Can farming save Maines moribund fishing industry?
Options are limited. Tourist season lasts two months. The lumber and paper industries are moribund. Some fishing remains, mostly lobstering, but people worry that the stock will eventually crash. Competition from overseas and low prices has nerves frayed: a lobsterman was shot in Matinicus, Maine, an island further south, during a row over fishing territory. “You have to be a jack-of-all-trades up here,” a local later told me. “Got to do some carpentry, fishing, digging for clams and picking blueberries to make ends meet.” My contact arrives. George Nardi, who owns a year-old cod farm off Sorrento, swaps his trainers for white knee-high rubber boots as we discuss the region’s dwindling employment options. “If this project proves successful, farms like ours may offer the best chance to keep working waterfronts alive,” explains Mr Nardi. The farm has four local employees. In truth, most groundfishermen—who catch fish like cod, haddock, halibut, hake and pollock—have already disappeared,
