Press Herald quotes Bartlett in article on farming steelhead trout

The latest article in the Portland Press Herald’s “Green Plate Special” column quoted Christopher Bartlett, a research scientist with Maine Sea Grant and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. The article focused on experiments farming steelhead trout. While Maine has no steelhead trout farms, UMaine recently conducted a three-year study with Cooke Aquaculture to test whether mussels could grow alongside Atlantic salmon at Cooke’s sites in Machias Bay and Cobscook Bay, the article states. The study demonstrated the two species could grow in conjunction and also that the mussels could ingest larval sea lice, an external parasite of the salmon that can be problematic for large finfish farms, according to Bartlett, a finfish aquaculture specialist. Cooke’s officials stopped mussel production after the research project concluded, Bartlett said. Undercurrent News also reported on the study.