Paul Anderson has been working with UMaine colleagues to engage fishing communities in the Muscongus Bay region to keep them informed as the Maine Aqua Ventus offshore wind energy research project advances. Fishing industry leaders from New Harbor, Bristol, Friendship, Port Clyde, and Monhegan are being counseled regularly along with groups from Monhegan and Bristol to investigate options for addressing local concerns, including placement of the cable in the vicinity of shrimp and scallop fishing, potential closures to mobile gear fishing areas, and conflict with lobster gear. The next phase of design, construction, and deployment is pending a decision on a $44 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. 

The University of Maine and the Maine Humanities Council will be hosting the Second Annual Maine Humanities Summit in Augusta on May 16. The theme for this year's summit is the Humanities and Public Policy. Marine Extension Team member Natalie Springuel will speak on “Fisheries Heritage and the Role of Tourism in Downeast Maine Communities,” as part of an afternoon panel on cultural tourism. 

Leaders from the National Working Waterfront Network have been sharing news of the Network's development and Sustainable Working Waterfront Toolkit with national audiences. Marine Extension Team member Kristen Grant, who is also a National Working Waterfront Network executive committee member and Outreach and Education Committee chair, presented at the Social Coast Forum in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 20, and shared the Network's Toolkit at at demonstration session on February 19. Additionally, Network leaders presented two national webinars hosted by National Association of Development Organizations earlier this month.

The Southern Maine Beach Profile Monitoring Program, with support from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, has expanded to three additional beaches: Pine Point and Ferry Beaches in Scarborough, and West Grand Beach in Old Orchard Beach. The program was established by Maine Sea Grant, University of Maine, and Maine Geological Survey in 1999. 

University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s Strengthening Your Facilitation Skills Training is intended for people who want to help a group do its work and minimize the common problems people have working together. The training is being offered this spring in the Saco region. 

Marine Extension Team member Dana Morse continues to collaborate with Paul Rawson of the School of Marine Sciences, the shellfish hatchery at the Darling Marine Center, and colleagues in Massachusetts and Rhode Island to advance the potential for razor clam aquaculture. With funding from the USDA’s Northeast Regional Aquaculture Center, the group will spawn razor clams in Maine and Massachusetts, and evaluate both nursery procedures and growout systems on the shellfish farms of industry collaborators. Razor clam “seed” will be ready to go out into the field later this year. 

A statewide effort is underway to improve the way food is grown or caught, processed, sold, transported, and consumed in Maine, with the ultimate goal of improving the vast network known as Maine’s food system, improving profitability and sustainability, and reducing hunger. Dana Morse is participating in the Maine Food Strategy, with a particular eye toward seafood.