Island Institute is proud to be part of the team that launched Heron—Maine’s first fully electric commercial aquaculture workboat of its size. Years in the making, this project showcases what’s possible when partners come together to deliver climate-friendly, innovative solutions for Maine’s working waterfronts.
Category: In the news
On Maine islands, housing shortages threaten community survival
Posted by Gerogia Howe & filed under In the news.
Islands with year-round residents need emergency responders, gas station attendants, postal workers, store clerks and teachers. When there’s nowhere for vital workers to live, they turn elsewhere. It’s eroding a storied way of life.
With sunshine and batteries, Maine oyster growers are starting to electrify their operations
Posted by Gerogia Howe & filed under In the news.
Shellfish farming is a small but fast-growing segment of Maine’s seafood sector. Now these enterprises — and more broadly the aquaculture industry — are emerging as first movers in the quest to electrify Maine’s working waterfront.
Something in the water: how kelp is helping Maine’s mussels boom
Posted by Gerogia Howe & filed under In the news.
When a US firm saw the seaweed was making their shellfish the ‘biggest and best’ scientists realised they’d hit upon a natural way to combat ocean acidification.
‘The entire process:’ Maine groups tour Kittery aquaculture business expanding potential of Maine crops
Posted by Gerogia Howe & filed under In the news.
Maine groups toured a Kittery-based aquaculture business to explore the potential of Maine kelp crops. Island Institute hosted local and state leadership, students, and aquaculture farmers on a tour of Cold Current Kelp.
Federal cuts may hurt Maine’s ability to meet climate goals, scientists say
Posted by Gerogia Howe & filed under In the news.
Reduced federal funding and staffing could hinder the Maine Climate Council’s ability to prepare for and track climate change, as well as the state’s ability to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Visibility Clears
Posted by Gerogia Howe & filed under In the news.
As conversations about the future of Maine State Ferry Service are progressing, Island Institute’s Nick Battista emphasized that the Ferry Service is a vital component of civic infrastructure that connects island communities to essential services and opportunities.
Maine’s hardy lobster fishery had, seemingly, seen it all. Then came Trump’s trade wars.
Posted by Gerogia Howe & filed under In the news.
Good seasons and bad. The ups and downs of government regulations. The growing threat of warming seas. But this year, the state’s thousands of lobstermen, and the thousands more whose livelihoods depend on the industry, are staring down a storm the likes they’ve never seen before. As President Trump wages an unprecedented protectionist campaign to impose or tease steep tariffs on nearly every trading partner, an industry that thrives on the free flow of global trade — and disposable cash in Americans’ wallets — could suffer disproportionately.
It’s not just tariffs; broad economic uncertainty could weigh on Maine’s lobster industry
Posted by Gerogia Howe & filed under In the news.
Though Canada has placed tariffs on an initial round of U.S. goods worth some $30 billion, lobster is not on that list. Still, some members of the industry and economic experts worry that broader global economy uncertainty may drive down demand for the product in Maine.
More than a year after devastating storms, communities shift to resilience
Posted by Gerogia Howe & filed under In the news.
When last year’s winter storms devastated the coast, Sam Belknap’s family wharf on Round Pond harbor in Bristol was saved by its concrete floor. The floor, which Belknap’s family poured years ago when they put in a seafood processing room, provided enough weight to keep most of the wharf from floating away.
