Gulf of Maine Archives - One Fish Foundation

One Seafood Conversation at a Time

November 14, 2018October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

One conversation at a time. That’s been my mantra for changing the seafood purchasing dynamic in the U.S. Whether I’m speaking with a 76-year-old retiree sporting a blue blazer, a group of AP Environmental Sciences students or a cluster of six-year-olds anxious to get their hands on some live green crabs.

The question comes up occasionally. “How do you keep your content fresh?” It’s a good question. A lot of the eye-popping statistics don’t move much year after year. More than 50% of the seafood we eat is farm raised, and 90% of the shrimp we eat is farm raised. The fact remains, sadly, that at least 90% of the seafood we eat here is imported. Some argue the percentage is actually 91 or 94. Either way, the number has not gone down, and it isn’t likely to change substantially in the next few years unless we have some significant policy changes.

For me, it’s not the numbers that change so much. It’s the people I’m speaking with that change. I want to democratize the message. Reach as many people as I can. Tell them the story. Answer their questions. And hopefully convince them to take those messages with them so they change their buying habits and spread the word.

Each new face or group of faces is an opportunity to spread that message. And I’ve found the most effective way to ensure the message resonates is to adapt the way I tell the story to the audience. So the method of the story telling changes too.

This varies dramatically between classrooms by age and subject and also between different restaurant demographics I may be engaging. I look at each new “audience” and venue as a challenge. How do I connect? How do I engage? How do I get them to own the conversation so they own their next seafood decision?

Rye Elementary fifth graders catching on quick that they have the power to ask smart seafood questions at restaurants and stores. Photo credit: Jennifer Halstead

I thought of these questions, as I always do, prior to a couple of school visits last month. Part of my preparation involves strategizing with the teacher beforehand about where the students are in their curriculum and what messaging would best fit with what they’ve learned or with what they will learn.

I’ve established relationships with several teachers who know what to expect. I still check in with them beforehand to make sure there aren’t any new messages they want me to introduce, or advise them of some new content or props (live mackerel, gear, etc.) One of these teachers is Doris Gianforte, a 5^th grade science teacher at Rye Elementary School in New Hampshire.

As usual, when I met with her students, they were well prepared. They wanted to know more about why we import so much seafood, and why green crabs are such ecological monsters on this side of the Atlantic, and not in Europe. They couldn’t wait until they had the opportunity to ask questions at a restaurant.

Prior to my visit with 7^th grade students at Harpswell Coastal Academy in Maine, I had a good discussion with their teacher Sarah Crockett. We talked about how they were in the middle of field lab work on green crabs in conjunction with an education program at Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

So we discussed introducing green crabs as a climate change marker, one that has implications for local ecosystems and shifting predator/prey relationships.

These students were also very well prepared, accurately talking about when and how European green crabs were introduced in US waters, what they like to eat and why they’re so destructive.

Harpswell Coastal Academy students learning about some measures to reduce gill net bycatch such as shorter soak times and acoustic pingers emitting signals to ward off marine mammals. Guess who didn’t get the memo about “Pajama Day.” Damn! Photo: Sarah Crockett

Students asked great questions about what fishermen and researchers are doing to minimize bycatch associated with different gear types. Like most students, getting their hands on some trawl net and a turtle excluder device helped them better understand efforts to reduce turtle bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery as well as other fisheries.

These types of connections give me hope that change, real fundamental change, lies within the possibilities and ideas sparked by these conversations.

Even if it’s one at a time.

Top Photo: Harpswell Coastal Academy 7th graders getting their TED (turtle excluder device) talk on. Credit: Sarah Crockett

All Blog Posts

Students Teaching Students

May 24, 2018October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

Last week, One Fish Foundation visited Portland High School for the third year in a row to discuss seafood sustainability with seniors taking a Marine Sciences course. Intern Jennifer Halstead, a senior at the University of New Hampshire, adeptly presented a clear, concise and digestible explanation of ocean acidification and how it is affecting cornerstone Gulf of Maine species like lobster and mussels. In this guest blog, Jennifer discusses the importance of taking advantage of opportunities to speak to students and community members about ocean acidification, other challenges our oceans face with climate change, and why we all need to be involved.

By Jennifer Halstead

Speaking to a crowd of people, no matter the size or demographic, can be at once daunting and rewarding, especially for a college student. Truly. It’s empowering to have people listen to your words. It’s uplifting to have them ask questions and even challenge your ideas.

Talking to a small class of students at Portland High School last week was no different. Ocean acidification (OA) is something that’s not easy to wrap your head around, but these students understood the urgency related to the issue. If at least one of them continues to ask questions and be curious, I feel as though I did my job.

Sadly, we don’t know how acidification is going to impact lobsters, one of the most important economic industries in Maine (the entire industry, including the supply chain is valued at over $1 billion). [Lobster harvests already face threats from the rapidly warming Gulf of Maine. A recent study suggests the lobster harvest could decline by as much as 62% by 2050 if the Gulf of Maine keeps warming at its current pace].

As concerned citizens and scientists, we need to start asking more questions and demanding more answers. And that is how we create change. The power is in your hands – our hands – to save oceans and our beloved lobster rolls.

I’ve spent a good portion of my college career learning about OA. Unfortunately, while our understanding of the impacts of OA is growing, OA is occurring more rapidly than we can keep up with in some places, including the Gulf of Maine. The West Coast has dealt with OA fallout, such as steep declines in oyster hatchery production in 2005, which threatened economics and 130 years of oyster hatchery history. In the Gulf of Maine, we haven’t seen complete devastation yet, but top scientists fear that it’s coming, and so do I.

Part of Jennifer’s research on OA: a type of sea snail on the left, and blue mussel on the right. Both the sea snail and the half mussel shell you can almost see through (on the right) were exposed to acidic water. Increased acidity in the ocean weakens many shellfish’s capabilities to calcify their shells and protect themselves from disease. Credit: Jennifer Halstead.

