Digital Commons Network^™

Balancing Researcher Roles: Lessons From The Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative, Amalia M. Harrington, Jessica Spelke Jansujwicz

Maine Policy Review

The increasingly complex and polarizing nature of ocean sustainability problems calls for stronger stakeholder participation in research and outreach. Science-industry collaborations have emerged in response, offering a potential solution to advance knowledge, navigate competing demands, and develop more effective management of shared ocean spaces. While promising, engaged participatory processes that emphasize co-development and co-learning among scientists and practitioners face significant challenges. In theory, the inclusion of stakeholders in the design and implementation of research and outreach serves to better incorporate different forms of knowledge, address diverse values, motivations, and interests, and fundamentally changes the way knowledge is produced, used, and …

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.

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 …

The Changing Tides Of Action To Address Ocean Acidification In Maine, Ivy L. Frignoca, Heather R. Kenyon

Maine Policy Review

As carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise worldwide, ocean acidification has become a consequence that threatens both human and natural processes. On a global scale, ocean acidification is relatively well understood. However, the complex ecosystem of the nearshore environment presents challenges for monitoring and addressing ocean acidification. In a state such as Maine, whose communities heavily depend on the health of the coastal environment, understanding this threat becomes critically important.

In 2014, Maine’s legislature established a six month study commission to investigate this problem and produce recommendations. The commission proposed a coast-wide monitoring network that could identify and use a …

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 …

The Disposal Mode Of Maine’S Waste Governance, Travis Blackmer, Brieanne Berry, Michael Haedicke, Cindy Isenhour, Susanne Lee, Jean Macrae, Deborah Saber, Erin Victor

Maine Policy Review

Maine’s materials management system is stuck in a disposal mode of waste governance. Despite significant investments in programs and policies designed to reduce the amount of waste the state buries each year, recent shocks and uncertainties have resulted in increased waste generation and disposal. This paper analyzes specific ways through which materials management in Maine has become locked in to a disposal mode of waste governance. We build a framework to help understand various forms of lock-in and how they might be unlocked. This framework is applied to the extended producer responsibility packaging law that is presently under the rule-making …

Cradle Of Conservation, Richard Judd

Maine Policy Review

Conservation history brings to mind epic battles over national parks, free-flowing rivers, and immense wilderness areas in the West. We should not overlook similar accomplishments in the East, however, where citizens and public officials pioneered the conservation movement well before John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and Theodore Roosevelt coined the term. Maine stands as an example. Not only did it establish its conservation credentials early but it also did so under complicated conditions.

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Maine And Offshore Wind Development: Using The Coastal Zone Management Act And Marine Spatial Planning To Influence Projects In Federal Waters, Mary Morrissey

Maine Policy Review

Federal and state governments have developed ambitious goals for offshore wind projects. While Maine wants to take part in this trend, it has passed a moratorium on offshore wind projects in state waters. Considering this ban, pressure to develop offshore wind energy, and potential impacts of such projects on local ecology and habitats, Maine needs to develops a strong voice in offshore wind projects in federal waters. This article looks to Rhode Island to show how Maine can participate in decisions about offshore wind development and compares Maine’s current offshore wind efforts and potential for marine spatial planning to Rhode …

Estimated Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Pfas Treatment Of Maine Drinking Water, Benjamin L. Mcalexander, Onur G. Apul, Mitchell R. Olson, Jean Macrae

Maine Policy Review

State law requires the adoption of a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PFAS contamination in drinking water by June 1, 2024. While discussion of mitigation options has included the degree of risk reduction and the cost of treatment, indirect environmental effects are missing from the conversation. Until other technologies are developed, water treatment in Maine will likely rely on the established, energy-intensive method of PFAS adsorption (binding) to granular activated carbon. We conducted an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions associated with water treatment using this treatment media to fill gaps in the discussion. We found that greenhouse gas emissions for …

Examining The Experiences Of Small, Independent Grocers During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jamie Picardy, Lisa Luken, Iris Michaud, Martha Lefebvre

Maine Policy Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed existing vulnerabilities across various sectors of the economy and society. Disruptions to the food chain have been common during the pandemic, resulting in empty shelves at grocery stores and modifications to consumer culture. Within this study, we examined resilience (characterized by flexibility, diversity, redundancy, adaptability, innovation, self-reliance and infrastructure) of small, independent grocery stores in Maine.

