October 4, 2018 — Commercial fishing is one of Maine’s oldest industries. It is also facing rapid adjustments based on environmental changes and emerging technologies.
More than 100 Downeast area high school students gathered at the Schoodic Institute last week as part of the Eastern Maine Skippers Program to learn about these changes.
The event was the first of four “cohort” days for the program, in which students from the participating high schools meet one another, hear from industry leaders and begin shaping projects they will work on during the coming school year.
“This brings in kids from all these different communities and they get to know each other work together,” said Mike Thalhauser, a fisheries science and leadership advisor with the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries.
The Eastern Maine Skippers Program started in 2012. Since then it has expanded to over 120 students and nine schools. New this year is Sumner Memorial High School in Sullivan, which has eight students participating.
“The students will spend the next couple of months figuring out what they want to work on for the year,” said Sumner science teacher Morgan Forni, who is supervising the program at the school. “There’s a really broad range of interests for the students.
The theme for this year is technology. Over the course of the year students will look at how technology contributes to a safe and healthy fishing industry, to sustainable fishing practices, to a better future understanding of fisheries and to a thriving local fisheries economy.
In addition to the cohort meetings, participating students work on individual or group projects based on applying technology to a safe and sustainable fishing industry.