We understand climate change impacts like OA, temperature, salinity, and currents, but not the details of how they interact and impact different species. We don’t understand the entire system. We only understand the pieces. Imagine trying to put a puzzle together with no idea what the end result is supposed to look like. That’s the immense challenge of trying to understand climate change impacts here in the Gulf of Maine and elsewhere; things are happening now that we won’t fully realize for several months, or even years.

To move forward and get research to catch up with the changes in the Gulf of Maine, we need the public’s interest and support. We need people to ask questions and demand answers. Spreading the word about these issues through presentations and hands-on demonstrations is a key piece to garnering support for these causes. Every time I stand in front of a group of people and talk to them about acidification, I can see us moving forward. Future generations are interested in problems, but even more interested in pushing for solutions.

As a college student, I often get asked where I see myself in 5 years, or what I want to do after I graduate. My broad answer is that I hope to be doing something to change the world for the better. To do that, I’ll keep standing in front of crowds of people, telling them about problems our oceans face, and asking for their help in saving them.

All Blog Posts

Opening Eyes and Providing Hope

March 23, 2018October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

Every class I speak to has a different dynamic. Aside from age and geography, there are other variables such as social fabric/personalities, ranges of interest in marine sciences, topics already covered in their curricula. These variables can sometimes determine how fast I make connections and get students engaged in the conversation.

This is why I work with teachers in advance to get a sense of the class dynamic and ensure I weave my message into content the students can relate to, either because they have already covered some of the material, or are about to do so.

Such was the case this week when Jennifer Halstead, One Fish Foundation’s intern, and I visited Thornton Academy in Saco, Maine. We had the pleasure of speaking to two groups of seniors. One was a group of AP Environmental Science students already conversant in eutrophication, ocean acidification and thermohaline circulation.

That background knowledge allowed us to dive deeper into issues around environmental impact of industrial aquaculture such as algal blooms (see Chile in 2016), net pen escapes (see Cooke Aquaculture last August) and feed (see West Coast of Africa…ongoing).

The key to successfully engaging students in the discussion about seafood sourcing and personal choices is connecting them emotionally to the narrative. When students care, they join the conversation and carry the salient points with them going forward…hopefully.

As Jennifer walked the environmental science students through how ocean acidification can impact shellfish ability to calcify protective shells, they immediately connected with the images of larval sea snails and blue mussels, both clearly compromised by more acidic waters.

Students in the senior marine science class engaged in the discussion about why European green crabs are capable of significantly shifting ecosystem balance. Naturalized “residents” in North America since the early 1800s, green crabs are everywhere. You can scarcely turn over a rock without finding at least one along New England coasts.

They are fertile (students were surprised to hear that one female can lay up to 190,000 eggs in its lifetime), hardy (they seem to be adapting to winter and changing their spawning habits) and very destructive. They are also voracious eaters. While handling some live crabs, students learned that one crab can eat up to 40 mussels in a day. To get to larval mussels, clams and oysters, green crabs tear up vital eel grass beds, which are precious nursery habitat for a host of species such as hermit crabs, sea snails, other shellfish and even smaller bait fish.

Can you eat this thing? Well, yes, but not easily.

Students asked good questions about what we are doing to try to become the predator that keeps green crabs in check. They learned some chefs make seafood stock with the crabs, while others are working with researchers from the Island Institute, New Hampshire Sea Grant and the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries to determine when the crabs molt. Doing so would help them harvest crabs to cook up as tasty soft shell crabs, just as you’d find in the south.

In both classes, we discussed some of the challenges fishermen, scientists and policy makers must address in ensuring different seafood stock health in the face of issues like climate change, bycatch, industrial scale fishing and aquaculture and environmental impact.

And as we discussed how the fast changing Gulf of Maine affects local species and introduces new invasive species, we also discussed ways the industry is adapting to these changes. Rather than rob students of hope, we talked about our need and ability to adapt to, not solve, climate change and its impact on seafood in the Gulf of Maine.

All photos credit: Jennifer Halstead

All Blog Posts

Getting Hands Wet and Talking Seafood

August 4, 2017October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

Every time I speak to a group of students, campers, adults, etc. I learn something.

First, I learn what the audience knows and doesn’t yet comprehend about seafood sustainability in broad terms. I learn who in the audience is more ready to engage in discussion, who wants to challenge pre-conceived notions, and who isn’t really into the conversation.

Depending on the age group and location, these types of interactions can sometimes provide glimpses into a community’s overall seafood IQ. Observing students while I teach a class also provides a mirror of how effectively I’m getting the message across.

Gill nets are hard to see on land as well as in the ocean. Photo: Rich Harty

My first observation at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, N.H. this week was how lucky the Seaside Safari campers were to have such a program. Set on the shore near Odiorne Point, surrounded by acres of tide pools loaded with lobsters, green crabs, seaweed, etc., the camp provides direct, hands-on access to coastal marine ecosystems. Campers handle live green crabs while learning about invasive species; they turn over rocks and hunt for juvenile lobsters while learning about food webs; they talk about the warming Gulf of Maine while learning about climate change.

I wish I had access to a program like that at that age.

So it was a privilege to learn some things from these campers as we chatted. I re-confirmed that green crabs are a very effective, hands-on prop … almost to the point of distraction when they started fighting.

I learned that these campers, when prompted, were generally eager to learn how seafood ends up on their plates. They wanted to know how a turtle excluder device works, and its impact on reducing bycatch.

Demonstrating the escape hatch for turtles. Photo: Rich Harty

Some campers who had fished recreationally before were genuinely surprised that some fishermen use rod and reel to fish commercially. They were intrigued by the weight of the 14 oz jig used to get the flies down 400 feet to where the haddock, cod and pollock are.

They were also pretty enthusiastic about touching the dead Atlantic mackerel while learning that mackerel are one of several forage fish species that are very important to seafood webs.

And they began to see their relationship to the seafood they eat.

