Herring Gut Happenings

Educating students and communities about the connections
between the ocean, inland water, and economy of Maine.

Unveiling our beautiful new touch tank and working waterfront park. On July 1st we welcomed over two hundred people for an ice cream social and ribbon cutting event celebrating the complete renovation of our fish room including a new $75,000 touch tank and the elevation and renovation of our historic bait shack.

If you couldn’t join us last week, you can stop by year-round Monday-Friday from 9-4 to tour these new additions. We are extremely grateful to receive grants from the Wyeth Foundation and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development that helped create these beautiful spaces.

The upgrades to the bait shack and lobster pound area include sound, artifact, and poster exhibits on the sardine factory, coastal science, working waterfronts and sea level rise - combined they are the start of a public working waterfront educational park. This bait shack is a historic building. We are working with Maine Preservation interns and researchers to determine if it is a Russell Porter building.

New Faces: We are very pleased to welcome our two summer educators; Jane Krausman and August Roloff. Jane has experience at research sites and conservation land around the country including Yellowstone National Park, Boston Harbor, and Catalina Island. She has a degree in Conservation Biology with a minor in Public Health from St. Lawrence University. August graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with a degree in Environmental Science and has been volunteering for us for the past six months.

Telling Our Story: We love sharing our story about the classes and programs we offer throughout Maine. Please contact us if you would like a speaker for an organization event. We want to thank the Martin Point Community House for the warm welcome we received July 8th for the launch of their summer speaker series.

Don’t Miss Our Gala!: August 5th is right around the corner, and we still have a few tickets left for an outstanding evening of food and fun at SaltWater Fields. Give us a call or click here to purchase a ticket. We will be announcing the 2026 Phyllis Wyeth Visionary award at this event.

Training the Next Generation: Six high school and college volunteers are helping HG this summer from Bard, Dartmouth, and Eckerd College, St. George MSU, Camden Hills Regional High School, and a New Hampshire high school.

Science and Art Are Natural Partners! Herring Gut has always been at the forefront of the intersection of Art, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math-STEAM. Many of our classes include data visualization, journaling, photography, video, and art components. Herring Gut is a member of a subcommittee focusing on Art, Science, and Humanities projects for the Maine Marine Science Consortium. In 2026 these include initiating an Artists in Residence joint brochure - creating an Art and Science trail map, and hosting a Blue Humanities event featuring poetry and art and crafts in Portland the first week of October.

Keeping You Safe! All year-round and summer staff renewed their All Ages First Aid | CPR AED training each year.

The Sea, the Future, and Us
Summer Gala - Tickets Going Fast!

Come Aboard Our Sunset Cruise

School Program Update

On June 3rd, Wiscasset High School students collected data on seaweed species percent coverage at Drift Inn Beach in connection with learning about the importance of seaweed to marine life and Maine’s blue economy. They also visited our intertidal animal ambassadors in their temporary home (Saltwater Lab) before our new touch tank was installed.

St. George MSU eighth-graders traveled to Allen Island for a seaweed survey and to meet with researchers. Each half of the class met with a different scientist on different days. Faculty researcher Dr. Cathy Bevier shared her research on frog diseases, specifically the chytrid fungus. Students got to examine live specimens of green frogs and salamanders. Third-year Colby student Barlow Herbst spoke about his research on Dr. Anna Foresman’s team, which studies eDNA in tree swallows’ fecal samples. They check for environmental DNA (or tiny pieces of DNA) from insects and bacteria to learn about the birds’ diet and gut microbiome to assess their health and plan ways to help the population thrive. Students were excited when a mother bird flew out of the bird box and they got to peek at the pale pink eggs!

Community Programs Update

During the 2nd and 3rd weeks of June, we welcomed two new staff members, Jane and August, to our team! We trained, built camaraderie, and prepared materials together for Marine Explorers Camp and the summer's first community programs. We also set up for our July 1st Ribbon Cutting for our new touch tank and raised bait shack!

We recently finished our first week of Marine Explorers Camp! We had so much fun exploring the tidepools, playing teambuilding games together, and learning about the different organisms that call Maine's intertidal zone home. In addition to visiting the tidepools, we did an invasive crab survey at Marshall Point and cooked with a green crab garum from Maine Garum Company to make fried rice!

We opened up our fourth summer season aboard A Morning in Maine with our Science Under Sail program on June 30th! Ten people took turns helping deploy scientific instruments to collect data on water quality parameters in Penobscot Bay and made connections to the plankton we collected from a tow at the stern of the boat. We also spotted harbor seals and porpoises!

Coming up in July:

***Educators Katie and Alaina will present about Data Art at the National Marine Educators Conference in Maryland!***

7/13 - Tidepool Trek at Marshall Point at 2:30 pm

7/14 - Science Under Sail

7/15 - Ocean Hour: Plankton & Whales

7/15 - Community Allen Island Trip

7/16 - Aquatots: Sea Stars & Urchins

7/17 - Tidepool Trek at Drift Inn Beach at 8:30 am

7/17 - Aquatots: Lobsters! at Bristol Area Library at 10:30 am

Our summer programs have something for the whole family–be sure to check them out at herringgut.org.