Published by Fox Bangor on March 5, 2025.
ROCKPORT — The annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum kicked off in Rockport on Thursday. The multi-day event aims to provide education to help strengthen Maine’s marine industry.
A melting pot of fishermen, researchers, scientists, and more, that’s how organizers described the annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum.
“Dealers, harvesters, educators, everyone at the table having a voice, and it’s not dock talk, it’s fact-based,” said Katie Werner, Vice President of the Maine Fishermen’s Forum. “Every year there’s different hot topics that are happening in the blue economy, and we want to make sure that the forum has the most opportune time to get whatever is happening, education-based, scientific-based, wherever, whatever we’re on top of it.”
For more than 50 years, this forum has showcased solutions for sustaining fishing livelihoods in a changing Gulf of Maine.
“We see fishermen as really important knowledge holders that help to inform the work that we do and learn what’s happening in the Gulf of Maine,” said Sophie Scott, Sustainable Seafood Program Manager for the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.
Many say rising costs are putting a strain on the industry.
“The lobster industry specifically really represents in some of these smaller communities, down east, and our island communities, the real foundational economic core and driver of our coastline,” said Kristin Garabedian, Community Development Officer for the Island Institute.