And I learned, once again, that I love what I do.

All Blog Posts

“We’ll Always Have Paris”… or not

June 10, 2017October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

Some interesting questions on climate change arise as I’m preparing a discussion on seafood sustainability with college students next week. The administration’s withdrawal from the landmark Paris climate accord have brought these questions to the fore, even if the underlying causes have been brewing for some time.

What message are we sending high school and college students if we as a country (the largest historical contributor to climate change) step away from a global agreement on the issue?
How do we convince students who may be on the fence about pursuing marine or climate science careers that we need more research, funding and more young brilliant minds to help us try to keep up with climate change if our government shows little willingness to believe in the need for, much less fund further research?

Throwing down a challenge

This spring I developed new high school lesson plans for seniors that focused on climate change impacts on seafood in the Gulf of Maine. The narrative begins with a broad view of the domestic and global seafood dynamic, and then focuses on why consumers should care, highlighting everything from bycatch to environmental impact and social ramifications.

Then we discuss the rapid temperature increase in the Gulf of Maine (faster than 99% of the Earth’s oceans), recent research on changes to global ocean currents and salinity and increasing ocean acidification due to higher absorption of man-made CO2. We talk about how fishermen are on the front lines of recognizing climate change impacts, and how they are struggling to interpret what the long-term ramifications are on their livelihoods. We discuss how researchers continue to improve our visibility into near- and long-term impacts of warming water, OA, and current and salinity changes.

We also discuss how despite these advances, we’re still often two steps behind climate change because we have much more research to do to figure out how myriad factors work in concert to change marine ecosystems where fish and shellfish try to thrive. A lot of the complex geophysical interactions demand more research so that we can have a more precise view of how we must adapt to, not fix, climate change impacts.

Then I challenge them to help find a solution. I urge any of them remotely interested in marine or climate sciences to commit to help us better understand these issues. Doing so would not just help from an environmental perspective, but an economic and social one as well. If our oceans rise by nearly seven feet by the end of the century (as some scientists now predict), water temperatures increase by several degrees and the ocean’s acidity increases just a little bit, seafood markets could suffer tremendously.

Mixed messages

So when the 2^nd largest polluter in the world (China is tops by far, but the US has generated more over time) pulls out of the most significant global agreement on climate change – one that it helped coordinate – what does that say to these students? At a time when we should be doing everything to encourage young people to pursue these careers, our administration is caving to an industry that is literally fueling the problem.

The irony is staggering.

I will continue proselytizing. This is not the time to let political isolationism derail global momentum toward some semblance of unified action on climate change. Stepping away now simply cedes the leadership role to other countries that may have more to gain.

Reneging on the deal may also create another hurdle to convincing students we need their help. Why would they want to spend the time and energy diving into the issues if there isn’t going to be any money to support their efforts?

Rallying cry

Conversely, the administration’s move may have some consequences advisers may not have fully predicted ahead of time. Climate change has again become a major topic of conversation here. Individual cities and states are talking about signing on independently. Perhaps the withdrawal will, like other recent administration edicts, become a galvanizing point.

I hope so. That would make these discussions more relevant, and perhaps, more effective. I’ll have a better perspective next week after I speak with the students participating in the Sustainable Marine Fisheries Course at the Shoals Marine Laboratory hosted by N.H. Sea Grant.

Additional reading:

Vox overview of the Paris Accord and climate change.

The Economist view of the impact of the US withdrawal.

New York Times analysis with compelling graphics on the implications of the withdrawal.

National Review blog showing conservative support for the administration’s decision.

Climate Nexus analysis disputing conservative claims in the president’s speech on the withdrawal.

Top photo credit: (NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring)

All Blog Posts

The Story of Seafood

May 25, 2017October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

There’s a fair amount of planning that goes into these KNOW FISH dinners. Working with fishermen and oystermen to provide product. Coordinating dates, menus, sales operations, space, staffing etc. with chefs. Logistics.

Despite all of this planning, sometimes things change last minute and you have to adapt. It’s an almost everyday occurrence in the restaurant industry, particularly when you strive to be farm- or boat-to-table.

And so I found myself shucking a few dozen oysters at Tinos Greek Kitchen less than an hour before guests were to arrive last night. As often happens, Mother Nature dictated a deadline change when it dumped heavy rain on Great Bay on the Piscataqua River over the weekend, forcing the state of New Hampshire to close the bay to shellfish harvesting the day before the event.

We scrambled to get some Gulf of Maine oysters, and processed them just in time for dinner. It became a great talking point about eating with the ecosystem (ie, adapting to what’s available and what Mother Nature allows). Fishing is no exception. Capt. Tim Rider of New England Fishmongers, who provided the fish for the dinner, will tell you change is a constant. He could find pollock in the same spot three days in a row in 300 feet of water 60 miles offshore. But on the fourth day, the wind is cranking at 30 knots with eight-foot swells and his boat, the F/V Finlander, stays docked. On the fifth day, the fish have moved out.

Snow Island Oysters, seeded in Quahog Bay off Harpswell, Maine to help clean the bay. Photo credit: Ed Marshall

Seafood stories

At the dinner, we discussed the importance of eating what’s locally available, abundant and in season. For example, squid are cruising in numbers in the Northeast Atlantic. Chef Mark Segal and his team prepared wood grilled squid (from the F/V Rimrack out of Rye, N.H.) with roasted eggplant, roasted red peppers, crispy smashed chickpeas, olives, pepperoncino, feta, egg breadcrumbs and green crab aqua pazzo. Fabulous. The plates went back to the kitchen scraped clean.

Stuffed local squid that didn’t last long in anyone’s dish. Photo credit: Mike McGrail

The menu itself testified to the narrative of eating what’s local and fresh. The fourth course was listed as “Local Whitefish al Forno” because Chef Mark prepared the menu not knowing which groundfish Capt. Tim would bring in that day. The pollock, which was fired to the perfect temperature, texture and taste, was served with finnan haddie (cold smoked Finlander haddock) risotto, English peas, fiddlehead ferns, and hen of the woods mushrooms. Stellar.

