Coastal Conversations

Producer/Host: Natalie Springuel

Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program.

Today our show is about the Mount Desert Island-based project called a Landscape of Change. Landscape of Change is a collaborative project with the goal of compiling and publishing historical records of natural history observations on Mount Desert Island, dating back to the late 1800s, and comparing these with contemporary data to document change over time.
While the project focuses on the science of environmental change, it also explores how every-day people can collect meaningful scientific data, and how people might choose to respond to ecological change, as individuals, as artists, as natural resource managers, as activists or even as a society as a whole.

1. What are the historical records that provide the baseline from which your are able to document ecological change on Mount Desert Island?
2. What are the modern methods of data collection that citizens are involved in collecting?
3. What are the changes you have found in MDI’s natural environment in the past 100+ years
4. How can citizens and visitors become involved and learn more?

Guests:
Raney Bench, Executive Director of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society
Johanna Blackman, Executive Director of A Climate to Thrive
Jennifer Steen Booher, Artist-in-residence with MDI Historical Society.
Seth Benz, Director of Bird Ecology at Schoodic Institute at Acadia Nation Park
Catherine Schmitt, science writer with Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park
Kyle Lima, Data Analyst, also with the Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park

About the host:

Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Producer/Host: Natalie Springuel

Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program.

This episode:

Most fishermen will tell you that the presence of Atlantic menhaden on the coast of Maine is cyclical. In the last few years, menhaden, or pogies as the small schooling fish are known locally, have returned in high enough numbers to trigger a commercial fishery that holds promise for many fishermen. Their presence is fortuitous. Pogies have filled a lobster bait void left behind by declining Atlantic herring stocks. Many lobstermen, scrambling for bait to feed their lobster traps, have settled on pogies.

There are many others in the Gulf of Maine who are happy to see the pogies return in great numbers – chief among them: the predators like tuna, striped bass, bald eagles and even humpback whales.

On our show today, we explore the world of pogies, the fishermen who harvest them and the species like tuna who eat them. We talk with two fishermen who describe how the fish are caught and why the fishery is increasingly important to Maine fishermen. And we’ll hear from a scientist about how his research on Atlantic Blue-fin tuna also reveals the increasing presence of pogies in Maine waters.

-Return of Pogies (AKA Menhaden) to Maine
-Fishermen’s stories about rigging up to purse seining for pogies.
-Pogies as lobster bait
-Pogies role in the Gulf of Maine food web

Guests:

Devyn Campbell, Boothbay Harbor fisherman (fishes for groundfish and in recent years pogies)

Dave Horner, Southwest Harbor fisherman (has fished for lobster, scallop, shrimp, groundfish and in recent years pogies)

Walt Golet, Assistant Professor at the University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences and lead of the Pelagic Fisheries lab at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

About the host:

Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Producer/Host: Natalie Springuel

Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program.

This episode:
Many people in Maine have heard of Atlantic Salmon and Alewives, but do you know about Rainbow Smelt? These migratory sea-run fish may be swimming up your backyard streams right now! And historically, these fish have all featured in the lives of Maine residents for sustenance, income, and recreation.

Smelt and tomcod populations are believed to have declined in recent decades. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the restoration of salmon and alewife habitat benefits all members of the sea-run fish family.

Our show today features a compendium of smelt stories plus a few about tomcod and other sea-run fish, from interviews conducted over the course of the last year in an effort to document the traditional ecological knowledge of people who harvest, interact with, and observe sea-run fish.
So make a note to tune in Friday afternoon, May 27, 2022, from 4-5 OM, when this month’s Coastal Conversation features stories and voices talking about seasons of change for Maine’s sea-run fish. Only on WERU community radio, 89.9 FM in Blue Hill and online at WERU.org.

Key Discussion Points:
-The seasonality of migrating fish
-Stories and memories from people who have fished and observed smelt, tom cod and other searun fish since the 1970’s.
-The ecology and biology of changing fisheries in Maine’s rivers, streams and estuaries

Guests:

Chris Johnson, ecology manager with the Passamaquoddy Tribe Sipayak Environmental Department
Danielle Frechette, a marine resource scientist with Maine Department of Marine Resource’s bureau of sea-run fisheries and habitat
Sean Beauregard, a student at the University of Maine and Smelt interview project intern
John Melquist Sr., smelt fisherman, South Thomaston
Kurt Soneson, a retired Marine Patrol Officer
Sharon Morrill, wildlife watcher from Damariscotta Mills
Dick and Max Grimm, a father and son fishermen from Yarmouth
Lawrence Moffet, retired commercial lobsterman and recreational tomcod fisherman

Special appreciation for support in producing this show goes to: Sean Beauregard, University of Maine student and intern; Justin Stevens, Maine Sea Grant sea-run fish ecosystem project coordinator; and Danielle Frechette, marine resource scientist with Maine Department of Marine Resources bureau of sea-run fisheries and habitat.

About the host:
Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Producer/Host: Natalie Springuel

Today, April 22, 2022, is Earth Day! And what better way to celebrate Earth Day than to explore the realm of one of the earth’s most interesting group of species: Seaweed.

Seaweed has seen a surge in interest in Maine in the last few years, with a growing number of people paying attention to seaweed – from consumers to nutrition experts, from harvesters to farmers, from restoration ecologists to beauticians. And Maine finds itself at the center of it all.

