Digital Commons Network^™

Adapting Small-Scale Fiber Production To The 21st Century: Maine’S Evolving Strategies, Stephanie Welcomer, Mikayla Reynolds

Maine Policy Review

This study, funded by the US Small Business Administration, aims to better understand the operational, strategic, and economic dimensions of Maine’s fiber producers’ businesses. Fiber producers are those raising animal-based fiber, including sheep, alpacas, rabbits, and goats. The producer focus of this paper highlights the responses from 27 fiber producers and their insights into the realities of Maine’s fiber sector.

Medicaid Expansion In Maine Significantly Reduced Uncompensated Care Costs During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jordan H. Rhodes

Maine Policy Review

This study examines the impact of Maine’s 2019 Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act on hospitals’ uncompensated care costs. The author finds that this expansion reduced uncompensated care costs by an average of 26 percent per year, leading to a $126 million reduction in uncompensated care costs during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The most pronounced reduction in costs occurred across larger, general acute care hospitals. When comparing bad debt vs charity care, the reduction in uncompensated care costs is driven by a steep decline in reported charity care costs. This decline offsets increases in bad …

State Housing-Choice Vouchers As A Solution To The Housing Crisis: Potential Vulnerabilities And Possible Alternatives, River Dufour

Maine Policy Review

Considering the inadequacies of the federal housing choice voucher program, and the dire conditions in which eligible families are living, legislators have argued that Maine should supplement the federal voucher program with a state-run housing- choice voucher program (hereafter referred to as State 8). This year, multiple bills were introduced with this intention, the broadest being LD 1710— An Act to Establish the Maine Rental Assistance and Guarantee Program and Amend the Laws Regarding Tenants and the Municipal General Assistance Program. Despite all being carried over into the next legislative session, this kind of program has significant support and will …

Roles For Maine’S Physicians In The Climate Crisis, Gail Carlson, Megan Andersen

Maine Policy Review

Physicians have important roles to play in the climate crisis because they deal with the health impacts of climate change. We surveyed physicians in Maine about climate change and health, and of the 108 respondents, 84 (78 percent) believe that climate change poses a threat to the health of their patients, particularly for asthma, vector-borne diseases, heat-related illnesses, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and mental health problems. Most reported that these conditions are becoming more prevalent, and they identified children, older adults, and patients with chronic health conditions as those most at risk. Despite this awareness, most respondents did not discuss …

Collaborating For A Thriving Maine Forest Sector, Katrina Brewster Pugh, Emily J. Uhrig, Meg Fergusson, Aaron Weiskittel, Shane Moeykens, Jo D. Saffeir

Maine Policy Review

The authors of this commentary describe a coming together of an EPSCoR planning team with community leaders across the northeastern US forest sector. The community leaders came in support of this high-stake NSF proposal and in support of each other. As a result, their transdisciplinary deliberations on data and artificial intelligence (AI), economics, inclusion, and learning not only generated inputs to the recently announced $7 million NSF EPSCoR E-RISE award (OIA-2416915), but also gave them new language to describe their collaboration capacity.

Knowledge Co-Production To Improve Information Uptake: A Case Study In Downeast Maine, Gabriella A. Marafino, Gayle B. Zydlewski, Jessica Spelke Jansujwicz

Maine Policy Review

Scientific information is often not presented in a form that fits the specific needs and capacities of decision-makers. This mismatch results in the loading dock problem, where information remains unused or uptake is slow. Further exacerbating this gap is the challenge to integrate data from different disciplines. In response, we collaborated with stakeholders to co-produce knowledge in support of decision-making (e.g. related to siting, impacts on species, or local capacity) for sustainable tidal power development in Downeast Maine. Agency regulators, an industry developer, and a tribal environmental department were engaged in a series of workshops to discuss existing information, identify …

Reducing Plastic Pollution In The Ocean: Mycobuoys As A Potential Solution, Sue S. Van Hook