Fresh pollock al forno landed aboard the F/V Finlander. Photo credit: Mike McGrail

We discussed how every dish has a story, just as every piece of seafood we purchase has a story. The story tells where, when, how and by whom it was harvested. The question is whether we can get that story before we buy; whether we can believe that story; and what that story actually is. Because U.S. seafood consumption is so disproportionately skewed toward cheap imports (more than 90% of the total seafood consumed domestically), finding the truth behind the seafood requires vigilance from consumers. They have the right to find out these stories so they know what they’re eating.

Capt. Tim rider displays a heavy jig and the type of fly used to catch groundfish, like the pollock on the menu. Photo credit: Ed Marshall

The Snow Island Oysters I helped shuck were from Quahog Bay in Harpswell. The Quahog Bay Conservancy seeded the oysters for aquaculture a few years back in an effort to help clean the bay. As filter feeders, oysters remove some of the excess particulate matter like plankton and nitrogen that could choke the bay with harmful algae if left unchecked.

Another course weaving in the local seafood narrative with a Greek twist featured Dolmades, grape leaves stuffed with Maine cultured mussels, golden raisins, red onion and served with saffron avgolemono (a Greek sauce featuring egg yolk, lemon and broth). Again, excellent Mediterranean flavors complementing Gulf of Maine seafood.

Rethinking seafood purchases

On the theme of adaptation, I urged attendees to re-think how they approach seafood purchases by taking a more active role in discovering the story behind the seafood. As with previous KNOW FISH dinners, we printed some sustainable seafood principles, called the 7 C’s of Sustainable Seafood, on the back of the menu. I encouraged them to take those concepts with them the next time they go to a seafood counter or a restaurant. Buying local is like making a covenant with local fishermen: “I trust you to provide good, sustainably harvested seafood. You trust me to pay a fair price.”

Capping the evening with a mission to spread the word over an inventive, and very satisfying dessert. Photo credit: Mike McGrail

Doing so likely supports fishermen like Capt. Tim Rider, or oystermen like Steve Weglarz of Cedar Point Shellfish and Brian Gennaco of Virgin Oyster, Co., who were both on hand to discuss local oyster aquaculture.

I asked everyone at the table to channel the energy from the event into conversations they have in their communities. Changing a broad national dynamic such as how we buy seafood in the U.S. happens at a grassroots level by spreading the message as often, as loudly, and as passionately as we can.

Top Photo: Reviewing the 7 C’s of Sustainability over dessert — Swedish Fish ice cream, lingonberry glaze, madeleine, almond brittle and blueberry cream legere. . Credit: Mike McGrail

All Blog Posts

Age Is Irrelevant: Our Seafood Choices Matter

April 24, 2017October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

Standing in a light misting rain at a chilly March for Science rally with my daughter on my shoulders, I marveled at the number of families in attendance. The scene struck a chord with me. Science has a story for everyone, regardless of race, sex, age, income, etc. It’s all in how the story is told, and our willingness to listen to it.

Early involvement! Photo credit: Jaime Stowell

This is true for my work with One Fish Foundation. Regardless of where I’m speaking, there is one constant. The age may change, but the overall message is the same: Our seafood choices matter.

I saw this writ large last week when I spoke to two groups of high school seniors about climate change impacts on seafood in the Gulf of Maine, and then spoke to four groups of elementary students the next morning. That I delivered the latter talks in French was just icing on the cake.

What keeps everyone’s attention is the ability to tell a story that resonates.

Seafood, as a hook for discussing climate change

I initially engaged Portland High School students in the discussion by getting them to tell me what type of seafood they liked. Then we talked about how some of that seafood was likely caught … or farmed and the implications. From bycatch to chemicals, the narrative opened their eyes … quite wide with some stats … as to why they should try and find out where, when, how and even by whom (if possible) their seafood was caught.

That led into a more involved discussion about how climate change impacts, such as warming water, ocean acidification, changes in current and salinity, affect the seafood we eat globally, domestically and regionally in the Gulf of Maine. We talked about the mystery surrounding the collapse of the Northern Shrimp fishery in 2012, and the race for scientists and fishermen to get answers. Right now, scientists believe the shrimp have a narrow comfort range, and that the increasing temperatures in the Gulf of Maine may be affecting everything from reproduction to eating habits.

Students also learned that we’re gaining more information every day about the effects of warming waters, increased ocean acidity (particularly on molluscs’ ability to calcify their shells) and how ocean currents and salinity are changing. But as one of the lead authors of the Arctic Resilience Report told me last fall, we still have a way to go before we understand in depth how disparate climate change factors work in concert to affect different ecosystems or species in those ecosystems.

I left the students pondering the notion that rather than trying to fix climate change (we can’t), we need to learn how to adapt. This means finding more ways to better predict and respond to these changes. It also means that on a personal level, we need to understand what we can do. Students learned they have the right to try and find out when, where and how their seafood was harvested (or farmed). They also learned they can be evangelists for the sustainable seafood message.

Hands-on…the crabs, the dead fish, the gear…

The younger the audience age, the more hands-on the discussion needs to be. So I hauled in a lobster trap, a turtle excluder device, some gillnet, live green crabs and a dead black seabass to L’Ecole Française Du Maine.

Turtle excluder devices are great conversation pieces…seriously. Photo credit: Elodie Le Nezet

I varied the message to accommodate students between ages 4 and 11. For the younger students we first talked about what seafood they liked before talking about the different methods for ensuring fishermen catch what they’re targeting so they can minimize bycatch. We talked about how a lobster trap works, how videos have shown lobsters can go in and out of these traps at will, and what it means when a lobsterman pulls up a trap filled with black sea bass.

