Maine Trawl Surveys 2000 to 2018

Maine /NH Trawl Surveys 2000 - 2018 Source: Maine DMR

"The Maine-New Hampshire Inshore Trawl Survey is a resource assessment survey performed along the coastal waters of Maine and New Hampshire. Bi-annual surveys, spring and fall, have been conducted since the fall of 2000" DMR website.

Images from two 2000 trawl tows

• Year 1 (2000-01) Report - pdf file, 4.9 MB
• Year 2 (2001-02) Report - pdf file, 10.3 MB
• Year 3 (2002-03) Report - pdf file, 3.0 MB
• Year 4 (2003-04) Report - pdf file, 4.1 MB
• Year 5 (2004-05) Report - pdf file, 8.2 MB
• Year 6 (2005-06) Report - pdf file, 1.1 MB
• Year 7 (2006-07) Report - pdf file, 5.9 MB
• 2007 Annual Report - pdf file, 1.7 MB
• 2008 Annual Report - pdf file, 5.6 MB
• 2009 Annual Report - pdf file, 4.6 MB
• 2010 Annual Report - pdf file, 6.1 MB
• 2011 Annual Report - pdf file, 5.3 MB
• 2012 Annual Report - pdf file, 7.3 MB
• 2013 Annual Report - pdf file, 3.6 MB
• 2014 Annual Report - pdf file, 3.6 MB
• 2015 Annual Report - pdf file, 4.0 MB
• 2018 Annual Report - pdf file, 3.2 MB

Lower Saint George River - as a shellfishery and as receiving waters for Thomaston and Warren Sewage treatment plants discharges

A bit of information about the lower Saint George River's softshell clam stocks and the govt records of the  two sewage treatment plants that discharge into it.  Both clams and the treatment plants appear to be doing well, each possibly for different reasons.

St George River Shellfish and Sewage treatment plants 

Soft-Shell Clam Recruitment in the St. George and Weskeag Rivers (2017 & 2018)

Regional clam ordinance for Saint George South Thomaston, Thomaston, Cushing and Warren

Georges River Regional Shellfish Ordinance  

&  Georges River Regional Interlocal Clam Management Agreement of 2002  (table of contents below)

Sewage Treatment plants that pump into the lower Saint George

Links to their EPA pollution webpages The most recent  sewage license  and the one before.

Thomaston sewer permit 2018

Thomaston sewer permit  2003

Warren Sanitary district sewer permit 2016 

Warren sanitary district sewer permit 2010

Maine Water Company discharge permit 2016  (in Warren)

 Table of Contents of a Review of this SG  Interlocal Agreement. by Togue Brawn et al Full pdf

Chapter 1 reviews the purposes and methods of the study. 

Chapter 2  Clam biology & the principles of soft-shell clam management. 

Chapters 3 and 4 History and background of clam harvesting and mgmt in Maine. 

Chapter 5  The Georges River Program, its development and  details of its organization and scope.

 Chapter 6 Literature review on fisheries economics, rational choice theory, externality theory, collective action theory and co-management

Chapter 7 State of Maine landings data obtained from the Department of Marine Resources. It compares catch per unit of effort figures between the Georges River estuary and the state as a whole both prior to and post management. 

Chapter 8 discusses how the theories and facts discussed in the previous chapters are relevant to the Georges River Program. In particular, it examines the relevance of co-management theory versus economic theory. It also discusses the program's potential for long-term success, and what lessons can be learned from the program and applied to fisheries management theory in general

End

PART 2 THE SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANTS

Useful part of the 2003 Thomaston sewer permit

"The applicant has applied for a renewal of Waste Discharge License (WDL) #W002643-46-B-R, which was issued on August 26, 1996 and expired on August 26, 2001. 

"The WDL authorized the disposal of treated sanitary waste water by discharge to the St. George River in Thomaston, Maine and for disposal via a surface waste water disposal system (hereafter referred to as spray irrigation). 

"The previous [1996] license authorized the discharge of 0.46 million gallons per day (MGD) of treated sanitary waste water to the St. George River until the completion of the new treatment lagoons but no later than March 31, 1998. 

After completion of the new treatment lagoons or after March 31, 1998 whichever came first, Thomaston was authorized to discharge 0.9 MGD of treated waste water to the St. George River during the months of January, February, and March of each year and to spray irrigate 0.65 MGD of waste water on land during the period April 15 through October 31 each year. 

Useful part of the 2018 Thomaston Sewage Permit

 Permit #ME0100668, (permit hereinafter) that was issued by the Department on April 10, 2013, for a five-year term. The MEPDES Permit/ WDL authorized the operation of an aerated facultative sanitary wastewater treatment lagoon system with two wastewater disposal options. From January I through March 31 each year, the permittee was authorized to discharge up to a monthly average flow of 0.9 million gallons per day (MGD) of treated sanitary wastewater to the St. George River, a Class SB water in Thomaston, Maine. 

From April 1 through November 30 each year, the petmittee was authorized to spray irrigate treated waste via a surface wastewater disposal system onto land in Thomaston, Maine. 

On June 6, 2017, the permit was modified authorizing the permittee to operate the surface waste water disposal system to dispose of 30 million gallons of treated effluent via creating ice piles between December 1 and March 31. 

