Kelp Aquaculture at Hurricane Island!

Guest blog post by Communications Intern Stef Burchill

On the coast of the North side of Hurricane Island, snuggled between two small white buoys is a kelp aquaculture site. Amongst the waves there is one long submerged line that the students at Deer Isle-Stonington High School seeded with kelp spores last fall. Sugar Kelp, Saccharina latissima, is naturally found in cold Northeastern American waters. In the wild, they need a rocky substrate or coastline to attach their holdfast to.

Ocean aquaculture may become a solution to the degradation our agricultural systems have been facing over the last century. Large-scale food operations with big monocrops, such as corn and soybeans, result in soils that are very susceptible to issues of erosion and nutrient deprivation. When large areas have these issues they become more difficult to work with, and need far more chemical fertilizers, machinery, and water pumped to them, which causes waste and more dependence on local and outsourced aquifers. A driving issue that started the problems in our current food systems is that they are disconnected from the natural environments and seasonal patterns that the individual foods originated from.

Many naturalists have suggested over the years that one possible solution to this disconnect is to simply begin with a local food movement. Putting the foods that grow seasonally in an area into one’s grocery cart can create a powerful community. Building up this community atmosphere fosters a self-sustaining motive, thus keeping the income for local businesses sustainable and maintaining healthy local farm and land practices.

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MS Marine Ecology student getting into the kelp harvest on Hurricane Island

Kelp has been diversifying the portfolios of Maine fishermen and lobstermen during their off-season because it is a crop that grows best in wintertime (once it is established, sugar kelp grows 5-7 centimeters per day as it continues to pump out its spindly blades!) and can be harvested early March through to the early fall season. Researchers at NOAA in conjunction with researchers at Universities and other Institutes have begun to study if the process of photosynthesis in kelp may be a potential aid to issues of ocean acidification. The kelp takes in CO2 from the water, and replaces it with oxygen—much like plants and trees do for our air. If the research studies continue to be positive, and we implement more aquaculture off of our coastlines, we could begin to mediate some of the pollution that is going into our ocean systems. This concept is currently being investigated at Oceans Approved, an aquaculture site in Southern Maine, where they hope to use kelp to locally decrease CO2 around shellfish aquaculture sites.  Paul Dobbins of Oceans Approved was the one who graciously came out to help us find the site for our own kelp farm last summer!

Not only is kelp aquaculture good for our coast, and for local economic sustainability, kelp can greatly improve one’s health! This nutrient rich macro alga contains iodine, potassium, calcium, protein, and Omega-3 fatty acids—similar to those found in fish.

Once all of the little microorganism grazers and biofoulers are removed from the blades, kelp is ready to be cooked into many fun and tasty dishes! A few personal favorites I enjoy are: seaweed salad (which is a favorite in many Americanized Asian restaurants), miso soup, super food kale and seaweed salad, as a side dish to fresh caught fish, and a Hurricane Island favorite (even tested by the pickiest of middle schoolers)—chocolate seaweed pudding!

Our educators and researchers make kelp harvesting accessible to our student programs, by first educating them on the process of setting up a kelp aquaculture site and the benefits of kelp while in a lab setting. Armed with this background knowledge, students can then cruise over in one of our boats and harvest the kelp themselves. Teaching the next generation of thinkers why sustainable food systems matter, will someday create a world where they matter in the public eye. Here at Hurricane Island we will continue to promote healthy oceans, and healthy people by growing our aquaculture one spindly frond at a time.

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MS Marine Ecology students showing off with their harvested kelp

First Impressions Series: Jessie Batchelder

Guest post by Research Intern Jessie Batchelder

As an early start to our Fourth of July celebrations on the island the Scallop Research Team headed out on Sunday for our first dive day of the season.  Sometimes dive days can be hard to plan because of uncertainties in the weather, wind, and swell, so it was exciting that yesterday’s dives went through.  Additionally, because of the collaborative nature of this project, local lobstermen take us out on their boats so dive days have to be coordinated around their schedules.  Being out with the lobstermen is a great way to connect the science side of the project to the people it is actually impacting.  They also have such a wealth of knowledge about the area and ocean, which is extremely beneficial.  Plus, Dan was a great DJ!