Maine Policy Review

Natural mushroom mycelium-based MycoBuoys are an alternative to ubiquitous plastic flotation devices used in Maine aquaculture, fisheries and harbors. They fit perfectly into a circular economic model where natural resources are borrowed for a specific purpose and are returned as elements at the end of product life. MycoBuoys may be composted or used as mulch where 100% of the material enhances soil nutrients upon decomposition. In contrast to this cradle-to-cradle product, currently ubiquitous Stryofoam buoys have expensive end life costs in terms of ecosystem and organismal health consequences. Styrene is a known carcinogen, and the foam particles degrade into smaller …

Community Science’S Contributions To Fostering Relational Values To Overcome Coastal Ecosystems Challenges, Kanae Tokunaga, Pauline Angione, Bill Zoellick, Gayle Bowness, Sheba Brown, Claire Enterline, Sarah L. Kirn, Abigail Long, Stephanie Sun, Aaron Whitman

Maine Policy Review

This paper applies the emerging concept of ‘relational values’ – values people hold toward their relationships with nature and with each other – and brings attention to the role of community science in enhancing relational ecosystem values. We feature Gouldsboro Shore, Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s (GMRI) coastal flood monitoring, and river herring monitoring and restoration efforts as focal examples. Gouldsboro Shore activates community volunteers and high school students to support the management and resilience of their clam fishery in Gouldsboro, ME. GMRI’s flood monitoring provides a platform for coastal residents to report, monitor, and map coastal flooding in participating …

Community Science In Support Of Ecosystem-Based Management: A Case Study From The Damariscotta River Estuary, Maine, Usa, Sarah C. Risley, Kara E. Pellowe, Melissa L. Britsch, Meredith M. White, Heather M. Leslie

Maine Policy Review

Coastal marine ecosystems are dynamic social-ecological systems (SESs) that support diverse ecosystem services and human activities. The complexity of SESs means that ecosystem-based approaches are increasingly used to support coastal marine ecosystem stewardship. We report how a community science program in Maine, USA offers a model of organizational innovation to expand capacities for shellfish research and management. Since 2019, we have collaborated with local students, shellfish harvesters, and others in data collection, interpretation, and application, contributing to local shellfish management and ecosystem sustainability. We demonstrate how community-based social and ecological research can build adaptive capacities by centering local knowledge; generating …

The Contributions Of The Gulf Of Maine Council To Regional Climate Resilience, Pamela A. Jordan

Maine Policy Review

This article investigates Canada-US collaboration in support of climate resilience efforts in the Gulf of Maine by focusing on the work of the binational Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment (GOMC). Despite lacking authority over coastal management policymaking, the GOMC made significant progress between 2004 and 2022 towards achieving its climate resilience goals. Most importantly, GOMC actors, including members of the Climate Network, have helped build capacity for more effective measurement, monitoring, and analysis of climate change impacts in the Gulf of Maine. While its participants share common values and support rigorous climate action and marine conservation measures, …

The Role Of Aquatourism In Sustaining Maine’S Working Waterfronts, Caroline Paras, Tracy S. Michaud

Maine Policy Review

Maine tourism relies heavily on the iconic imagery of working waterfronts, including harbors bobbing with lobster boats surrounded by shingled shacks in a rainbow of buoys. Adapted from agritourism, aquatourism is an experience that engages visitors with the landscape and stories of those who fish. According to the literature on the Experience Economy, the emotions generated by such experiences can translate into sales in real time as well as behavioral intentions to purchase in the future. What role can aquatourism play in sustaining working waterfronts? Using a mixed methods approach, this research study utilizes interviews from both producers and consumers …

Workforce Sustainability In Maine’S Coastal Industries: Strategies To Diversify, Train, And Bolster The Workforce, Jessica L. Picard

Maine Policy Review

People living in Maine have been working the oceans and related industries for hundreds of years. It is crucial to ensure that jobs along the coast are sustainable for years to come. This article examines the importance of job quality, including wages, safe working conditions, and opportunities to advance, along with the ways that some industries are utilizing programs with these ideas in mind - such as the country’s first registered apprenticeship program in aquaculture, which is now underway in Maine.