We also used my daughter’s stuffed turtle to demonstrate how a turtle can escape being caught – and ultimately drowned in a trawl – by way of the grate used in a turtle excluder device. The primary message to them is that for the most part, fishermen want to take care of the resource, and that some capture methods are better than others at minimizing bycatch.

I extended that discussion with older students to include predator/prey relationships, and how things like bycatch or climate change are changing ecosystems in the Gulf of Maine. They loved seeing the green crabs up close as we discussed the devastation wrought on eelgrass beds as the crabs dig up clams, mussels and oysters.

All of the students wanted to touch the fish.

In the end, all of the students I spoke with last week, at Portland High School and L’Ecole Française Du Maine, began to understand that yes, where their seafood comes from and how it was harvested matters to them and the resource.

Top photo credit: Taylor Mason, College of the Atlantic

All Blog Posts

KNOW FISH Dinners: A Second Helping

April 21, 2017October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

You’d call a dinner and conversation event a success if the parting words of many of the attendees echoed this theme: “We should be having more of these conversations.” By that measure, last fall’s KNOW FISH dinners were a big success. Attendees learned about the provenance of the fish they were eating, they heard from the fisherman who sustainably caught their fish that day and they had a great conversation about why it all matters and what they can do.

So we’re doing it again. This spring’s KNOW FISH dinners will be held at Franklin Oyster House in Portsmouth on May 9, and Tinos Greek Kitchen in Hampton on May 23. Both events will begin at 6 p.m.

This is your chance to learn why the domestic seafood picture is so skewed. Yes, many people know the oft-cited statistic that more than 90% of seafood eaten in the U.S. is imported. But the reasons why are a compelling motivator for finding out where, when and how your seafood was harvested.

New England Fishmongers Partner Amanda Parks getting it done.

At the KNOW FISH dinners, you’ll be able to ask Capt. Tim Rider of New England Fishmongers why he risks life and limb to haul up to 80 miles offshore in the 36-foot F/V Finlander to fish with rod and reel in up to 400 feet of water. You’ll be able to ask an oysterman like Tim Henry of Bay Point Oyster Company about what it takes to grow oysters and why that is so important. You’ll learn about how their passion for what they do drives them to overcome obstacles and stay focused even as management policies change around them.

And you’ll feast on spectacular meals prepared by Chefs Matt Louis and Matt Decker of Franklin Oyster House and Chef Mark Segal of Tinos, using incredibly fresh, undeniably sustainable seafood. The fish and oysters will be whatever the ocean yields that day.

You’ll learn about some of the key domestic and global market dynamics that affect seafood sustainability. That information will help you better understand why your choices matter at restaurants and seafood stores. We’ll provide you with some memorable tips on buying seafood that is local, abundant, compliant and that minimizes ecosystem and environmental harm.

And we’ll talk about ways you can carry these messages forward into the community, and perhaps effect a sea change in seafood buying habits.

After all, this kind of change happens one conversation at a time … from the ground/sea floor up.

Come join us for great food, conversation and fun!

Get your tickets by following this link to Eventbrite.

All Blog Posts

Boom and Bust of Gulf of Maine Scallops

March 25, 2017October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

Northern Atlantic sea scallops are a good example of how fisheries management has rescued a stock from the perils of overfishing. Sadly, they are also proof of how those same policies could just as easily doom the stock in the not too distant future.

How does this happen?

It comes down to fishery access. Several decades ago, the scallop fishery in the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) was teetering because the annual harvest had reduced the stock’s ability to sustain its population. So limits were put in place to reduce the overall harvest in that area.

As the stocks rebounded, fisheries managers established a new system that would guarantee smaller boat operators with specific permits to scallop in a designated area up to 60 miles off shore from Downeast Maine to Cape Cod. They were allowed to catch 200 lbs a day up until the point all of these fishermen landed a total allowable catch (determined by stock assessment), which is now 70,000 pounds.

The managers also allowed larger boats with federal permits to not only scallop beyond the 60-mile limit, but also inside the 60-mile limit. The managers said that these larger boats, fishing under what is called a limited access permit, could land as many scallops as permissible under the federal permit during a set number of days while they were in the 60-mile zone the smaller boats fish. Once the smaller boats hit their 70,000 lb total allowable catch, the entire fishery would shut down.

For example, in the 2015-2016 season, limited access boats caught more than 300,000 lbs of scallops in the northern gulf of Maine area before the smaller boats hit their 70,000 lb quota and the fishery was shut down.

Sound fair? No. And these limited access boats are fishing within their permitted rights. As an attorney for a lobby group representing scallopers was quoted in the Boston Globe, “These vessels are doing what they’re allowed to do.”

Here’s the worst part. NOAA projects that the current season will end with over 1 million pounds of scallops being harvested, still with only 70,000 lbs coming from the smaller boats. NOAA scientists said last year that the fishery could withstand a total haul of 400,000 lbs from this area this year.

Consumer impact

So why does this matter to consumers?

If the stock tumbles as it did a couple of decades ago, there will be fewer local scallops and the price will skyrocket. More importantly, you should be concerned if you care about the resource and the people in and around your community whose livelihoods depend on it.

Here’s another concern. Small-boat scallopers in Maine and Cape Cod deliver a higher quality product called “dry scallops,” which have not been soaked to preserve freshness and potentially add market weight to the product. This is a common practice among the larger limited access boats. Soaked scallops lose flavor and don’t cook well. A collapse of the NGOM stocks could reduce or eliminate dry scallop availability.

Dry scallops. Photo: Cape Ann Fresh Food

I attended a discussion about the scallop fishery at the Maine Fisherman’s Forum a couple of weeks ago, and several small boat scallopers who operate in the NGOM zone complained about seeing larger boats from New Bedford and elsewhere hoovering up all of the scallops. Their complaints hinged on two fronts: 1. The unfairness of being hamstrung by a low total allowable catch in a fishery that a NOAA scientist had claimed a few minutes earlier was strong, and NOT experiencing overfishing. 2. They worried about the long-term survival of this fishery in the face of the massive hauls taken by the limited access boats.