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Research Assistant Bailey Moritz posing with a scallop

Our day started bright and early as we met Dan, the lobsterman who we went out with, at 7am at the dock.  Because diving in general requires a lot of gear, plus all of our research equipment, loading the car to haul all the gear to the dock required a 5:30 am wake up.  Luckily, it was beautiful morning and we were all excited to get in the water so the early morning was not an issue. 

This was my first research experience underwater.  Compared to a purely recreational dive, there are many more things that are necessary to think about.  In addition to everything you have to pay attention to during a normal fun dive, on our scallop dives we also have to be aware of collecting scallops, staying on track with our transect, taking note of substrate types and other organisms we see, all while maintaining buoyancy with an ever increasing bag of scallops dragging us down and paying attention to how much air we have left.  Especially when the tides are running, staying parallel to the transect can be quite the challenge.  To record our data underwater we write on waterproof paper that is taped onto a PVC pipe around our arms. I never thought my handwriting could look worse than it normally does but then I put on 5mm dive gloves and realized how wrong I was.

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Emptying the scallops we collected on the dive so we can process them on board

We were lucky to have a great tide day and for three of our four dives the currents were not that strong.  One of the sites the currents caused us to be swimming perpendicular to the direction of the transect which made that dive a little more challenging than the others.  Almost more importantly, we had great visibility, which was a huge relief because at times the visibility can be so poor you have to call off the dive. 

Once we get back aboard the boat our work continued to process all the scallop shells.  This involves taking a tissue sample for genetic testing and collecting the shells so we can measure growth rates once back in our ‘lab’ on the docks of Hurricane Island.  This usually takes up most of our surface interval time but it is long enough to warm up from the frigid Maine waters before we jump back in and do it all over again.  It was a great first day and I’m excited for the many more that are to come!

Maine Fishermen’s Forum 2016

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Dana Morse of Maine Sea Grant explains the ear hanging technique used for growing scallops.

Guest blog post by Research Assistant Bailey Moritz

It’s that time of year again, when people from all facets of the Maine fisheries community come together under the Samoset Resort roof in Rockland to make connections, share ideas, and discuss solutions. The place was bustling when I arrived at the annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum in early March, with pockets of small groups greeting old friends and introducing new ones. There are rooms of trade show exhibits and informational tables from groups working up and down the coastal waters. Hurricane Island had a booth and we spoke to potential students about the opportunities out on the island and the role the organizations research plays in the local fishery scene.

I picked up a booklet on seaweed species and took a seat at the first talk, titled Maine’s Scallop Fishery: An Overview and Open Discussion. After recent data was presented on progress towards rebuilding the fishery, a lively conversation began between policy makers and fishermen regarding catch limits and decisions surrounding closures. I knew Maine scallops were good, but I learned that they are considered some of the best in the world and therefore bring in top dollar. It’s an important fishery to keep an eye on, and another seminar delved into the growing potential for scallop aquaculture throughout the state. This was exciting to hear about, as we have been working on the first steps for setting up scallop aquaculture out on Hurricane.

Aquaculture was a clear theme. Emphasis was placed on diversifying fishermen’s on the water income and learning how to switch to or incorporate aquaculture into your business- in one panel, a new oyster farmer gave his account of the transition, while we later heard from a harvester trying out the first clam farming plots in the state in Georgetown. Read about another recent oyster farm here! There is so much excitement surrounding the potential that aquaculture holds in local waters. Of course, the day would not be complete without consuming some seafood ourselves; we all take a break for a fried halibut sandwich and soak in the atmosphere that’s created when you put a ton of people thinking hard about Maine fisheries in one room.

Muscle Ridge Wrap Up

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The early morning calm before getting gear onto the boat and setting off for adventure

Phoebe Jekielek, HICSL’s Outreach & Marketing Coordinator (and occasional fieldwork support!) and I wrapped up the 2015 Muscle Ridge field season with our last set of dive surveys off of Jim Wotton’s lobster boat, F/V Overkill. It was an absolutely beautiful day in early October – almost two months sooner than when we finished the 2014 field season (I have to admit that I was grateful that I was not diving in my 7 mm semi-dry wetsuit on November 29th with snow on the ground and a brisk, chilly breeze like last year!). In the Sprucehead Coop harbor, the sea state resembled an August morning – completely glassy with little to no wave action; however the air temperature reminded us that fall had arrived. Mauricio Handler, an underwater videographer from AQUATERRA Films and Darryl Czuchra, joined us for the day and were tasked with documenting the work that we do to make the collaborative scallop project happen!

