Visiting eastern Maine and Campobello Island, New Brunswick, is a voyage back in time, both culturally and ornithologically.
People still live off the land and sea as did their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers.
Lobster fishing, weir fishing for herring, purse seining, commercial claming, worming, wood cutting, dragging for invertebrates, and most recently, aquaculture, drive the local economy. Humans and wildlife struggle side by side, sometimes directly competing for the same limited resources. Migratory shorebird abundance and diversity is among the highest along the eastern U.S. coast. Surprising, wildlife and natural resource-dependent jobs are somewhat compatible. This balance, however, is in question in light of recent explained and unexplained population declines, or in some cases population crashes, in groundfish, migratory shorebirds, Atlantic salmon, and commercial clams.