Missteps In Managing The Covid-19 Crisis, Joseph W. Mcdonnell

Maine Policy Review

The Covid-19 pandemic surprised the world with the speed of its spread and caught nations woefully unprepared to contain the virus but in hindsight its arrival was readily predictable. Why did the warning signs for Covid-19 go unnoticed? Why did so many leaders fail to plan for a pandemic? And why did they not recognize the outbreak and respond effectively even after the pandemic was at their doorstep? This paper will seek to answer these questions by exploring six stages in crisis management: 1) preventing the crisis, 2) planning for the crisis, 3) recognizing the crisis, 4) containing the crisis, …

Introduction, Dora Anne Mills, Amanda Rector, Linda Silka, Barbara Harrity

Maine Policy Review

Introduction to Maine Policy Review's special issue on the Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Maine.

Prospects For A Rim County Renaissance: Pandemic As Economic Opportunity, David Vail

Maine Policy Review

In previous Maine Policy Review essays, the author assessed the chronic economic distress facing Maine’s rim counties. His forecast for “more of the same” has been largely borne out by facts on the ground. At the end of 2021, however, he foresees new opportunities in the coming decade, based on a mix of positive external forces and creative Maine responses. Their economic potential is also strengthened by a massive infusion of federal dollars, the spread of high-speed telecommunications, and even the climate crisis. With critical state support, private-public-nonprofit partnerships are re-inventing rural Maine’s heritage industries—forest products, the food system, and …

American Democracy And Governance In A Polarized Era, Richard Barringer

Maine Policy Review

Where do we stand today amid America’s sharply divided politics and governance? I argue here that in less than two and a half centuries since the nation’s founding, it has gone from the espousal of democracy and the general welfare to the pursuit of autocracy and corporatism. In the absence of fundamental reforms, America’s founding principles and our national character are at risk.

Legislative Amendment Of Citizen Initiatives: Where The “Will Of The Voter” Meets The “Consent Of The Elector”, Derek P. Langhauser

Maine Policy Review

This article discusses the issues involved in legislative amendment of citizen initiatives in Maine by explaining the legislature’s authority to amend or repeal citizen initiatives, how and why the Maine Constitution specifically provides for that authority, and how and why that approach is conceptually consistent with numerous other provisions and principles of our Constitution. This article further suggests the types of issues that, regardless of the subject matter in question, the legislature should consider in deter­mining whether, and if so how and when, to change a directly democratic act of the people. Such considerations when earnestly applied can serve to …

Municipal Capacity To Respond To Covid-19: Implications For Improving Community Resilience In Maine, Vanessa R. Levesque, Eileen Sylvan Johnson, Kathleen Bell

Maine Policy Review

The authors of this article explore how 50 Maine municipalities communicated their response to COVID-19 in the earliest stages of the pandemic. The study answers two questions: (1) What information and resources did Maine municipalities communicate about COVID-19? and (2) What characterizes a more robust communication response? Analyzing digital communications from March through July 2020, the authors found almost all municipalities in our sample communicated basic information about altered town operations. Some towns provided more robust responses that evolved over time and included nuanced messages about COVID-19, a sense of community, and collaborations with partners. While smaller, more rural municipalities …

Building Youth Resiliency And Aspirations During A Crisis: Lessons Learned From Maine’S Aspirations Incubator During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sarah Krichels Goan, Elora Way, Erin Cinelli, Don Carpenter

Maine Policy Review

The Emanuel & Pauline A. Lerner Foundation’s Aspirations Incubator (AI) is a six-year pilot initiative invested in strategic capacity building for youth development organizations in rural Maine. The AI programs were halfway through the pilot when COVID-19 disrupted programming. Yet, AI programs remained connected with students throughout the transition to remote learning and COVID-19 quarantine. This paper highlights the innovative responses undertaken by the AI programs and shares critical aspects of the AI model that made these responses successful.

