Frenchman Bay Partners will be carrying out the projects defined in the goals of the Frenchman Bay Plan. Current projects include Community Outreach and Education, Conservation, and producing a Frenchman Bay Plan, a State of the Bay Report, and a Frenchman Bay Atlas.
The Hancock County Planning Commission recently published a draft of the Blue Hill Bay Watershed Needs Assessment in partnership with Friends of Blue Hill Bay. The purpose of the assessment is to identify the environmental, economic, and social needs and assets of Blue Hill Bay. Click More information on the Blue Read more…
“Seagrasses in Classes” is an academic year education program in five Mount Desert Island region elementary, and two inland high schools. The program is a school-year extension of the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory’s efforts to restore and study eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds in northern Frenchman Bay. Eelgrass is a native seagrass that grows underwater in thick beds just below low tide in sheltered coastal areas and in river estuaries. Eelgrass is an essential component of the coastal marine ecosystem. It offers protection to small fish and shellfish and buffers the ocean from intrusions of sediment and pollution. Scientists and interns affiliated with MDIBL’s Community Environmental Health Laboratory have established a restoration site near Hadley Point in Bar Harbor, and are studying the efficacy of different methods of eelgrass replanting, the broadcast of eelgrass seeds by currents, and the population genetics of eelgrass communities.
The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL) hosted a meeting and dinner for mussel harvesters from the Maine Mussel Harvester Association on January 31, 2013 at Gordon’s Wharf in Sullivan, ME. The gathering had a dual purpose: to appreciate the mussel harvesters for their collaboration on eelgrass restoration projects in the past, and to garner their input on proposed eelgrass restoration areas for the future. The mussel harvesters who attended either drag for “wild mussels” or they harvest “seed mussels” for aquaculture lease sites in Frenchman Bay. “The group here represents one hundred percent of bottom-dredge mussel processors in Maine,” said Ralph Smith, of Moosabec Mussels, “you’ve got Eastern Maine Mussels, Acadia Aqua Farms, Moosabec Mussels, and Atlantic Shellfish.”
A new initiative in the MDI and Frenchman Bay Area is called Clean Water, Clean Shores. September 17th, 2011 was the 2nd annual event, with multiple clean-up efforts taking place. Clean-ups in the Frenchman Bay area included Hadley Point to Salisbury Cove, Bar Harbor and Bar Island, Lamoine shoreline, Long Read more…
Most of the available clam resource in Bar Harbor is at Hadley Point and in Thomas Bay. Clam harvests are regulated by the town which has an ordinance. There are conservation areas on the east and west side of Hadley Point. Both areas have been closed in the past Read more…
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL) is working to restore eelgrass habitat that serves as essential nursery areas for commercially important marine species in the Gulf of Maine. Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a unique flowering plant, formerly occurring in widespread meadows in sub-tidal areas along many coastlines in the Northern Read more…