The NOAA staff fielding the questions were sympathetic to the plight of the small-boat fishermen. But they repeatedly said that any comprehensive change would have to come from a rule change established by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), which manages scallops in New England waters.

A slow process

And therein lies the rub. The council’s mission is to protect the resource and those who use it. Unfortunately, the council can be slow to react, and it doesn’t always stand up for the access/rights of small operators.

As Ben Martens, executive director of Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association wrote in a recent blog, “The system as it is currently structured is destined to fail. User conflicts between permit types have become unavoidable since the biomass returned, and instead of putting a band-aid on this issue, the council must go through the process of fully protecting and planning for the long-term future of this fishery.”

I asked Ben what a fair solution would look like. He suggested a rule giving all stakeholders the same trip limit of scallops harvested, so one user group wouldn’t be favored over another.

I agree.

The NEFMC discussed the scallop harvest and fishermen’s concerns at a meeting last November. The council will entertain recommendations from the scallop subcommittee that meets next week and possibly take action in April.

Hopefully, they can get this straight…and fast.

I like scallops. But there is an environmental cost of dragging a 400- to 2500-pound steel cage across the ocean bottom. Bycatch is one. Disturbing the ecosystem on the ocean floor is another. Yes, some areas are more resilient than others and can bounce back fairly quickly. But there is still a consideration.

So we don’t eat scallops as often as we used to. Hopefully, we’re not forced into a situation where our local options for scallops are further limited and prohibitively expensive because our fisheries managers couldn’t find a comprehensive solution that is fair and that protects the resource.

Top photo credit: NOAA

All Blog Posts

Challenging Next-Gen Scientists

March 21, 2017October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

Call it irony.

Last week I was putting the finishing touches on a presentation about climate change impacts on seafood for two classes when I saw a news brief about how ocean acidification is spreading quickly in the western Arctic Ocean.

Specifically, a report from NOAA cited a new study showing how high acidity waters have spread more than 300 nautical miles almost to the North Pole and have increased in depth from 325 feet to 800 feet in the past 20 years. This rate of expansion is more than twice the global average, and it could harm mussel, clam and sea snail (food for salmon) populations.

So I had some fresh, relevant news to discuss with these students.

The classes were part of a statewide symposium bringing high school students interested in marine sciences to Salem State University. I was one of a dozen or so teachers speaking with students that day. I focused on four significant but interrelated climate factors that affect seafood webs in and around the Gulf of Maine: temperature increase, changes in current and salinity, and ocean acidification.

2016 was the warmest year on record. NOAA graphic

First, I briefly discussed seafood as an economic resource, and why we should care about where, when, how and by whom it was harvested. Next we talked about 2016 being the fifth year in a row for setting global land and ocean temperature records, and that the first 16 years of the 21^st century are among the 17 warmest on record (138 years). We talked about how the Gulf of Maine is warming four times faster than 99% of the oceans on the planet.

Influential currents

Students asked questions about new research showing that some key currents in the Atlantic Ocean may be slowing down because of warming waters in the Arctic. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or AMOC, (known as the ocean conveyor belt), drives global ocean currents and climates.

Scientists think that if warming continues, the collision of warm and cold water in the Arctic that drives the global currents could slow or even stall, eventually putting Europe in a deep freeze and baking the southern hemisphere. This could significantly change the number and intensity of Atlantic hurricanes and Pacific Monsoons.

It could also have major impacts on a wide swath of seafood in the Gulf of Maine. These types of temperature and current fluctuations dramatically affect salinity and ocean acidification. All of these changes can alter ecosystems, including spawning areas and timing, migration, plankton production (which is the base layer of the ecosystem) and predator-prey relationships.

To drive the point home, I brought out some live green crabs. The students were all about hearing how the green crab can wipe out entire mini-ecosystems of eel grass as they root out mussels and clams to devour. They also learned about increasing efforts to determine how to best control green crab populations as they’ve become omnipresent in the Gulf of Maine as temperatures increase. Though they’ve been around since the early 1800s, they’ve become much more populous here because they have adapted to the seasonal temperature changes and they are prolific.

Throwing down a challenge

I ended the class with a challenge. I described discussions I’ve had with scientists on the forefront of the research on climate impacts on seafood … all leading to the same conclusion. We currently know a fair amount about the impacts of temperature, current, salinity and OA on different ecosystems. But we don’t have a real good, long-term, predictive view of how these (and other) factors work in concert to affect ecosystems and even specific species.

We need the next generation of scientists to help us find these answers. As Marcus Carson, lead scientist on the in-depth Arctic Resilience Report on climate change said, “It’s frustrating always being two or three steps behind climate change.”

We need bright minds to dive into the advanced geophysical, meteorological, metabolic and organic shifts climate change will impose on our marine ecosystems to help us better understand how to adapt to these changes. It’s unlikely we’ll fully stop climate change. But perhaps if we begin collectively cutting carbon emissions and planning ahead, we can slow it down enough for future scientists to help us better anticipate, rather than react to these changes. That’s how we take care of seafood as a resource.

So yes, the NOAA acidification report was timely, if a bit ironic … another unfortunate red flag that should serve as a call to arms.

Top image credit: NASA spectroradiometer view of thermal variations in the Northwest Atlantic ocean. The warm Gulf Stream is the orange streak along the Eastern seaboard.

All Blog Posts

Changing Oceans, Changing Fishermen

March 6, 2016October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

Should fishermen be the face of climate change?

This was one of the more compelling questions posed at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in Rockland on March 4.

It’s an interesting posit with many implications. For anyone in and around the industry, the answer is pretty straightforward. Fishermen are on the frontlines of how climate change impacts fisheries around the world. Along with researchers, fishermen are the first to see changes in everything from migratory patterns to spawning success and recruitment and predator/prey relationships.