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The Scallop Crew! (Left to right: Cait Cleaver, Bailey Mortiz, Erik Waterman, and Phoebe Jekielek)

Overall, it was another great season that could not have been accomplished without the help of a number of people, including, Tad Miller, Jim Wotton, Erik Waterman, Dan Miller, Jamie Kaizer, Skip Connell and Kristofer Koerber for their on-the-water expertise and assistance with dive and drop camera surveys and spat bag recovery and deployment. Dr. Kevin Stokesbury’s lab at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth organized another awesome three days of drop camera surveys from Tad’s dragger, F/V Julianne.

The 2015 stats:

• Dive surveys:
  • Muscle Ridge – 14 dive sites completed with two 50 m belt transects done at each site (Read about Bailey’s dive experience here)
  • Ocean Point – 6 dive sites completed with two 50 m belt transects done at each site
• Drop camera surveys: The Stokesbury crew joined us once again and completed 192 sites (same number as last year!).
• Spat Bags:
  • We recovered 7 of the 16 lines that were deployed in the fall of 2014 inside and outside of the Ocean Point and Muscle Ridge closed areas. Bailey, our scallop project research assistant, counted 17,772 juvenile scallops (Bailey, please come back next season, I promise, we’ll subsample! You can read about the spat bag processing here)
  • In September and early October, we deployed 4 lines on Ocean Point with the help of the Maine Department of Marine Resources scientists and Marine Patrol and 12 lines on Muscle Ridge.
• Shell growth rate analysis:
  • In January, Rosemary, a Casco Bay High School student, joined us to help analyze the scallop shells we’ve collected over the years. We analyzed approximately 450 – still have quite a few more to go, but we made a good dent!  (You can read about Rosemary’s experience here)

Stay tuned for updates about next season. We’re hoping to hit the ground running as soon as we can!

Update on the Northeastern Coastal Stations Alliance (NeCSA)

On November 23rd and 24th, we hosted a meeting in partnership with Bates College at the Coastal Center at Shortridge, Bates’ field station in Phippsburg, ME.  The meeting was funded by our National Science Foundation Field Stations and Marine Laboratories Program planning grant, which we were awarded to develop a strategic plan for the Northeastern Coastal Stations Alliance (NeCSA). Many of the people who attended the September meeting on Hurricane were in Phippsburg. On Hurricane, we focused on the “what” we should be researching in collaboration to understand environmental change in the Gulf of Maine and learning more about the activities of each institution represented.

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NeCSA meeting at the Coastal Center at Shortridge (Photo credit to Robin Hadlock Seeley of Shoals Marine Lab)

At the November meeting, we focused on how to go about implementing a shared research program and work together to implement other initiatives such as a shared undergraduate course that travels to the various field stations or a shared artist-in-residence program. We concluded the meeting without outlining a draft proposal for the next grant deadline in early January 2016; however, we did decide to continue working together and that this type of collaboration makes sense. We plan to meet again in February or April 2016.

A number of other, similar initiatives are underway at different geographic scales and with slightly different focuses. The Integrated Sentinel Monitoring Network (ISMN) is an effort that’s been underway since 2012 and involves a much wider range of institutions. ISMN has created a framework within which NeCSA fits. I attended a few of the ISMN’s workshops around this time last year (you can read about it here). The ISMN is in the process of reviewing comments and making changes to their draft implementation plan. They expect to release the final implementation plan in early 2016. At the Maine state level, the Maine Coastal Observing Alliance (MCOA), formed in 2014, is made up of local citizen groups that coordinate water quality monitoring efforts across Maine’s estuaries. They recently released their first report and we’re hoping to discuss with them the potential of Hurricane Island and Rockland Harbor becoming additional sites next year.

It's exciting to see efforts being coordinated at the State and regional level to help us better understand change across the Gulf of Maine! Stay tuned as NeCSA continues to develop!