Once little exploited by commercial fishermen, urchin harvesting began in earnest in the mid-1980s. After reaching a peak in 1993, harvests declined to less than one-tenth of that in the peak year, with the total value falling in step. As urchins became scarce, the price per pound has tripled from the peak harvest year of…
During the period 2005 through 2009, housing unit vacancy rates varied widely from 10% in Androscoggin County to over 46% in Washington County. This represents a slightly decreased disparity compared to the 2000 Census range for Maine, which was from 8.6% to 47.2%. Sources: Year 2000 map – http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ThematicMapFramesetServlet?-geo_id=04000US23&-tm_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_M00200&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U 2005-2009 map: http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
The South Waterboro Bible Chapel is in the most southern of three villages, Waterboro. See photos. The others are Waterboro Center and North Waterboro. In the last forty years the town’s population has grown phenomenally, having expanded to over six times its size as in 1970.
The community, north and west of Paris, though small, has experienced consistent population growth over the past thirty years. Its stone construction library is on the National Register of Historic Places. See photos. Snow Falls, a 40 foot waterfall, drops into a gorge created by the Little Androscoggin River about two mile south of the main village.
Westfield village lies between U.S. Routes 1 and 1A, on the Prestile Stream, just north of Mars Hill in Aroostook County’s potato country. See photos. Aside from its palette and box factory, Westfield is primarily an agricultural area, except for the marshland in the western portion of the town.
From 1950 through 2005, commercial fishermen have taken an average of 4.5 million pounds of white hake per year. Since 2005 that average has dropped to 1 million pounds, lower than any other period since 1950. Begginning in 1985 the price per pound value of these fish began to increase so that current prices are…
The boom and bust cycle of winter flounder landings by commercial fishermen has “busted” after a peak in 1982. With the scarcity, price per pound had been climbing until the fishery was closed in 2007. No landings have been recorded since then. According to NOAA’s FishWatch program, Heavy fishing pressure and habitat destruction caused winter…
Commercial fishermen are landing fewer pounds of Witch Flounder than ever since 1950. Very high unusual landings in the 1980s have been followed by a severe decline that has practically eliminated the fishery. In response, the price per pound has doubled since the 1980s. YEAR POUNDS VALUE PRICE/LB 1950 1,207,900 $62,872 $0.05 1951 1,634,700 $105,900…
After declining from 1950 to 1977, landings spiked then crashed with a consistent decline until the fishery was suspended in 2010. No landings have been recorded through 2016. During the decline in landings and total value, the price per pound continued to rise. In the deep ocean waters off New England’s coast lives one of…
This species of the commercial fishery has a post-1950 history familiar to many others: moderate or low production, then a spike with several years of substantial landings, then a crash followed by a forced closure to rebuild the stock. It appears that once the good landings created a wide market, the price per pound moved…