The population of alewife returning to spawn in the Pennamaquan River was declining to the point that state resource managers suspended all commercial and recreational fishing in 2011. Maine Sea Grant coordinated monitoring that helped restart a recreational fishery and provided experiential learning opportunities for six elementary schools in rural Washington County on the success of local stewardship efforts to rebuild a once-declining alewife population.

The alewife population in the Pennamaquan River rebounded from 70,000 in 2014 to 245,000 in 2016 and recreational fishing was reinstated. Sea Grant involved 145 students and teachers from six elementary schools in the region to learn how to conduct the science-based assessment methods used in this project.

Maine hosts a small but lucrative fishery for juvenile American eels, which are transported to Asian fish farms for culturing to the adult stage for the seafood market. Maine could realize even greater benefits if, instead of being exported, the eels could be grown and marketed in the U.S.

Maine Sea Grant provided program development funding to American Unagi LLC to experiment with American eel culture methods. Business owner Sara Rademaker successfully cultured adult American eels, shared product with local chefs, and leveraged funds for additional research and development to culture American eels to market size.

New England Aqua Ventus I is a 12 Megawatt (MW) floating offshore wind pilot project to develop a clean, renewable energy source off Maine’s shores, led by the University of Maine. Paul Anderson (previous director) and Assistant Director for Research Damian Brady facilitated outreach to fishing communities in the mid-coast Maine region related to the development of offshore wind technology where the turbines are expected to be placed.

The Department of Energy recently awarded New England Aqua Ventus $3,700,000 to demonstrate the innovative design of the VolturnUS with full-size offshore wind turbines, work with local contractors and manufacturers to generate local economic benefit, create and keep Maine jobs in Maine, and provide renewable energy now and in the future.