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Map of the New England leg of the Sea Grant Exchange. The Exchange began in Durham, NH on July 21 and ended in Walpole, ME on July 28th.
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Gabby:
I
have been excitedly anticipating the second leg of the NH-LA Sea Grant Exchange
and now it has come and gone! Twyla Herrington and I managed to log approximately
1,200 miles (not including the flight from New Orleans to Bangor!) and connected with 5 of our Maine and New Hampshire Sea Grant colleagues. We learned, talked and experienced so much in 5 days that it is quite overwhelming when we sit down and try to capture it all. Here is a glimpse into what we talked about and did- hold on- it is an incredibly long list: We talked about microplastics, trout and salmon aquaculture,
shellfish aquaculture, and seaweeds and we ate pickled seaweed stipes, went on 3 boats, saw fin
and minke whales, gray seals, harbor porpoises, kittywakes, loons, went to the eastern-most
city in the US, floated on the largest tidal
whirlpool in the western hemisphere and may have crossed into Canada while
chasing seals! 
While I will leave the rest of the NE leg recap
to Twyla- I will say that not only did I learn more about what our colleagues
in Maine are doing, but I also got a good dose of what is happening in my own
backyard. Though I am aware and knowledgeable of our growing oyster
farming industry here in Great Bay, I have actually never been or seen any of
our oyster farmers at work or on their farms.
I have spoken to many of them and know some of the challenges they face
but I have not had the opportunity to delve much closer than the periphery.
Thanks to this exchange, I have been able to really learn and connect with some
of the people I work with and in so doing, I have more ideas about programming,
potential research and collaborations. I
CANNOT WAIT for the next exchange opportunity to rear up- maybe I will be a
part of it, maybe not- but I think Twyla and I have really shown what we can
all do together!
Twyla:
From the land of the frozen people to the land of the
sweating people, I am happy to report that the recovery is well under way post-
exchange! Re-entry into Louisiana’s
blazing heat and humidity has been a bit trying but it seems as though I will
survive. Last year, sitting in Duluth,
when Gabby and I started getting serious about this exchange, I could not have
imaged the impact it would have (so very quickly) on even my every day
activities as an extension agent.
Day 1: We spent most
of the day getting to know the NH Sea Grant and UNH Cooperative Extension
Programs. Gabby and I spent time exploring
the university and discussing projects with her interns and other
colleagues. I was excited to find a
connection, right off the bat, with Amanda Parks, an undergraduate at UNH who
has been working with Gabby and Erik Chapman on developing an app for finding
access to local seafood. Her work with
the NH Fresh and Local Seafood App can directly be applied to our Direct
Marketing programs in Louisiana.
Amanda’s recent trip to NOLA led us to a conversation about Slow Food,
Slow Fish, and her recent trip out with one of our shrimpers!
Day 2: We began with
a tour of the NH coastline. Gabby and I
made a stop at Jenness beach in Rye, NH for a bit of Marine Debris and
microplastics recon. Gabby’s work along
the NH coastline is helping to clean-up and study the effects of the marine debris problem onshore. We then headed on to meet up with Michael
Chambers, Marine Aquaculture Specialist, at the Judd Gregg Marine Research Complex
and Coastal Marine Lab. Our first order
of business was to hop on a boat and make a run out to his net pen aquaculture
sites at the mouth of the Piscataqua River.
This project is now part of a Co-op of 7 commercial fishermen (turned
temporary fish farmers) from the local area.
The steelhead trout are poly-cultured with seaweed on the sides of the
cages and rafts. The result is a system that takes out more nitrogen than it
adds. The pens are used for grow out and
the fish go to market for around $14.99/lb.
Let’s keep in mind that Steelhead trout are not indigenous to the NH coastline! Fascinating concept involving local fishermen
support. Inshore, Michael took us around
to see mussel floats and seaweed floats.
We were able to tour the lab and see a variety of other projects,
also. One of my favorites included the
use of sea urchins to clean bio-fouling of farmed oysters. A lengthy lunch followed with continued
discussion about multi-use processing facilities for the fishermen. This work directly overlaps with projects in
Louisiana and provided a chance to bounce ideas and make invaluable connections
in all of our work.
We headed out once again for an afternoon visit with Krystin
Ward, one of the first pioneers into oyster farming in the Great Bay Estuary,
and got a tour of her Oyster Farm.
