The Camden Conference and Rockland Public Library will present Ret Talbot in a Zoom presentation on Sept. 3 at 6:30 p.m. He will be discussing “Melting Ice, Vanishing Fish — How Climate Change in the Arctic is Affecting Maine’s Fishery.” 

As the once well-established borders between the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans become blurred by warming waters, a massive fisheries resource shift is underway. Valuable species like halibut, pollock, snow crab, and cod are appearing in larger numbers in the north as their populations diminish across more traditional fishing grounds to the south. In some cases, this means that valuable fish stocks are moving out of the territorial boundaries of one country and into those of another. In other cases, stocks are moving into international waters that are now (or soon will be) free of ice in the summer, providing a new opportunity for international commercial fishing vessels to exploit them. While some management measures, including a moratorium on fishing in the central Arctic Ocean, are in place, there are still many unknowns. This talk will discuss these issues largely through the lens of the valuable cod fishery. From the collapse of the northwest Atlantic cod fishery and the recent closure of the Gulf of Alaska cod fishery to the dramatic rise of the cod fishery in Russia with its most valuable markets in China, we’ll look at how climate-induced ecosystem changes in the Arctic are affecting global fisheries.

Ret Talbot is an award-winning journalist with over two decades of experience covering stories from some of the more remote corners of the globe. Since 2007, Talbot has worked as a full-time freelance writer and photographer, penning stories for magazines and working on book-length projects. His current work focuses largely on marine ecosystems and the myriad interactions between humans and those ecosystems. From the artisanal fisheries of the developing island nations of the Pacific to the heavily politicized commercial fisheries of Hawaii and the Gulf of Maine, Talbot spends much of his time interviewing fishers, fisheries managers, politicians, scientists, environmentalists, and other stakeholders about fisheries issues at the intersection of sustainability and science.

Ret and his wife Karen Talbot, an artist and scientific illustrator known for her work with fishes, live on the coast of Maine. They frequently collaborate on projects and love to invite guests into their home-based gallery and studio in Rockland.

The program will be hosted on the Zoom platform. Please email sbillings@rocklandmaine.gov to request a link to attend.

This event is presented in anticipation of the 34th Annual Camden Conference—The Geopolitics of the Arctic: A Region in Peril, filmed live at the Camden Opera House and around the world, and presented via Livestream on Feb. 20-21, 2021.

The mission of the Camden Conference is to foster informed discourse on world issues. For more information, please visit www.camdenconference.org or call 207-236-1034.