BANGOR – The Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries will not be able to operate its annual “lunch and learn” series at its facility in Stonington this summer as normal. With a move to virtual meetings, the center has the ability to reach more people.
It is a series folks came to look forward to in the summer. The Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries has been inviting around 40 people to its facility on the last Friday of the month in the summer, bag lunch in hand, to learn about different types of fisherman. This year it cannot happen in person, at least in the early summer, due to COVID-19 safety measures.
“Everything’s changed and we’re unable to open up quite yet to have in person experience, so everyone’s getting used to webinars,” said MCFC president Paul Anderson.
The Center’s summer talk series will go virtual in 2020, starting this Friday, May 29.
As “lunch and learn” starts on Zoom, it is a chance for more people to learn about the coastal fishing industry.
“We’ve already got sixty or seventy people registered for this Friday’s event, I have a feeling that we’re actually going to get more visibility and more participation and attendance because people are able to come in from home,” said Anderson.
Friday’s series-opening talk will revolve around alewife fisheries and the return of the fish to Maine waters, scheduled to take place during the breed’s annual upstream migration to freshwater bodies for spawning.
“[It shows] what it means to have an opening up of some rivers and ponds, removing impediments and dams and other things in the way because we feel that is a strong indicator of habitat restoration and ecological health,” said Anderson.
Each talk is capped at 100 participants, but the talks will be posted on social media at later dates. To register, visit the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries website.