Plastic Marine Pollution In The Gulf Of Maine, Kara Lavender Law, Jessica Donohue, Rachael Zoe Miller

Maine Policy Review

Plastic pollution is a leading environmental issue because of its demonstrated and potential harms to wildlife, as well as to ecosystem and human health. The Gulf of Maine has already suffered ecological shifts due to recent unprecedented warming of ocean waters, with consequences to coastal economies that rely on ecosystem services. Here, we explore the prevalence of plastic pollution as a potential compounding threat to Gulf of Maine ecosystems by analyzing microplastics and plastic debris collected in surface-towed plankton nets since 1987. Although we find low concentrations of small floating plastic particles, 20 years of coastal and remote-island shoreline cleanup …

Including The Human Dimension Into Resilience Planning For Maine’S Lobster Fishery, Katherine Maltby, Katherine E. Mills

Maine Policy Review

The American lobster fishery is one of the most valuable in the US but is being affected by climate-driven shifts in lobster availability, impacting people’s ability to harvest the resource and sparking broader adaptation challenges. Since the late 1990s, lobster landings in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) have climbed to record levels while those in Southern New England (SNE) have experienced significant declines. The experiences of SNE lobstermen during these declines can offer important lessons for both individual lobstermen and communities in the GOM, where lobster abundance is currently at high levels but facing future uncertainty given continuing climate trends. …

Small Town Government With Big World Challenges, Valerie Peacock

Maine Policy Review

Bar Harbor's relationship with tourism is shifting from a focus on attracting visitors to the need to balance economic interests with the quality of life for residents. As a coastal community, cruise ship tourism is at the center of the debate about the appropriate scale of visitation. This article focuses on the challenges and recommendations for how a small town with a Town Meeting-Town Council form of government might manage cruise ship tourism over changing times.

New Office Supports Maine Climate Action, Parker Gassett, Ivan Fernandez

Maine Policy Review

Expanding and expediting access to climate change information can improve collective action outcomes. Accordingly, the Maine Climate Action Plan called for the creation of an information-coordinating hub, to enable effective and efficient use of climate information in Maine’s climate change response. To aid that need, the University of Maine created the Maine Climate Science Information Exchange (MCSIE) office as a gateway to information about climate-relevant research, the scientists conducting that research, and the most recent data and applied science efforts relating to Maine’s climate change strategies. The office was established in 2023, after a year of developing prototypes of the …

The Surprising Oceanography Of The Gulf Of Maine, Nicholas R. Record, Benjamin Tupper, Johnathan Evanilla, Kyle Oliveira, Camille Ross, Logan Ngai, Karen Stamieszkin

Maine Policy Review

The oceanography of the Gulf of Maine has changed in ways that have not been seen previously but that are likely to be more common in the future–changes like extreme rapid warming and declines in primary productivity. The changing oceanography has underpinned surprising losses in commercial stocks and endangered species. Because of the rapid rate of change, some have viewed the Gulf of Maine as a window into the ocean’s future, with the idea that lessons learned can be applied in places that have yet to experience similar rapid changes. We can examine the dynamics, origin, and implications of surprising …

Why Is The Depletion Of Our Important Fish Stocks So Persistent?, James A. Wilson

Maine Policy Review

In the 1980s and 1990s, two events changed the fundamental structure of Maine's coastal ecology: inshore herring and then nearshore groundfish stocks were overfished and disappeared. Surprisingly, even without fishing, there has been no recovery. Standard fisheries management assumes that the recovery of any locally overfished place should be quick – fish from other places will 'fill in.'

