Devin, Rawson quoted in Press Herald report on ocean acidification in Gulf of Maine
Mick Devin, a marine biologist and shellfish hatchery manager at the University of Maine Darling Marine Center (DMC), spoke with the Portland Press Herald for the article, “Ocean acidification threatens future of aquaculture, shellfish industries,” which is part of the series, “Mayday: Gulf of Maine in distress.” Devin is experimenting with raising mussels in the DMC hatchery because the wild mussel population in Maine has been decimated by predators and possibly increased acidity in the Gulf of Maine, impeding the ability for mussel farmers to grow aquaculture mussels on ropes, according to the article. “Mussel farmers have been able to just throw their lines out and collect all the larvae they want from nature,” Devin said. “But mussel populations are down drastically in this state, so that may not be working so well now.” He said he expects hatcheries may have to step up in the not-too-distant future. Devin also is a Democratic Representative for District 90 and a co-chair of the commission that looked into the effects of ocean acidification in the Gulf of Maine, the article states. Paul Rawson, a marine scientist at UMaine who is in charge of the mussel research also was quoted in the article. “We know this affects larval development in bivalves, (and) chances are it will result in decreased numbers, whether it’s a natural population on a bed or one in a farm,” he said of acidic water. “We need to make sure the technology is in place so the farms will have a reliable source of seed.”