Rockweed researcher Robin Hadlock Seeley to speak February 4th, 6pm, at the Belfast Free Library, 3rd floor meeting room. Free & open to all.
BELFAST. Every low tide, thousands of tidy piles of olive green rockweed lay anchored at rest atop Belfast Bay's (and almost all of Maine's) myriad intertidal ledges, piers and other hard surfaces.
They arise with each incoming tide into six foot high marine groves teeming with fish, birds and invertebrates, then collapse once more with each outgoing tide, again becoming living pockets of seawater dotting a temporarily dry landscape.
But according to Dr Robin Hadlock-Seeley, a 5th generation Mainer and Cornell University marine scientist at the Shoals Marine Laboratory, the decline of most traditional Maine coast fisheries has brought increased pressure to cut and process this brown algae into sellable seaweed meal, fertilizer and alginates.Yet the State of Maine's regulations on harvesting Rockweed are weak,
On February 4th, 6pm, Dr. Hadlock-Seeley will be guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Friends of Penobscot Bay at Belfast Free Library's 3rd floor meeting room.
She will describe the ecological importance of rockweed, the status of state and federal regulations on commercial cutting of this seaweed, more than a decade of efforts by the Rockweed Coalition to improve them, new legislation, and a plan to preserve intertidal habitat in Maine and protect rockweed beds from industrial-scale cutting. The meeting is free and open to all.
Robin Hadlock-Seeley also assisted in the development of the “Rockweed Registry",which allows landowners to register their shores as no-cut areas. Link to Rockweed registry form (pdf). Local governments, including the Passamaquoddy Tribe, have joined in placing their tidal shoreland off limits to commercial seaweed cutting.
Come to the Belfast Free Library February 4th at 6pm and learn about this critical part of our bay's, our coast's ecology and how you can make a difference, from Maine's top rockweed expert, Dr. Robin Hadlock Seeley. This event is free and open to all.
The Belfast Free Library is located at 106 High Street, Belfast, ME 04915.
For more information, contact Friends of Penobscot Bay at 593-2744 or coastwatch@gmail.com
Friends of Penobscot Bay: People who care bout Maine's Biggest Bay.
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