WORKING WATERFRONT • October 23, 2020
An op-ed column in the November issue of The Working Waterfront demands a response. The column begins by characterizing statements by Dr. Carla Guenther of the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries about the rate and cause of warming in the Gulf of Maine. The writer [Steve Kasprzak] suggested other causes than those asserted by Guenther, when in fact the causes she cited are supported by the latest peer-reviewed scientific literature. The author continues by sharing several arguments that are not just misleading, but untrue. While hydroelectric dams do impact their local environments, they are not a driver of the warming in the Gulf of Maine. Mixing this message into the narrative of the Gulf of Maine is confusing and potentially detrimental to keeping the focus on the causes of our localized warming and our strategies for mitigation. ~ Susie Arnold, Ph.D.