Sterling Terrain V02 - Flipbook - Page 16
14 | Sterling College
Maine Coastal
Food Systems
Written By
Dr. Carol Dickson, Faculty in Environmental
Humanities & Associate Dean of
Academics & Advising
The water in the plastic five-gallon pail has
turned impossibly bright red, and there is
barely room for any more mackerel. Most
of our group has never fished before, so
our expectations are tempered, but this
busy concrete pier has proven bountiful,
and we lose count of how many fish have
been caught and cleaned.
We are in Eastport, Maine, practically
the farthest east you can get in the U.S.,
and home to one of the deepest harbors
on the east coast. Families, tourists, and
commercial fisherfolk all share this space
with our group of ten students exploring
downeast Maine through the Sterling field
course Coastal Community Food Systems. Paul Molyneaux, writer, teacher,
fisherman, and author of the book Swimming in Circles: Aquaculture and the End
of Wild Oceans, demonstrates casting,
and everyone quickly gets the hang of it.
Student Matt Shawyer shows us how to
clean the fish, so that later we can pan-fry
the mackerel on a camp stove and share a
delicious meal with Paul. At the end of the
day, as we pack up, the boy fishing with his
family next to us throws a few more mackerel in our bucket for good measure.
While Sterling’s Sustainable Agriculture &
Food Systems curriculum focuses primarily on terrestrial food systems, this course
offered students insights into coastal
food systems, foodways, communities
and cultures. Our journey took us to much
of the downeast Maine coast between
Belfast to Lubec. For many of us, however,
the day on the Eastport pier served as a
microcosm of the entire learning experience. Having learned about the ecological and regulatory issues of commercial
ocean fishing, we had the opportunity to
participate intimately in a genuine “ocean
to plate” experience.
As we explored other ecosystems and
other fisheries, our curriculum followed a
similar learn-and-eat pattern. On bays, we
met shellfish farmers who were innovating alternatives to plastic for their oyster
gear and more sustainable approaches to
seeding – and shared freshly harvested
oysters with us. In tidepools, we gathered
mussels which we later boiled for dinner. In intertidal zones, we learned about
the life cycles of seaweed species from
our co-leader, Lydia Lapporte, who later
demonstrated a range of ways to prepare
and eat various seaweeds. And, while we
didn’t haul in lobster traps ourselves, we
discussed the physical, social, and economic challenges of lobstering with two
young “lobstermen” (a term used nearly
universally), which lingered in our minds
as we ate at a lobster shack the following
day. Salmon offered parallel but distinct
lines of inquiry: river restoration efforts
toward renewing populations of wild Atlantic salmon and a proposed salmon farm
that has polarized the city of Belfast.
Photos: Carol Dickson