Research professor Rick Wahle and graduate student Carl Huntsberger are testing a technique at the University of Maine Darling Marine Center to determine the age of lobsters. Unlike fish, mollusks and trees, Wahle says lobsters and other crustaceans molt — or cast off their skeletons thereby discarding external signs of growth. That means a lobster’s […]
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Heather Leslie, director of the University of Maine Darling Marine Center, is available to talk about the significance of the Northeast Ocean Plan. “The Northeast Ocean Plan is one of the first-in-the-nation efforts to translate the concept of ecosystem-based management for the oceans into reality, at the regional level,” Leslie says. “I’m really proud of what we […]
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When AARP announced last summer that Bangor would be named the 100th community in the country to earn “age-friendly” status, leaders in Maine’s third-largest city had to make a big commitment. To receive this distinction, a city must agree to devise a comprehensive strategy to become more livable for its oldest residents. AARP had already […]
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It’s a mystery that has puzzled University of Maine assistant professor of marine biology and aquaculture Heather Hamlin and the salmon farming industry in New England: the decline in egg survival. The survival rate of fertilized salmon eggs had been as high as 80 percent. But beginning in 2000, salmon embryos began dying in large […]
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School of Biology and Ecology senior Sigi Koizar was honored with the Dean Smith award for the second-straight year this week. Koizar, who plays for UMaine’s women’s basketball team, boasts a 3.97 grade point average in biology with a pre-medical concentration and a minor in chemistry. The award is named for Dean Smith, an electrical […]
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Nine students completed their scientific diving certification at the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center in Walpole. Scientific divers study the underwater environment using scuba or other diving equipment, the certification is a critical step for many marine science students as they prepare for academic and professional careers. The UMaine program follows American Academy of […]
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Over 500 sea farmers and marine researchers from the Damariscotta area gathered in Providence, Rhode Island for the the Northeast Aquaculture Conference & Exhibition (NACE) this January. “There was a really good number of producers and scientists, including a lot of young people there, both from the entrepreneur side and science side.” said Dana Morse, […]
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For tens of thousands of years, the warm, sticky natural asphalt that occasionally bubbled to the Earth’s surface in the area now called Los Angeles was a death sentence for some ice age animals. Woolly mammoths, camels, rabbits, horses, bison, sloths, rodents, snails, turtles, birds and saber-toothed cats perished after becoming mired in the liquid […]
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Long-term changes in weather are affecting Maine agriculture, bringing both risks and potential opportunities for farmers in the state. At the University of Maine, faculty initiated the Maine Climate and Agriculture Network to improve coordination among faculty, staff and students on the subject. The network recently published a fact sheet that outlines observations of how […]
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The Edward A. Myers Marine Conservation Fund’s $2,000 donation to the Darling Marine Center K–12 education program facilitated field trip visits by 900 local students and supplied marine touch tanks to area festivals. The funds were raised at the annual Pemaquid Oyster Festival in Damariscotta. “We appreciate that the Edward Myers Fund has continued to […]
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