In contrast, recent scientific work on social learning among animals suggests that fish have communication and learning abilities comparable to other vertebrates. Learning allows groups of fish to adapt to much more local places than possible if adaptation depended on genetics alone. …

The Conflict With Lobstering, And Why Whales Are Critical To Ocean Health And The Gulf Of Maine, Toby Stephenson

Maine Policy Review

Whales play a vital and under-appreciated role in maintaining the health of the entire Gulf of Maine ecosystem, and mitigating threats to whales will have benefits that reach all corners of the food web, from plankton to baitfish to lobster and far beyond. In this commentary, the author examine the conflict between Maine’s lobster industry and whales and discuss reasons why Maine people should be concerned about and try to protect whales and the overall health of the Gulf of Maine ecosystem.

Maine’S Potential To Be A Global Leader In Sustainable Seaweed Harvesting And Management, Hannah M. Webber, Stefan Claesson, Shep Erhart, Catherine V. Schmitt, Jessica F. Muhlin

Maine Policy Review

A multitude of macroalgae (i.e., seaweed) species that are harvested in Maine are economically and ecologically important. Currently, management of these resources in Maine is focused on rockweed (Ascophyllum nodosum). This seaweed grows in abundance along intertidal rocky shores and provides a number of benefits including serving as habitat and nursery for many species including fin-fish, coastal protection from storms and sea level rise, carbon sequestration, and is a harvestable natural resource used primarily in fertilizer and animal feed production. It is critical that these functions and benefits are maintained and harvesting activities managed to ensure a sustainable …

Communicating Care In Coastal Fisheries: Restoration, Adaptation, And Collaborative Policy Change, Bridie Mcgreavy, Gabrielle V. Hillyer, Jessica Gribbon Joyce, Emily Farr, B Lauer, Anthony Sutton, Katie Moody, Jessica P. Batchelder, Ishani Jayamaha, Marissa Mcmahan Ph.D.

Maine Policy Review

The soft-shell clam fishery in Maine and Wabanaki homelands is in a state of crisis, or so say most news reports about this fishery. While there is ample evidence that small-scale fisheries and the communities these fisheries support are rapidly changing, the crisis narrative conceals more than it reveals about how communities are actively responding and the longer-term histories to which these changes are connected. In this paper, we describe the dominance of the crisis narrative in news reports about clamming and we connect with critiques in Native American and Indigenous Studies and environmental communication that describe some of the …

Comanagement In Maine: Integrating Fishermen’S Ecological Knowledge Into Government Oversight Of Fisheries, Anne Hayden

Maine Policy Review

Comanagement is the sharing of responsibility for management between fishermen and fisheries agencies. It shifts fishermen’s incentives to include longer term conservation goals, generates fine-scale information for management that would not otherwise be available, and develops fishing strategies that are consistent with conservation. Analysis of comanaged fisheries in Maine, for lobster, clams, river herring, and scallops, indicates that comanagement improves fisheries productivity and is more effective than standard, top-down, broad-scale fisheries management.

Is Aquaculture A Path To Community Resilience In Maine?, Benjamin J. Cotton, Caroline L. Noblet, Bruce Wyatt, Keith S. Evans, Mario F. Teisl

Maine Policy Review

Coastal towns across Maine face a number of challenges maintaining resilience, posing a threat in their response to disaster. Aquaculture has been presented as a potential solution for some coastal communities; however, the question of ‘fit’ is a source of debate within Maine. Decision-makers may seek further understanding of citizens’ perceptions of their community’s resilience and marine aquaculture, including preferences for supporting growth of the sector across the state's coastal region. To provide this information, we analyze data from a survey of Maine citizens. We assess residents’ perceptions of community resilience and whether marine aquaculture supports resiliency goals along the …

Lessons For The Future From 50 Years Of Maine Fisheries, Robin Alden

Maine Policy Review

Fifty years of technological advances in fishing and the differing consequences of state and federal scientific and regulatory methods are examined to discern lessons for the future of Maine’s fisheries. This examination suggests that Maine’s fishery management is consistent with the governance approach recommended from study of social-ecological systems (SES), an adaptive systems approach suitable for an era of climate change. Maine’s regulations have demonstrated a way to break the pattern of overfishing and persistent depletion that has characterized fishing for over 200 years. As the gulf changes, the state’s coastal community fisheries have a strong foundation for incorporating a …

