Ireland Gets a Surprise Visitor
One North Atlantic right whale apparently headed to Europe. It was recently spotted off the coast of Ireland—the first right whale to be confirmed along that island in 114 years, according to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group. The last positive identification of a right whale in Ireland was back in 1910. The critically endangered whale was seen alone off the County Donegal coast on July 15. The sighting was verified by the New England Aquarium, which curates the North Atlantic Right Whale Photo ID catalog. North Atlantic right whales typically forage in New England from spring to fall, with Coastal Georgia and Florida serving as their calving grounds during the winter.
Herring
Canada Reduces Herring Quota Again
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has again lowered the Atlantic herring quota in southwestern Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy, this time for 2024 to 2027. DFO has announced the total allowable catch for the fishery will be 16,000 tons per season over those four seasons. The 2023 allocation was 21,000 tons. “Atlantic herring, like many fisheries, faces challenges as a result of climate change, which has led to herring that are smaller in size and that have more difficulty surviving and reproducing in their ecosystem,” says a news release from the department.
Red Lobster Gets New Owner
After months in the court, Red Lobster has a new owner. According to court documents filed on July 22, RL Purchaser LLC, made up of the seafood chain’s current lenders Fortress Credit Corporation, proposed a $376 million bid. If the restaurant company’s July 19 reorganization plan holds firm, the transaction will involve an equity transfer where the buyer receives equity in the reorganized company, instead of buying the company’s assets outright. Red Lobster said that it was more than $1 billion in debt and closed some locations of its nearly 600 restaurants this summer.
New UMaine Aquaculture Center to Begin Construction
The University of Maine’s Sustainable Aquaculture Workforce Innovation Center (SAWIC) will begin construction this fall. Senator Susan Collins and Senator Angus King secured $7 million in Congressionally Directed Spending in the Fiscal Year 2024 federal budget to construct the center. An additional $3.35 million toward construction costs will come from the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan put forth by Governor Janet Mills. SAWIC will support sustainable economic development, food security, and climate and community resilience through innovation in the aquaculture sector. The Center’s training programs will focus on hands-on experience and real-world problem solving. “Our students will be working on actual systems that resemble those in high-production aquaculture facilities, but at a much smaller scale,” said Deborah Bouchard, director of the Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) and UMaine associate professor.
$69 Million Awarded to Strengthen Maine's Resiliency Against Climate Change Impacts
In late July the Department of Commerce awarded Maine a $69 million grant to prepare and defend its coastline from the worst impacts of climate change, including flooding, storm surge and extreme weather events. $21 million will go to the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund to develop a pipeline of 20 grant-ready public infrastructure resiliency projects. Funds also will be used to create a new state resilience office that will help Maine communities adopt nature-based solutions, strengthen their working waterfronts, and build capacity to prepare for and respond to climate change impacts. The grant will fund new bluff mapping procedures, create a resilient design manual, build an inventory of vulnerable working waterfronts, design a saltwater intrusion monitoring network, and launch a new Shore Corps to help local communities and public landowners adopt new green infrastructure projects. The grant also will fund a new Climate Resiliency Conservation Fund to help address ecological gaps in protected lands, such as boosting Maine’s carbon storage capacity and protecting wildlife habitat.
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