The Eastern Maine Skippers Program (EMSP) continues to keep programing accessible to participating schools during the ongoing pandemic. Schools are using creative ways to engage and accommodate students in the classroom while navigating the ever-changing scenarios in an effort to keep students safe and avoid outbreak situations. Participating schools include Deer Isle-Stonington High School, Ellsworth High School, Narraguagus High School, North Haven Community School, and Vinalhaven School. Two more schools, George Stevens Academy and Mount Desert Island High School are expected to offer the program in the spring semester.

EMSP students are currently focusing on safety training, funded by NIOSH, CDC, and USCG as well as the year's concurrent project theme, "Designing Your Future Fishery." Emerging projects are being developed around issues of lobster trawl end lines and retrieval, boat safety, and electrical systems. Furthermore, EMSP is involved with experimentation using underwater "reflectors" to assist fishermen in the location of buoyless benthic gear, either due to damage or potential regulation. A parallel project is forming to catalog designs and best practices for grappling up gear and challenge students to present new or refined ideas that make safety, methods, and efficiency the primary goals.

Though diligence must be paid to implementing EMSP in the classroom during these times of concern, we continue to support students and their communities by engaging the next generation with real challenges and collaborative learning opportunities.

Thanks to your generosity, this year’s Giving Tuesday was a success. YOU donated $7,882, which resulted in a total of $15,564 when your gift was matched dollar to dollar. Because of your support, we’re able to continue our work to secure a diversified fishing future for coastal communities in Eastern Maine. Our collaborative programming provides value for today’s fishermen and drives more sustainable management approaches for future fisheries. Photo Credit: Annie Taylor Gray

Earlier this month we said goodbye to four departing board members at our annual meeting. They include Jim Chesney, Brent Oliver, Susan Toder, and Tom Urmy. We thank them for their combined 32 years of dedication to MCCF, as well as their guidance and the wealth of knowledge they lent to the organization. While we are sad to see these four go, we are excited to welcome three new board members and congratulate our new Chairman of the Board, Walter Kumiega.

We welcome back Dwight Carver, a commercial fisherman from Beals, who previously served on the board for nine years. We're also pleased to have Elizabeth (Libby) Rosemeier join the board. Libby worked at George Stevens Academy for a number of years, where she became very familiar and an ardent supporter of our Eastern Maine Skippers Program. Lastly we welcome Sarah (Sally) McCloskey. Sally does abstracts and deed research for lawyers and surveyors in the registries of Hancock, Knox, Penobscot, Waldo and Washington Counties. Learn more about our board of directors by reading their full bios.