Driving The Workhorse: Maine’S Reliance On The Nearshore Environment, Angela Brewer

Maine Policy Review

The changing character of Maine’s coastal ecosystems has accelerated in full view of the users most reliant on nearshore habitats and the species they support. Adaptation and diversification facilitate continued harvest of Maine’s iconic ocean bounty, which supports the coastal economy despite compounding stresses from upland development, warmer and more acidic waters, and invasive species. Use intensification in the nearshore environment calls for coordinated discussions to nurture and innovate within and across habitats to preserve their longevity and sustain the people that depend on them. Recent legislative support for eelgrass and salt marsh mapping, and estuarine and marine water quality …

Who’S Who In Maine Aquaculture? Understanding The Landscape Of Aquaculture Actors And Priorities, Caitlin Cleaver, Robin Fail, Molly Miller, Emily Farr, Jessica Batchelder, Marissa Mcmahan Ph.D., Maeve Staab

Maine Policy Review

The Maine aquaculture sector has been rapidly evolving in the last 15 years and is looked to as an area of economic development potential for the state. While there are many actors engaged in aquaculture development, there is less clarity around whose priorities are shaping the direction of the sector, how those priorities have evolved over time, and who benefits. Our paper seeks to answer the following question: Who has shaped aquaculture development priorities in Maine, and how? Through the analysis of organizational priorities, written testimony, and grant funding information, we will document the role of different actors and summarize …

Fishing Industry Perspectives On The Development Of Offshore Wind, Christine M. Beitl, Julia Hiltonsmith

Maine Policy Review

The Maine Legislature recently passed LD 1895 to advance the development of offshore wind to meet the state’s clean energy targets. This article explores general concerns among commercial fishermen about the potential impacts of offshore wind and identifies some of the mechanisms in place to support Maine’s fisheries during this time of critical technological change. First, we trace the history and provide a brief overview of policy and action around offshore wind in Maine. Then we present fishing industry perspectives heard at public hearings and events that were organized to proactively reduce conflicts in marine spatial planning through stakeholder engagement. …

Aquaculture In Shared Waters: Lessons For Diverse And Inclusive Workforce Training, Teresa R. Johnson, Jessica Veo

Maine Policy Review

In 2021, the Maine Aquaculture Road Map identified four broad goals as critical to sustainably strengthening Maine’s aquaculture sector over the next ten years, with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) listed as being important. This commentary reflects on lessons learned from the Aquaculture in Shared Waters (AQSW) training program. We describe the program, share key accomplishments and challenges, and consider opportunities for enabling more inclusive and equitable entry into the aquaculture sector.

Citizen And Community Science Approaches To Understanding Changes In Coastal Habitats Using Anecdata.Org, Alexis Garretson, Cait Bailey, Ashley Taylor, Alexis Dabulewicz, Beth Bisson, Nathan Dorn, K. Kaczor, Mary Ann Nahf, Hannah Webber, Mark Whiting, Jane Disney

Maine Policy Review

Coastal ecosystems are facing increasing threats from human activities and environmental changes. Climate change, in particular, presents challenges for policymaking as it is causing significant changes to the oceans and coastlines, with social, economic, and environmental impacts on coastal communities. However, there is often a lack of data at the appropriate scales to address these concerns. Online tools that support the collection of citizen science and community science data can provide stakeholders and policymakers with a wealth of information and data on ocean-related topics, such as water quality, marine biodiversity, and ocean health. Citizen science platforms, like Anecdata.org, can facilitate …

Maine’S Congressional Delegation Reflections On Our Shared Ocean, Susan M. Collins, Angus King, Chellie Pingree, Jared Golden

Maine Policy Review

Maine Policy Review submitted a series of questions to Maine’s Congressional Delegation to get their take on issues confronting “Our Shared Ocean” and the public policies they are engaged in to ensure Maine’s coast and ocean and their associated livelihoods remain protected for future generations.