Interview with Emily’s Oysters

Femidish has interviewed Emily Selinger about her aquaculture business and oyster CSA, Emily’s Oysters.

Femidish is a new Maine podcast that seeks to “Elevat[e] the stories of women and their unique abilities to nourish themselves and one another. Conversations about food through a feminist lens.”

Emily’s Oysters was founded in 2018 in Freeport. Their oysters are available via a CSA, and at the Wednesday Portland Farmers’ Market.

The Climate Change Diet

The Press Herald has taken a look at how the foods that are grown, raised and caught in Maine will shift under the impact of climate change.

Beef, pork and lamb probably won’t disappear from restaurant menus, but could be locally raised or grown in a laboratory to avoid the big carbon footprint of factory farms (why we’re already being urged to eat less meat). Don’t worry about your Sunday brunch of blueberry pancakes slathered in maple syrup, with a side of hash browns. Blueberries, maple syrup and potatoes – all traditional Maine foods – probably aren’t going anywhere in the next 50 years, according to agricultural experts. (After that, we’ll need a bigger crystal ball.)

Aquaculture Business Development Program

Mainebiz has published a report on the Island Institute’s Aquaculture Business Development program.

“Maine’s emerging aquaculture industry has a lot of opportunity and growth potential. The Aquaculture Business Development program provides both the academic and experiential learning tools to enter that growing arena,” Peter Piconi, marine business specialist with the Island Institute, said in the release. “More importantly, fisherman can diversify their income which, in turn, helps island and coastal economies thrive. We are excited to help a new group of individuals gain the tools they need to launch their aquaculture businesses.”

American Unagi

Maine Public Radio has aired a piece on the innovative work being done by Sara Rademaker at American Unagi to establish eel aquaculture in Maine,

Many Mainers are familiar with the state’s lucrative fishery for transparent “glass eels,” or elvers. They can fetch thousands of dollars a pound when shipped to Japan, China and other Asian countries, where they are grown to market size.

Now, one Maine entrepreneur wants to add the value herself, growing eels to full size here — a first for the U.S. The startup, American Unagi, is showing early signs of success.

Scallop Aquaculture

The Press Herald reports on efforts to develop a Maine scallop aquaculture industry,

The Atlantic sea scallop is a New England mainstay, but unlike oysters and mussels, they’re almost exclusively harvested from the wild on the East Coast. A loose consortium of aquaculture businesses off the Maine coast is looking to change that by making scallop farming a viable option here. It’s one of the first serious attempts to farm Atlantic sea scallops in the United States.

Maine Scallops

The Maine Sunday Telegram has explained why only a limited part of the Maine scallop makes it on to the dish and reports on a new aquaculture operation that may change that.

December into April is the season when wild Atlantic sea scallops can be pulled from state-regulated waters in the Gulf of Maine both by divers and mechanical drags for our dining delight. Maine scallops are both delicious and pricey, but few of us realize that half of the scallop is chucked out at sea even though it’s perfectly edible.

This might also explain why it’s illegal in Maine to serve scallops on their shell in Maine.

Oyster Farming

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram traces the oysters “journey from sea to table”.

Customers may not know where Basket Island is – a 10-acre island one mile southwest of Cousins Island, owned by Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust – or the specific origins of any of the other 11 Maine-grown oysters on Eventide’s menu. They might know only that slightly sweet oyster they slurped down with a flavored ice or a red wine mignonette is local, of Maine. And delicious.

But how did it get to their table? How long was its journey and what did it entail?

NYT: Decline of Maine Shrimp Fishery

The New York Times has published an article on the Maine Shrimp fishery. Sam Hayward, Don Lindgren and Glen Libby are all featured in this article by Mary Pols.

So far, according to scientists who survey the Gulf of Maine annually, it hasn’t. Their most recent data show Northern shrimp numbers at a historic low for the 34 years in which they have been counting the crustacean, Pandalus borealis. Egg production is down. Survival rates for larvae are poor.

And Without Maine Shrimp…

The Maine Sunday Telegram checked in with Portland restaurants to learn how they are adapting to the multi-year closure of the Maine shrimp fishery.

For the fifth year in a row, the sweet little morsels likely won’t appear on Maine restaurant menus. At a time when chefs are more focused than ever on local ingredients, what will they do without these winter delicacies – especially when it looks as if they may never come back?