The Maine Commons, Volumes 1 - 16. "Reclaiming our country, culture and consciousness from corporate rule" 2001-2004

The Maine Commons A Maine Independent Media Center Production.   "Reclaiming our country, culture and consciousness from corporate rule" 2001-2004

The  pdf files below are 16 editions of the Maine Media Commons, which  focused on: "viewpoints and stories that have been ignored or distorted by the corporate media, and issues of effects of corporate control on the freedom of expression."  (More editions as located)  Editors/writers: Hillary Lister, Laura Childs, Carolyn Chute, Rob Fish, Rob Waite and many other contributors.

Listed headlines are randomly chosen from pg 1 stories of each edition

1 Autumn 2001.Open Letter to President Bush 

2. Nov-Dec 2001. War or War? By Carolyn Chute     

3. Jan-Feb 2002.  Radioactive speaks with head of Bangor Central Labor Council

4. March2002. Belgrade Pines Avoid The Axe; Truck Fine Controversy

5. April May 2002.  A Shoe, a Shirt and a 2x4 for Snowe and Collins. 

6. June-July 2002. Fighting the Fed: American Liberty Dollars.

7. July-Aug 2002. The Widening Gap: Maine vs the DOT

8. Sept-Oct 2002.  So Whatever Happened To Freedom Of Assembly?

9. Oct-Nov 2002. Who Owns Maine? 

10. Dec 2002 Maine Lost History  Project : Racism in Maine.

11. Mar-April 2003. Maine's antiwar movement heats up.       

12. May 2003 Life After Layoff- A Woman's Perspective

13. July-Aug 2003. Maine DHS: Reporting on a Broken Bureaucracy

14. Late Fall 2003. Does Maine Need More Jailbirds?

15. Spring 2004. The Global Economy Hits Home

16.Fall 2004. The Theater of American Elections

Penobscot Bay History 2003 - EPBEA turns back Norwegian fish pen applicant,

EAST PENOBSCOT BAY FISHPEN APPLICATIONS WITHDRAWN!
Statement from the East Penobscot Bay Environmental Alliance\

The East Penobscot Bay Environmental Alliance (EPBEA), part of the Friends of Blue Hill Bay, is pleased to announce that Jorn Vad has withdrawn his applications to lease 30 acres of water for finfish aquaculture off Scott and Pickering Islands near Little Deer Isle.

The Aquaculture Hearing Examiner for the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) confirmed in a letter signed March 28, 2003, that the applications have been withdrawn, and that the pre-hearing conference and hearings scheduled for April in Brooksville and Deer Isle have been cancelled.

Not stated in the DMR letter, but implied by the communication from Mr. Vad to DMR, was that Mr. Vad would collect more information on the sites this summer and then may decide to re-apply for the leases next fall.

Although this may be a temporary victory for those opposed to the pen sites, we must continue to be vigilant and strengthen our own case against what we consider to be an inappropriate use of this area of East Penobscot Bay.

EPBEA was prepared to provide a wide array of fact and expert witnesses to expose the weaknesses of the Vad applications and show why these sites were not appropriate for large-scale finfish aquaculture. EPBEA has been collecting its own data and doing its own analysis for the last 18 months and would have provided a much more comprehensive analysis of the sites than either Mr. Vad or DMR has provided to date.

EPBEA was being aided in its fight against the Vad applications by the United Fishermen of Penobscot Bay, which was being represented by attorney John Foster of Eastport.

In the last two weeks of March, first EPBEA, and then the Fishermen's Group, filed petitions with DMR asking for a delay in the hearings because Mr. Vad had failed to mark the corners of the site at least 60 days before the hearing as required by the leasing regulations.

The entrance into the fray of a large group of local fishermen was a significant addition of strength to the intervenor effort and may have been responsible for the eleventh hour capitulation by Mr. Vad on the current application.

EPBEA has also had the excellent support and advice of Roger Fleming and the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF).

Since Sally McCloskey formed EPBEA almost two years ago and led the group for its first 18 months, CLF has been a staunch ally and helped EPBEA in its successful petition drive to bring needed changes in aquaculture regulations before the DMR.

CLF and EPBEA also intervened in Jorn Vad's Perry finfish lease applications, which were turned down by DMR, developed joint legislative initiatives, and actively intervened in the Board of Environmental Protection's proceedings to develop a general wastewater discharge permit to control the effects of finfish aquaculture on marine water quality and ecology.

Marsden Brewer, Vice President of EPBEA, has been very helpful in marshalling support within the local fishing community. Robert Gerber, President of EPBEA and a local island owner, focused on developing the technical case to demonstrate the unacceptable environmental impact that the pens would have on East Penobscot Bay.

The Board of EPBEA will meet in April to plan further actions to strengthen its demonstration that the proposed lease areas are inappropriate for finfish aquaculture.

EPBEA will also continue to work in the legislative, regulatory, and public information arenas to promote bay-wide management planning, appropriate regulation, and enhanced provision for public input into aquaculture applications.

EPBEA would like to thank all who have helped to fight these leases, attend hearings, write letters, sign petitions, give money, and donate time and energy to the cause of sound bay-wide management planning. We are deeply grateful for the community support that has emerged in this fight. We thank everyone who has taken part.

END