As I sit on an outcrop watching the moon rise above the Alaskan skyline and mighty Taku Glacier, I can’t help but wonder how many years into the future this great ice mass will remain. Recent research suggests up to 60% of Taku will be gone in the next century if our climate continues on its current warming trajectory. These are humbling Read More
lobster industry
NRCM Testimony in Support of LD 955, An Act to Prohibit Offshore Oil and Natural Gas Drilling and Exploration
Senator Carson, Representative Tucker, and members of the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. My name is Kristin Jackson. I am an outreach coordinator for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, and I appreciate this opportunity to testify in support of LD 955, which would prohibit offshore oil and natural gas drilling and Read More
State’s Balking at New Cap on Greenhouse Gases Threatens Our Way of Life
A stellar regional program limiting emissions deserves support to set stronger goals that will curb ocean acidification and save our fisheries. By Richard Nelson Portland Press Herald op-ed FRIENDSHIP — As a lobsterman for more than 30 years, I have a direct connection to the ocean and its abundance. It’s how I make my living, Read More
With Lobsters and Climate, There’s Not a Debate
Fishery experts don’t waste time with politics when their livelihood is threatened by rising temperatures. Portland Press Herald editorial During a week in which much of the world was wondering whether the president of the United States considers climate change a threat, in a Portland hotel conference room full of people who spend their lives Read More
NOAA Budget Cuts Would Have High Cost for Maine
Rolling back spending on fisheries management, marine research and weather forecasting would disrupt our state’s fishing industry. Portland Press Herald editorial Though funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration amounts to less than one-half of 1 percent of discretionary federal spending, it pays outsize dividends for Maine. The people at the center of our Read More
Maine Lobstermen Know the Threat Posed by Climate Change. Now is the Time to Act.
By Richard Nelson, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed I rose the other morning and began my preparations to head out on the water from Friendship Harbor to take up the my last load of lobster traps. My thoughts turned from from closing out my season to chuckling over my selection of boots Read More
We Can’t Afford to be Blindsided by Ocean Acidification
A new measure would identify communities at risk if ocean changes were to affect the lobster fishery. By Chellie Pingree, a Democrat, represents Maine’s 1st District in the U.S. House of Representatives Portland Press Herald op-ed NORTH HAVEN — For over 40 years now, I’ve lived on North Haven Island in Penobscot Bay. In my Read More
Lobster Population Shifting North as Ocean Temps Warm
The dropping numbers in Connecticut and Rhode Island have put many lobstermen out of business. By Patrick Whitte The Associated Press news story The lobster population has crashed to the lowest levels on record in southern New England while climbing to heights never before seen in the cold waters off Maine and other northern reaches Read More
Maine Lawmakers Reject Bill to Bar Alewives from Upper St. Croix River
Guides and sporting camp owners in the Grand Lake Stream area want to block alewives, for fear that the sea-run fish will harm the important smallmouth bass fishery. By Kevin Miller, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story AUGUSTA – A legislative committee voted unanimously Wednesday to reject a bill that would have once again Read More