Gateway To Opportunity: A Promising Summer Youth Employment Model To Address Local Workforce Needs, Nikki Williams, Susy Hawes

Maine Policy Review

Throughout Maine, employers struggle to find workers with in-demand skills and competencies. Concurrently, work-eligible youth are often unable to find skill-building employment experiences. The Gateway to Opportunity (G2O) program is a comprehensive youth-adult partnership model developed in Portland, Maine, that is designed to address both of these challenges. G2O connects high-school-aged young people with paid, work-based learning projects at Maine-based businesses and nonprofits. The model for this program is based on national best practices and lessons learned from multiple highly successful summer youth employment initiatives led by Brandeis University’s Center for Youth and Communities from 2011 to 2013. This article …

The Importance Of Education And Trust Building For Wabanaki Self-Governance, Katie Tomer

Maine Policy Review

Education and trust building are inextricably intertwined parts of addressing failed efforts of the state of Maine and the Wabanaki tribes to resolve tribal self-governance issues. Lack of structural and financial support for the delivery of Wabanaki Studies Law content directly affects tribal-state relations and Wabanaki self-determination in Maine. This article examines legislative proposals, current laws, and scholarly research and explore how they relate to tribal self-governance. Maine needs strategies for trust building and increased educational experiences for all Maine residents about Wabanaki people and ways of knowing.

Forest Policies And Adaptation To Climate Change In Maine: Stakeholder Perceptions And Recommendations, Alyssa R. Soucy, Sandra De Urioste-Stone, Ivan J. Fernandez, Aaron Weiskittel, Parinaz Rahimzadeh-Bajgiran, Tom Doak

Maine Policy Review

Socioeconomic pressures require forest management to address the impacts of climate change. However, we must ask, Are current forest policies sufficient to deal with the impacts of climate change? Here, we report on two surveys of forest stakeholders in Maine including woodlot owners and forestry professionals and discuss their perceptions of the barriers to climate change adaptation. We conclude with several policy directions including reevaluating existing policies, expanding incentivebased policies, integrating adaptation efforts into mitigation efforts, and increasing communication and outreach.

The Dilemma Of Nursing Home Closures: A Case Study Of Rural Maine Nursing Homes, Mary Helen Mcsweeney-Feld, Nadine Braunstein

Maine Policy Review

Nursing home closures in the United States have accelerated in the past five years. Reasons for these closures include inadequate Medicaid reimbursement, increased emphasis on short-term rehabilitative stays for Medicare residents, geographic location of nursing homes, presence of hospital swing bed programs, and changes in Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulatory requirements for nursing homes. Increased minimum wage rates and limited on-the-job worker training have also led to staffing shortages, forcing bed reductions in nursing homes. This paper examines the premise that low Medicaid reimbursement is the primary reason for the closures of Maine nursing homes. The article evaluates …

Institutional Challenges To Workforce Development In Maine, Thomas Remington

Maine Policy Review

The problem of workforce development in Maine has become acute. An important factor for understanding the issue of workforce development, in Maine and nationally, is rising economic inequality. High inequality impedes the working of labor markets, and over time, reduces opportunity and mobility. In Maine, as elsewhere, income gaps have widened between rich and poor while the middle class has been shrinking. Moreover, the gap between high-income and low-income counties has been growing. Meantime, many good-paying jobs are going unfilled. Comprehensive institutional solutions can help overcome these problems by matching supply and demand in the labor market, but they are …

Declining Economic Opportunity And A Shrinking Safety Net: Consequences For Maine, Ryan M. Larochelle

Maine Policy Review

Ryan LaRochelle discusses the consequences of declining economic opportunity and a shrinking social safety net for Maine. LaRochelle recommends that policymakers in Augusta recognize how precarious many Mainers’ economic situations are and take action.

Sustainability Of Maine’S Emerging Wine Industry, Michaela Murray, Mark Haggerty, Stephanie Welcomer

Maine Policy Review

Consumers, businesses and business sectors, and policymakers are increasingly concerned with sustainability, and the global wine industry has long acknowledged concerns about the social, environmental, and economic sustainability of their industry. Several wine regions, including France, Australia, and South Africa, have developed workbooks and policies for sustainable wine production, but Maine’s emerging wine industry has yet to explore the concept of sustainability as it relates to its operations. In this project, designed in collaboration with the Maine Winery Guild, we interviewed the owners of 10 Maine wineries and analyzed how they define and enact sustainability along with the obstacles they …