SAVE THE DATE!
“From soft-shell clams to soft-shell crabs: Two practical solutions for adapting to a warming Gulf of Maine”
Aerial view of the first soft shell clam farm, Heal Eddy, Georgetown, ME
Photo credit: John Hagan
Tuesday, February 14 7:00 pm
315 Searles Hall
The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99% of the
world’s oceans. The ecosystem is being disrupted,
as are the livelihoods of fishermen along the coast.
While there is hope in the Paris Climate Accord for slowing climate change in the twenty-first century, the key for Maine fishermen is adaptation – developing ways to survive and thrive on the ecosystem that is already here, regardless of Paris. Join John Hagan and Marissa McMahan for an eminently practical view of how to navigate the brave new climate world facing Maine fisheries.
John M. Hagan Ph.D. is president of
Manomet, a non-profit dedicated to making the world measurably more sustainable through the application of science. He has over thirty years of experience as a field ecologist, and has studied and published on freshwater invertebrates (bivalves), birds, reptiles, herbaceous and woody plants, and lichens and mosses. Recently, his research has focused on helping build diversified fisheries in Maine, especially soft-shell clams, given the rapidly-warming Gulf of Maine.
Marissa McMahan is currently a doctoral candidate in the ecology, evolution and marine biology program at Northeastern University, and is scheduled to graduate in August 2017. Her research focuses on ecology and fisheries in the Gulf of Maine, including published work on the American lobster and Atlantic cod, as well as extensive research on the northern range expansion of black sea bass. She has conducted field and laboratory experiments to understand population dynamics of crustaceans, such as growth, movement, behavior, distribution, and abundance. She also has an extensive background in commercial fisheries, having grown up in a commercial fishing family in mid-coast Maine, and worked as a commercial fisher for many years. She began investigating the potential for a soft-shell green crab industry in Maine in 2016, and established a network of collaborators spanning academia, industry, marketing, activism and journalism.
This event is open to the public free of charge, and co-sponsored by the Biology Department, the Environmental Studies Program, the Coastal Studies Center, and the Brunswick Community Earth Care Team.
