Diversified fishing; Shifting away from the Sunbelt
Cultured sea scallop.
From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com
A wonderful story and video by Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever describes how Maine fishermen are diversifying to address the challenges posed by overfishing and global warming.
Mr. Bever writes:
“These days it’s mostly lobster, but he {fisherman Marsden Brewer} has fished cod and shrimp, and carted urchin to market. They were all once-vibrant species, but now they’re mostly off-limits after being overfished and weakened by climate change.’’ And Mr. Brewer has moved in a big way into scallop aquaculture.
Jon Gorman, who works at Bangs Islands Mussels, told Mr. Bever:
“I see a lot of growth and you never know. We’re going to be doing scallops, then we’ll be back to mussels, and then the springtime and fall we’re into kelp. It’s fun.”
There are some good ideas in the story for southern New England fishermen.
To see and hear Mr. Bever’s report, please hit this link.
As global warming intensifies, and extreme storms, drought and floods ravage some areas, some predict a reverse migration of people from the southern and western U.S. to such places as the Upper Midwest and inland (!) New England, whose climates are expected to remain relatively moderate and that will continue to have lots of fresh water, which is actually better to have than oil, coal and natural gas!
The big population move to the Sunbelt, with all its socio-economic and political effects, may reverse in the next couple of decades – or before.
By the way, water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are four degrees warmer than “normal’’. They’ve often been warmer than “normal’’ for some years now, and at the moment are about 85 degrees. This means more fuel for hurricanes – e.g., Hurricane Michael. Keep burning those fossil fuels and maybe we can get the Gulf up to 95 degrees in the summer in a couple of decades. There won’t be much sea life left, but it will be perfect for a soothing swim. To read more, please hit this link.