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  The Fish that Feeds All

  Ed Bassett, Brian Altvater, Richard Welch, Darrell Young, Jake Southerland, and Hugh Akagi

  Written records, oral histories, and place names suggest the importance of river herring as a food source in Downeast Maine going back hundreds of years, if not longer.

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  What if There were No River Fisheries in Downeast Maine?

  Randy Bushey, Jake Southerland, Julie Keene, Billy Milliken, Rick Welch, Darrell Young, and Brian Altvater

  Downeast’s Maine’s rivers have supported commercial, recreational, and sustenance fisheries for hundreds of years. To understand the importance of these fisheries, we asked harvesters and other community members, “What would Downeast Maine be like if there were no river fisheries?”

  Most of the community members shown in this video are alewife and elver (juvenile American eel) harvesters. Their responses largely reflect the economic importance of these fisheries in Downeast Maine. Alewives are a preferred type of bait for Maine’s lobster fishery, the largest fishery in Maine in both landings and value.

  This video was produced as part of an oral history project carried out by Maine Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries in the spring of 2014 with financial support from NOAA’s Preserve America Initiative.

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  River Restoration

  Billy Milliken, Randy Bushey, Brian Altvater, Hugh Akagi, and Ed Bassett

  Diadromous fish are those that spend part of their lives in freshwater and part at sea. There are many diadromous fish species in the rivers of Downeast Maine. These species represent important links between freshwater and marine ecosystems and have traditionally supported commercial, recreational and personal use fisheries in Downeast Maine. These fish and the fisheries they support have been negatively impacted by habitat loss due to the construction of dams and other obstructions in Maine's rivers. Much work is being done to restore and improve the river habitat.

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  Elver Economics

  Billy Milliken, Randy Bushey, Darrell Young, and Julie Keene

  Elvers are juvenile American eels. They are harvested in Maine in the spring as they migrate from the sea to freshwater. They are exported from Maine to Asian countries where they are grown to marketable size in aquaculture facilities.

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  Abundant Elvers

  Billy Milliken, Julie Keene, Randy Bushey, and Darrell Young

  Fishermen and women, by virtue of spending much of their time on the water with hooks, lines, traps, and nets, have intimate knowledge of coastal, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. They know, in detail, the local distribution, abundance, and behavior of the species they harvest, knowledge gained from years of first-hand observations and experimentation with different fishing techniques.

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  The St. Croix River

  Rich Welch, Brian Alvater, and Ed Bassett

  Alewives and blueback herring are two ecologically and economically important species that can be found in Downeast Maine's rivers. This video showcases local perspectives on the importance of the St. Croix River for alewife and blueback populations.

  This video was produced as part of an oral history project carried out by Maine Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries in the spring of 2014 with financial support from NOAA’s Preserve America Initiative.

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  Maintaining Alewife and Blueback Populations

  Darrell Young, Ed Bassett, Jake Southerland, and Rick Welch

  Alewives and blueback herring are two ecologically and economically important species that can be found in Downeast Maine's rivers. Alewives and blueback populations face many threats but commercial harvesters and other dedicated community members are working to restore and maintain healthy fish populations in Downeast Maine’s rivers. This video showcases some of their perspectives.

  This video was produced as part of an oral history project carried out by Maine Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries in the spring of 2014 with financial support from NOAA’s Preserve America Initiative.

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  Case Study: Move Back and Change Property Slope

  Joseph Cone, Susan White, and Kristen Grant

  Homeowners in Kennebunk, Maine, took advantage of an Emergency Watershed Protection Program grant administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service to make their house more resilient to storms and rising sea levels, and related flooding and erosion.

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  Cast Study: Elevate Homes on the Beach

  Joseph Cone, Susan White, Kristen Grant, and David Johnson

  Property owners should work with local Code Enforcement Officers to determine if property is in a coastal flood zone and whether or not houses must be elevated in order to be brought up to code. Prior to building a new home, property owners should consult Federal Emergency Management Agency coastal construction recommendations.

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  Case Study: Multi-hazard Mitigation

  Joseph Cone, Susan White, Kristen Grant, Fred Kennedy, and Steve Doe

  Storms, flooding, and erosion can damage coastal property and affect valued beaches, dunes, and habitat. Fred Kennedy, owner of Alouette Beach Resort, Old Orchard Beach, Maine, wanted to renovate his beach resort cottages built in the 1950s. In order to meet state regulations for building in the frontal sand dune, the building needed to be elevated on piers. The sand dune was restored and its elevation was raised by two feet to protect the new building from storm surges, as well as sea level rise.

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  Building A Resilient Coast: Introduction

  Ron Beard, Joseph Cone, Susan White, and Kristen Grant

  Coastal residents and towns need strategies to address climate change and its effects on sea-level rise, shoreline erosion, and coastal flooding. Extreme weather events can cause millions of dollars in damage and threaten coastal ecosystems and local economies. The Building a Resilient Coast project seeks to provide stakeholders with easy access to information to facilitate planning for climate and hazards impacts.