Just ask Linda Williams. She is former chair of the Western Rock Lobster Council in Western Australia. Her husband and son fish for western rock lobster. She told a crowd of 300-400 that fishery has undergone mammoth changes in the past decade. Ten years ago, the average annual haul was 10 million kilograms, brought in by 600 boats during a roughly nine-month season. Now it is 5-6 million kilograms, brought in by 250 boats year round. The interesting catch? They are now logging record profits and working less.

So how did this happen? In 2009, lobstermen and researchers noticed a significant drop in the number of late larval stage lobsters in normal locations. Females were releasing eggs earlier than ever, which affected migratory patterns of the lobsters as they grew from larvae. The end result would be fewer lobsters caught in season and a downward spiral. This coincided with a warming trend of about 1-3 degrees Celsius over long-term summer averages, which also coincided with changing currents along the Western Australia coast.

Seeing the potential for disaster, lobstermen, scientists and policy makers worked together to form a quota system based on predictive analyses of future harvests determined by current larval settlement (the numbers and location of late larval stage lobsters). The industry anticipates how changing water temperatures and shifting currents will affect harvest 3-4 years in advance. Now the fishery operates profitably, even as the oceans are warming around them.

That kind of adaptation was the theme from other commercial fishermen. John Mellor fishes for Dungeness crabs and sablefish (black cod) off California. He sensed trouble in the water a year ago, noticing a milky, bluish hue and seeing big schools of anchovies flopping around the surface gasping for air. The culprit was algal blooms sucking up too much oxygen and releasing high concentrations of domoic acid (a neurotoxin) along the West Coast. California’s witness to climate change has coincided with this year’s El Nino, which extended a three-year period of lower than average storm and wind activity that would otherwise mix up the currents and slow the progress of algal blooms and the resulting red tides.

Filter feeders like clams, mussels and worms absorb the neurotoxin, and the crabs eat them, posing a threat to human health. Mellor explained the devastation to the industry when shortly before this season was to begin, California shut down the fishery indefinitely. Crabs represent 2/3 of his income, and he said he was fortunate to have a sablefish permit just to keep operating. Many fishermen are facing foreclosure etc.

“I see you enjoying your lobster fishery,” he said to the audience. “I suggest you keep an eye on the water. If you see it start to change a milky blue, be prepared.” He said fishermen need to adapt as quickly as the oceans are changing to survive.

Keith Colburn, who fishes Alaska king crab and has appeared on the TV show “The Deadliest Catch,” said in 30 years on the water, the most dramatic weather and water changes have occurred in the last 15 years, including the three coldest years and the three warmest years in Alaska. He said 20 years ago, they might have one storm that registers 50-knot winds per year. Now they may have 10-15 storms of that magnitude.

Noting the migration of the lobster fishery out of Long Island South and north of Cape Cod, he said somewhat jokingly, “If I was a Maine lobsterman, I’d be thinking about getting a Canadian passport soon. Each of you came out here to discuss a topic no one wants to think about. But we need to think about it.”

A fisherman from Point Judith, R.I. noted that their lobster fishery has been devastated by black sea bass (a mid-Atlantic species following warming waters north along the coast) and dogfish devouring larval lobsters. As regional waters warmed, more of these predators invaded the region and outnumbered the lobsters and other local species. The local fleet dropped from 150 boats 10 years ago to zero now, by his reckoning.

Scientists keep ringing the alarm bell

Scientists on the front edge of the latest climate research such as John Hare of NOAA and Andy Pershing of Gulf of Maine Research Institute highlighted just how much the water has warmed in the Gulf of Maine and how much that has impacted several native species.

Pershing noted how the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99% of the oceans on the planet at a rate of .23 degrees C or .4 degrees F per year, almost four times faster than anywhere else. He said because of the record warmth of the past several months allowing to El Nino, normal current variability and the recent warming trend, lobstermen could expect this year’s shed (when lobsters shed their shells) to happen anywhere from two to three weeks before the usual timeframe of the first week in July. That kind of predictability helps lobstermen at least have some idea of when their season will be most productive and profitable and plan ahead.

John Hare discussed his recent research methodology, which helps scientists, fishermen and policy makers better predict how climate change will impact growth and migratory patterns of 82 Northeast species. He said 42% of those species have a very high potential vulnerability to climate change, while 50% are likely to change their distribution because of warming waters. (See chart below).

Overall climate vulnerability is denoted by color: low (green), moderate (yellow), high (orange), and very high (red). Certainty in score is denoted by text font and text color: very high certainty (>95%, black, bold font), high certainty (90–95%, black, italic font), moderate certainty (66–90%, white or gray, bold font), low certainty (<66%, white or gray, italic font). Source: Hare et al (2016)

“Warming oceans and acidification are posing a significant threat to fisheries,” Hare said. “I firmly believe we can only face these changes together.”

Which brings us back to the original question posed by chef and author Barton Seaver. He asked if fishermen could be the voice of social change at a time when politicians and scientists are often seen as bloviating by those who deny climate change exists. Perhaps fishermen, whose lives depend on the weather, could deliver a broad enough, “Everyman” appeal to spark a larger movement to minimize greenhouse gases, slow global warming and better manage the health of our oceans. Colburn, the Alaskan king crab fisherman responded, “Being that fishing is America’s oldest job, I think as fishermen we could ban together, we could start to change our patterns.”

But perhaps the question isn’t so much should fishermen be the face of climate change, but will they? As Colburn said, “A lot of fishermen want to believe that the environment is not changing.” So, getting them to sound an alarm may be a tough ask. But as the ranks of those fishermen pushed to the brink swell, like California’s Mellor, or those that found a way to adapt, like Western Australia’s Murray, perhaps there will be enough momentum for a unified voice, as Seaver suggested.

Forums like this one, uniting scientists and fishermen to understand how things are changing and how quickly they’re changing, and to work together to figure out how to adapt are significant starting blocks. And if you can get policy makers, such as John Bullard, Northeast Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries, to not only attend such meetings, but state publicly that we need to do something about climate change (as he did here), perhaps there is enough accountability and unity in place for us to do something to protect the climate collectively.

