulating new regulations from Maine’s Department of Marine Resources and raising old and new questions about potential impacts of commercial-scale harvesting.

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