This week, just in time for Earth Day, Maine is celebrating Maine Seaweed Week – multiple days full of activities and opportunities to taste and learn about this incredible seafood. Maine Seaweed Week was founded four years ago by one of our interviewees on today’s show, Josh Rogers of Heritage Seaweed and Cup of Sea teas. Our second interviewee, Jaclyn Robidoux of Maine Sea Grant, has also been very involved with organizing this week’s special seaweed events. We turn to both of them to learn about the various seaweeds found on the Maine coast, how it can be used, and how you, our listeners, can join in on the seaweed celebrations happening up and down our shores through May 1st 2022.

-Earth Day
-Maine Seaweed Week 2022
-Maine seaweed species and products

Jaclyn Robidoux, marine extension associate at Maine Sea Grant
Josh Rogers, Founder of Heritage Seaweed, Cup of Sea teas, and Maine Seaweed Week

Other credits: Thanks to Ellie White, our radio production assistant for this show, for all of her production help, her interviews with our guests and her vision for how we could celebrate Earth Day today by taking a deep dive into seaweed. Ellie is a senior at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor where she has been studying storytelling, audio production and human ecology. Thanks also to Galen Koch of The First Coast, who helps train our radio production assistants.

About the host:
Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Producer/Host: Natalie Springuel

Maine coastal and ocean issues: Rare Steller’s sea-eagle sparks attention and imagination

Since late December 2021, a rare Steller’s sea eagle has been repeatedly sighted by hundreds of people on the Maine coast. This raptor is significantly bigger than our own beloved Bald Eagle. Its home range is very far away in coastal Siberia, around the Sea of Okhotsk and the Kamchatka Peninsula, down to Northern Japan and as far as the Korean Peninsula.

There are reportedly only around 4000 Steller’s sea-eagles on the planet, and they are listed as a vulnerable species on The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

Starting back in August of 2020, birders noticed its presence in Alaska. A few months later in March of 2021, a raptor presumed to be this same eagle was sighted in Texas. And then in June multiple confirmed sightings were reported all the way east, in Québec’s Gaspé Peninsula. November in the Canadian Maritimes, December was Massachusetts, and then, December 30, 2021, it landed in Maine and continued to be sighted in the Georgetown to Boothbay region until March 5th.

Why has this Steller’s Sea Eagle been wandering the northern hemisphere? What do we know about its ecology and conservation? And how has its presence captured the imagination of seasoned birders, coastal residents, and a growing cadre of community scientists? These are the topics for today’s episode of Coastal Conversations.

Guests:
Doug Hitchcox, Staff Naturalist at Maine Audubon
Jeff Wells, Vice President for Boreal Conservation at National Audubon
Brent Pease, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor of wildlife conservation and management at Southern Illinois University

About the host:
Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Producer/Host: Natalie Springuel

Working waterfronts are those spaces along the shoreline that connect land and sea; places that provide critical access for people who make their living on the water.

Pressure on working waterfronts is on the rise again here in Maine, due to a bunch of reasons, not the least of which is the increasing real estate market triggered by the global pandemic.
We explore the threats to Maine’s working waterfronts, who is most affected, and what might be done about those threats.
We explore statewide policy questions and how this issue is playing out on the ground, specifically in the case of one town grappling with change, Bar Harbor.

Guests:

Val Peacock, Bar Harbor resident, Town Councilor and Harbor Committee member
Nick Battista, Senior Policy Officer, Island Institute
Merritt T. Carey, Esq, author of The Critical Nature of Maine’s Working Waterfronts and Access to the Shore

About the host:
Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Producer/Host: Natalie Springuel

Happy New Year from our team at Coastal Conversations where we are launching season 8 of our show!

For our first show of 2022, we are once again teaming up with The First Coast and the Island Institute to feature the final episode in our series about innovative people in Maine who are sustainably harvesting and growing products from the sea.

First up, we’re talking about Maine’s groundfish fishery, past and present, and the potential that exists, for both fishermen and consumers, to support a diverse local marketplace and help support our fisheries. Then, to wrap up our series, we learn about the mysterious, internationally regulated, strong, and powerful Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, a fishery that leaves a lot of consumers puzzled. Listen up as we untangle these fishing stories and meet some of Maine’s leaders in the seafood marketplace, on the waterfront and at sea.

These stories were produced by Galen Koch of The First Coast as part of an Island Institute podcast called “From the Sea Up.” The podcast is made possible by the Fund for Maine Islands and a partnership between the Island Institute, College of the Atlantic, Luke’s Lobster, Maine Sea Grant and the First Coast. We are grateful to all of them for sharing their stories with Coastal Conversations on WERU

Guests

Thanks for listening to From the Sea Up, presented by the Island Institute and produced by me, Galen Koch. Special thanks to True Fin, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, and the Island Institute. Special thanks to Brian Pearce and his crew, the Portland Fish Exchange, Ben Martens and Mary Hudson, Kyle Foley, Dr. Walt Golet, Dr. Lisa Kerr, and Elijah Miller, Jen Levin, Pete Speeches and Michael Flynn.”

From the Sea Up is made possible by the Fund for Maine Islands and a partnership between the Island Institute, College of the Atlantic, Luke’s Lobster, Maine Sea Grant, and The First Coast. For more information visit www.islandinstitute.org/podcast

About the host:
Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download