If we can get all of these stakeholders at the same table, working together, as John Hare suggested, we can do better adapting to how rapidly the oceans are changing, and maybe even limit the long-term damage. Doing so would help us better deliver on the Slow Food promise of good, clean, accessible and fair seafood for all.

As consumers grappling with the implications of global warming on the seafood we eat, we should understand that “eating within the ecosystem” is now more important than ever. That is, we should eat what is locally available, sustainably harvested and seasonal. Choosing “invasive” black sea bass here in Maine rather than big name species facing multiple stresses — including climate — is a step in the right direction.

Additional reading

Check out this column by Bren Smith, a commercial fisherman who adapted to the changing climate by embracing the “eating within the ecosystem” philosophy.

All Blog Posts

Climate Change Could Threaten Several Northeast Fisheries New Study…

February 6, 2016October 20, 2021
by Colles Stowell

Share it!

Go ask Long Island lobstermen … if you can find any … what they think about climate change. Trouble is, there aren’t many left because there aren’t many lobsters left in Long Island Sound. Same thing with Atlantic cod fishermen. There aren’t nearly as many boats targeting cod compared to 25 years ago because there are fewer fish.

We can blame climate change to a degree. No, it would be shortsighted to blame all fisheries depletions on warming waters. Myriad factors including fishing pressure can conspire to harm stock health. But a new study from NOAA underscores a concern many scientists and fishermen share: ever warming waters will continue to dramatically impact fisheries.

Published in the journal PLOS ONE, the study relies on a new methodology to look at how 82 species in the Northeast region have been and will be affected by climate change. Specifically, the study measures which species will be most vulnerable to climate change effects, including ocean acidification, as well as which species’ migratory patterns will most likely change because of ocean warming. In a nutshell, species that live along the ocean floor such as cod, mussels and lobsters, and those like salmon and sturgeon that migrate between salt and fresh water are most at risk.

Some of the species’ responses we already know. As the Gulf of Maine warms faster than 99% of all ocean climates on earth (at a rate of a half a degree Fahrenheit increase per year for the past decade), several native species have reacted. Lobsters have moved north and east along the coast, leaving fisheries in Long Island and Cape Cod in succession. The Northern Shrimp fishery has collapsed in the past few years. Scientists speculate the combination of warming waters limiting spawning and reducing the amount of plankton the shrimp eat is largely to blame. Scientists also say these warming waters limit cod reproduction and health and survivability of juveniles.

Gulf of Maine temperature increases have opened the door to invasive species like black sea bass and scup, and have made bays and estuaries more hospitable to European green crabs, whose numbers have risen exponentially in the past few years. Green crabs wreak havoc on eelgrass flats as they burrow in to eat larval mussels, clams and oysters.

Jon Hare, a fisheries oceanographer at NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and lead study author, said the main purpose of this study is to give fisheries managers and other stakeholders tools to take climate change into account when devising management policy.

“We’re never going to have perfect information,” he said. “The ecosystem is going to change because of a combination of anthropogenic influence such as greenhouse gas and natural climate variability.” To keep up with the pace of that change, which has been dramatic in the past 10 years, Hare and his colleagues developed a methodology that incorporates already established research and factors in expert extrapolation. This methodology helps them predict things like how mussels will respond to warming waters or how they will react to increased acidity in their ecosystem in the next 10 years.

The scientists graded each of the 82 species’ vulnerabilities taking into account different variables, and set those grades to peer review. The result is a composite view of how likely a species may suffer reproductive pressures from increased temperatures or how likely a species may change migratory patterns.

Hare said other studies are beginning in the Bering Sea and off the coast of California, and the National Marine Fisheries Service wants to conduct these studies on all U.S. coasts.

No doubt much discussion will arise from this study and others like it. Some will question the study’s approach, efficacy or even need. Some fishermen may view the study as simply another tool for regulatory bodies like the New England Fisheries Management Council to further restrict fishing without real stakeholder permit. Others might ask why this hasn’t occurred before.

I see a couple of potential positive outcomes. First, the fact that NOAA is not only acknowledging climate change, but also actively trying to take steps to factor that into management decisions is significant. Like any federal agency, NOAA moves at a glacial pace (I wonder how long we’ll be able to use that descriptor…). But Hare and his colleagues eschewed the traditional approach to ecosystem-based management via species-specific analyses, which could take decades, to adopt a faster, potentially more efficient methodology for studying the issue. This is largely because climate change has been transforming ecosystems faster than we can study them.

Secondly, Hare says he hopes this tool becomes iterative — that in fact it will adapt as ecosystems change so scientists and researchers will have a chance to keep closer tabs of impacts than before. Some of fishermen’s frustrations with past NOAA research/policies is that that they are static, and don’t change dynamically with ecosystems. But Hare hopes the iterative process for this methodology will take into account fishermen input when considering which species may be affected by climate change. “Fishing communities will be impacted as well,” he said.

One impact is that some of these communities will start adapting to the changing marine ecosystems and harvest “locally abundant” species that were once considered invasive species. For example, black sea bass have started showing up in lobster traps in Maine because they’ve followed the warming trend north. Now they are an available seafood choice in local stores and restaurants.

I too hope this process becomes more collaborative. Because without that interactive participation in the science and policy making, the process will continue to be viewed by many as a set of unilateral decisions curtailing fisheries at the expense of small scale fishermen. As Hare said, even if we magically stopped all green house emissions now, the lingering effects of warming oceans would continue for decades.

Acting now, collaboratively, is the best chance at present for ensuring we effectively manage fisheries even as warming waters seek to change the dynamics. I attended a workshop a year ago in which scientists (including Hare), fishermen, and policy makers discussed how to better predict climate change impacts on fisheries and how to communicate that to fishermen.

Perhaps this is the first step.

Lobster photo credit: NOAA