Mitchell Center to host talk on lessons from fisheries for burgeoning ocean industries
The Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine will host a talk titled ”Gulf of Maine development: What can fishing teach us?” on Monday, Sept. 30 at 3 p.m.
Robin Alden, a longtime and now retired leader in Maine fisheries, will discuss what lessons emerging industries like aquaculture and offshore wind power can take from the commercial fishing industry as they seek to create value by operating within the changing ecology of the Gulf of Maine. She will also highlight the gulf as a complex ecosystem and long-standing policies that have regulated commercial fishing in the state.
Alden, who previously earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from UMaine, has been involved in fisheries since the early 1970s when she founded Commercial Fisheries News. She was a public member of New England Fishery Management Council, Maine commissioner of marine resources for former governor and current U.S. Sen. Angus King, and cofounded the Maine Fishermen’s Forum and Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries. She retired in 2018 and lives in Stonington with her husband, Ted Ames.
All talks in the Mitchell Center’s Sustainability Talks series, which feature speakers from diverse backgrounds, are free and are offered both remotely via Zoom and in person in 107 Norman Smith Hall at UMaine.
Registration is required to attend remotely. To register and receive connection information, visit the event webpage. To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Ruth Hallsworth, 207.581.3196; hallsworth@maine.edu.