A strange brown tint showing up in parts of Casco Bay has some Maine lobstermen and clammers worried.<\/p>\n
The Maine Department of Marine Resources is keeping an eye on a phytoplankton bloom called Karenia mikimotoi, which has been spotted from Portland Harbor down toward Harpswell. It\u2019s been about nine years since this particular phytoplankton has appeared in Casco Bay.<\/p>\n
The good news is that it\u2019s not considered dangerous to people, and seafood that\u2019s alive and properly harvested is still safe to eat. The concern is what it can do to marine life.<\/p>\n
The bloom can make the water look noticeably brown, and it can reduce oxygen levels in the water. That\u2019s a problem for fish and shellfish, especially in places where the bloom becomes more concentrated.<\/p>\n
Some lobstermen in Portland Harbor have reportedly lost lobsters being kept in wet storage crates overnight. In one case, several lobsters died in a single crate.<\/p>\n
WGME explained in part,\u00a0farther up the coast, clammers in areas like Maquoit Bay and Middle Bay say they\u2019re seeing a big drop in their daily harvests. Some who would normally dig four or five bushels of littleneck clams are now getting only one or two.<\/p>\n
State officials say current concentrations are still much lower than what Maine saw during a larger bloom in 2017, but fishermen and shellfish growers are hoping it doesn\u2019t continue to spread.<\/p>\n
Similar blooms have also been reported along the New Hampshire and Massachusetts coast.<\/p>\n
For now, it\u2019s more of a concern for Maine\u2019s marine industry than for seafood lovers.<\/p>\n
10 Maine Restaurants That Closed in July and August 2026<\/p>\n
Gallery Credit: Sean McKenna<\/p>\n
30 Maine Restaurants to Grab Delicious Takeout<\/p>\n
Thanks to our great listeners, we compiled a list of many of Maine’s best joints to grab takeout. These spots can be found statewide, waiting for you to try them.<\/p>\n
How many of these have you had?<\/p>\n
Gallery Credit: Chris Sedenka<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A strange brown tint showing up in parts of Casco Bay has some Maine lobstermen and clammers worried. The Maine Department of Marine Resources is keeping an eye on a phytoplankton bloom called Karenia mikimotoi, which has been spotted from Portland Harbor down toward Harpswell. It\u2019s been about nine years since this particular phytoplankton has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[5310,5308,5306,5309,5307,7092],"class_list":["post-5620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-maine","tag-maine","tag-maine-dining","tag-maine-food","tag-maine-grocery-stores","tag-maine-restaurants","tag-offbeat"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117261761665413411","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}