Category: Fisheries

Interview with Abigail Carroll

| Posted in People, Fisheries

The Root has published an interview with Abigail Carroll, the owner of Nonesuch Oysters in Scarborough.

Would you describe the “traditional, environmentally-safe” grow-out method you use.
We buy very small spat, about 1.5 mm in size, and put it into a nursery – an up-weller – where the oysters are contained and fed by water we pump from the estuary. There are no additives; they drink only natural water from the estuary. When the oysters get to be about ¼” we take them to our grow-out site in floating bags where they stay until we harvest. As the farm grows, we hope to do more ground seeding. Our “Free Range” oysters are particularly gorgeous.

CSFs: Salt & Sea and Eat Local Fish

| Posted in Fisheries

Today’s Press Herald includes an article on two local community Supported Fisheries, Salt & Sea and Eat Local Fish.

The other buy-direct option is Salt and Sea (saltandsea.me), which is more of a traditional community-supported fishery that is less than a year old. Salt and Sea is similar to Port Clyde Fresh Catch, the popular midcoast CSF that has gotten nationwide attention but does not deliver to the Portland area. With this option, you pay upfront for several weeks’ worth of deliveries, and pick up the fish yourself at one of several drop-off points.

Out of the Blue

| Posted in Fisheries

This week’s edition of the Portland Phoenix reports on GMRI’s Out of the Blue program.

There’s a delicious opportunity this summer to give more plentiful local varieties a chance through the annual “Out of the Blue” campaign the Gulf of Maine Research Institute runs in partnership with area fine-dining establishments. This week’s promotion focuses on Atlantic mackerel, nearly twice as high as salmon in omega-3 fatty acids but one of the least used from Maine waters. Europeans and the Japanese love it.

Eventide: Review and Beach Greens Foraging Expedition

| Posted in Reviews, Fisheries

What’s the Soup has published a review of Eventide.

Eventide is a restaurant not to be missed whether it’s for a beer and oysters on a Saturday afternoon or a full dinner to experience all it has to offer. The owners are innovative and continually looking for new creations.

In an unrelated piece, The Root has written about a recent outing to forage for beach greens with Eventide chef Andrew Taylor.

Still, within a few minutes of searching the shore for wild edibles, we had found four different edible beach greens. I felt overjoyed, as if Robert Louis Stevenson himself had mapped out our expedition and more buried gold was further down the beach.

Another version of the beach foraging article appeared on the Huffington Post.

Elvers Fishery

| Posted in Fisheries

Today’s Press Herald includes a front page story on the Maine elvers fishery.

Elvers — by Maine law, American eels less than 6 inches long — have waxed and waned in value among the state’s fisheries, ranging from the low wholesale price of about $25 a pound just 10 years ago to last year’s all-time high of $2,000. Last week they were commanding a wholesale price of between $1,500 and $1,800 from Portland-area dealers.

Maine Seaweed

| Posted in Fisheries

This week’s Portland Phoenix reports on the burgeoning Maine seaweed industry.

Maine is at the forefront, in the US, of seaweed foraged wild and now cultivated. Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, headed by macrobiotic entrepreneur Shep Erhart, was the first American company to harvest and sell whole indigenous seaweeds, more than 40 years ago.

We even have a dedicated seaweed extension agent, Sarah Redmond, encouraging rope-cultured mussel farmers and lobsterman to try this counter-season winter crop. Redmond touts “integrated multi-trophic aquaculture,” where farmed shellfish feed on the waste generated by salmon farms, and cultivated kelp then filters out remaining phosphorous and nitrogen, similar to land-based polyculture farms. Maine seafood promoter Monique Coombs thinks “seaweed will get really hot” here in the next few years.

Review of Enio’s & Maine Salmon Farming

| Posted in Reviews, Fisheries

Portland Magazine has published a review of Enio’s.

Beef tenderloin, two rounds of gorgeous meat seared just as my partner likes it–rare–is served with excellent hand-made beef ravioli, sauteed mushrooms, and a full-flavored gravy ($23). My half-rack of lamb ($20) is a revelation. Juicy, tender, still reddish pink while being nicely browned, the flavor of the meat could not be better. The side of mashed potato and parsnip is nothing short of genius as is the surrounding balsamic reduction.

The May issue of the magazine also includes a feature article on the Maine salmon farming industry.

It seems like only yesterday that salmon was all the rage–the surefire local seafood choice on every restaurant menu in the state, and the darling of home cooks for its ease of preparation. Restaurants dressed it up in local condiments–maple glazes, blueberry salsas–and salmon was as Maine as lobster and crab.

Nowadays, all commercially available Atlantic salmon is farmed. Fish farming is controversial. Opponents slam farmed salmon as anti-wild, unhealthy, and uncool.

Fishing with Greenlaw/Browne

| Posted in Fisheries

Linda Greenlaw and Browne Trading are teaming up to offer bluefin tuna charters this summer.

Greenlaw, an Isle au Haut resident, author and world-renowned fisherman, will offer chartered fishing tours for bluefin tuna out of Portland Harbor through Browne Trading Co. on Commercial Street…Trips will be aboard the Hazel Browne, a 46-foot Wesmac owned by Rod Mitchell, the owner of Browne Trading Co.

GMRI’s Sustainable Fish Initiative

| Posted in Fisheries

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes an article on GMRI’s partnership with Maine restaurants to increase the use of sustainable fish species on their menu.

Samuel Grimley, sustainable seafood project manager at GMRI, said the institute has been planning Culinary Partners for a little over a year now, and held a couple of feedback meetings with restaurateurs to get their input as the program was developed.

Since February, five Maine restaurants have joined up and set goals for themselves for the coming year. In addition to Five Fifty-Five, the other members are Sonny’s and Local 188 in Portland, Sea Glass at Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth and the Jordan Pond House restaurant on Mount Desert Island.