Oyster farming along the East Coast is carried out very differently from
what we see in Louisiana or in South Carolina where I had the opportunity to
see a farm during a March 2014 visit with Sea Grant agent Julie Davis.
Day 3: We found
ourselves out to sea on the Atlantic Queen II with Captain Brad and Jen Kennedy,
Executive Director of Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation and her crew
of interns. The Atlantic Queen is a
recreational fishing vessel by morning and whale watching boat by
afternoon. Blue Ocean works with the vessel
as their naturalists, providing outreach and education regarding marine mammals
in the areas and they also gather marine debris data on the water. Gabby and Jen have been partners on the NH
Marine Debris to Energy Project for several years, which is how I found myself
on a work trip whale watch! We spent 4 hours listening for the blow of a whale
and looking for plastics in the swell.
I’d say the trip was a success on both fronts! Finbacks and minke whales were both kind
enough to escort us around for the afternoon.
While onboard, Capt Brad filled me in on some current issues with the NH
fishing fleet. Turns out, their guys are
in much the same “boat” with our red snapper commercial fishermen in
Louisiana. Half a country apart and so
easy to relate! The trip wrapped up our
NH portion of the Exchange and I headed back to Maine for a few days of
recuperation.
Day 4: Welcome to beautiful Bagaduce River, Maine and the
Little Island Oyster Company! Gabby
wasn’t able to join me for this visit but I was accompanied by a local friend
with connections in the industry. Frank & Tonyia Peasley, owners and fishermen, live in the area and farm both
tidal and subtidal ranges. The farm is
operated on 5.3 acres along the Bagaduce River just outside of Penobscot,
Maine. The tour allowed me to see both
the differences and similarities in the NH oyster farms and Maine oyster
farms. Push back from local residents
seemed to be a common issue in both states.
I stood on the dock watching oysters being sorted and cleaned, listening
to Tonyia explain the ups and downs of being an oyster farmer, while slurping
these tasty treats out of one freshly shucked shell after another.
Day 5: “Eastport and Franklin and on to Camden, Maine with Chris
Bartlett and Sarah Redmond.” Gabby and I
started the day off by meeting up with Chris Bartlett in Eastport, Maine. Chris lives so far north that even our cell
phones thought we were in Canada! My
best description for Chris’s work would have to be “dramatic”. Everything just seems larger from the
whirlpools to the marine mammals to the size of his salmon farm
operations. Chris took us around
Pasamaquoddy Bay via boat to get a first hand look at the area and the fishing
communities. We took a little time to
drift in the Old Sow whirlpool and do a bit of whale watching in the area. Minke whales and both harbor and gray seals
popped up to say Hi. Chris is currently working on a bird count project in an area where underwater turbines have been proposed. His work focuses on the scallop industry, lobster fisheries, and salmon farming in the region as well. We headed down to Franklin, Maine to visit with Sarah Redmond for the afternoon. Sarah works out of the Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research. The facility was impressive, to say the least! Sarah is Maine Sea Grant’s resident seaweed guru and she is passionate about spreading the word about the benefits and uses of seaweed- from fertilizer, to food ingredients, even to ingredients for making beer! At CCAR, Sarah showed us where she has most of her seaweed experiments and cultures and explained that she was trying to figure out different ways to culture different species of seaweed from sugar kelp to Grassilaria and Porphyra. We left Franklin with a jar of Sarah’s own pickled baby kelp stipes which were delicious!
Day 6: On the last day of our exchange, Gabby and I hit the
windy coastal road headed for Darling Marine Lab and Dana Morse, Maine Sea
Grant agent for the Walpole area. Dana
spent the morning showing us around the lab and discussing some of the projects
he focuses on in the region. Eco-Tourism
and aquaculture were resounding words during our day with Dana and link
directly with the type of work both Gabby and I are doing in New Hampshire and
Louisiana. The concept of “Oyster
Gardening” has been a hit with the local residents of the Walpole area. Their group uses the program to train
individuals on proper oyster growing techniques over a two-year period. The graduates have gone on to develop their
own “gardens” together, also. We ended
the day with a lunch in town and Gabby and out I set out on our southern and
northern treks back for the night. The
exchange had proven itself to be invaluable with the discussions and hands on
experiences. Research projects have been
developed, workshops have been planned, and a future for the Exchange program
has hopefully been written in stone.
