Maine is known around the world for its lobster. Take, for example, the Maine Lobster Festival, recently held in nearby Rockland. Thousands of visitors descended on the sparkling harbor to enjoy steamed lobster and shore dinners prepared by local volunteers. There were lobster rolls and lobster chowder and lobster queens, foot races across floating lobster crates, lobster eating contests for kids, and lobster cooking competitions for amateur chefs. This region loves its lobstering industry and the hard working men and women whose efforts make all that delicious goodness possible. We want to help sustain this way of life for many generations to come. Diversifying and being scientifically informed and open minded is absolutely necessary at this juncture.
We know that the Gulf of Maine is warming quickly. The water is becoming more acidic. This can erode the shells of crustaceans and may impact lobsters' sense of smell. With the massive shifts in chemistry, temperature, and interdependent ecosystems, humans must pivot how we fish and farm. We can react rationally and be proactive. One way to contribute to the health of the ocean is this: Aquaculture. Farming oysters, mussels, and seaweed is sustainable and potentially very profitable.
We were lucky enough to be invited on an educational tour hosted by The Island Institute, a Rockland-based nonprofit organization that works to ensure Maine’s coastal communities thrive. A diversified, climate-forward economy is an integral part of their mission at this point. To learn more about the current state of affairs, we spent the day on the water - in an electric boat, no less - with a group of scientists, politicians, farmers, fishermen, and other stakeholders. When the news cycle seems overloaded with nothing but doomsday scenarios, we were quite heartened to see things up close, and hear from folks in the trenches.
There is work to be done. Hard truths to swallow. We must adapt. And not tomorrow, but now! Consider this Charles Darwin line: “It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.”
Here are a few key takeaways from the experience:
Shey Conover, who was an Island Institute Fellow, along with her husband Josh, who was a lobsterman from the age of 11 and holds an agribusiness management degree from the University of Maine, started Marshall Cove Mussels located on Islesboro, which is an hour and a half boat ride from Rockland, Maine, 7 years ago. They now sell upwards of 7,000 pounds of mussels a month, to local restaurants but more to wholesale operations. Their business has a few year round employees and adheres to rigorous standards for their production. They use rafts to farm wild caught seeds that grow up 40 foot ropes. They hand harvest the mussels with a sustainable, scalable, business model. The Conovers are Maine natives. They are eye witnesses to an industry that must confront the difficult realities of a changing seascape. They are putting it all on the line to enact a different kind of economy, one that envisions a climate forward industry and employs best practices to see this through for future generations.
Mussels are delicious and nutrient dense. They are both environmentally and economically a wise investment. Home cooks can buy a bag of rope grown Maine mussels for not much money. Steam them in a large pot with wine or beer, butter, olive oil, garlic, shallots, perhaps some bacon, a little cream, and they are wonderful. It's good planning to have a lot of crusty bread on hand for all the wonderful broth in the bowl. Like lobster, eating mussels is messy and communal. You dive in, with both hands, and can't forget where this food comes from. Eating Maine lobster or Maine mussels connects folks to the sea. When you are connected to nature, you care for it more. It's one of the real reasons Maine remains an iconic place to vacation, and has near-mythic connotations in the minds of many. It's a serene place on the surface, but a wild one at heart.
We are committed to serving food that is local, sea-to-table, as much as possible. Our restaurant, The Causeway, participates every spring in Maine Seaweed Week. Our Executive Chef, Gil Plaster creates a new dish that features a type of hyper local kelp, such as sugar kelp or Alaria, sometimes termed ‘wild Atlantic wakame. And while it might give some pause to be offered a plate of seaweed for consumption in a high end restaurant, consider for a moment that lobster is considered a delicacy, and that outside of Maine it can be exorbitantly expensive, but it is, in actuality, a bottom dwelling ocean bug that looks, frankly, like a bit of a monster and that we cook live and eat by cracking its exoskeleton with our bare hands. Food is often what we are used to, and there are cultural and historical forces to consider. Remember that lobster was once food fed to prisoners before you judge eating nutrient-dense seaweed.
Oysters are another aspect of aquaculture with which we have recently become well acquainted. A few mornings a week some of our team has been heading out by kayak to work on a floating oyster farm with Aphrodite Oysters. The Causeway Restaurant has been serving these gorgeous oysters for years, both raw on the half shell and chargrilled with bone marrow butter. And we love their flavor and texture and the folks who harvest them. But we now have a newfound respect for the process and the labor that goes into each briny gem. It is physically demanding, as one might expect. There is weather to contend with, as well as the delicate conditions of salt to fresh water. Flipping, scrubbing, sorting, swimming, hauling, harvesting, at the whim of Mother Nature. We salute the oyster farmers of the world, but especially our Maine neighbors!
Our day with The Island Institute was enlightening. It was exciting. It gave us hope for the future of fishing and life in Maine. This is extremely important to us, as stewards of a historic property in a beautiful place, as business owners, and leaders in this community. We love this village. We love fishermen. We love lobster! We recently had a sensational buttery lobster roll packed with sweet meat at nearby McLoons, a lobster shack on the water ten minutes from the Craignair Inn by the Sea. There are some things we cannot change. But wherever we can, in whatever ways we are capable, we will work and support and advocate for forward thinking movements to keep Maine healthy, environmentally, economically, and for its people. We have hope!
Spending time in Maine is restorative. When you are a guest at The Craignair Inn by the Sea you will be immersed in nature. You will discover the sounds and smells of ocean life. You will feel like you have traveled back in time to a simpler, greener world. You will notice things you may not see at home, and you become invested in the environment. The beauty of this place is infectious. Loving it is almost unavoidable. Plan your visit to a region of the United States that is wild and wonderful. Join us here in Spruce Head, Maine for your next vacation! And make sure you order the mussels, seaweed, and oysters here and wherever they are on the menu!