[00:00:00.0]

 

GK: So we will get started, so this is going and I’ll ask you questions.

 

HA: Sounds good.

 

GK: Um and I’ll just have you say and spell your first and last name.

 

HA: Okay Hallie Arno. H-A-L-L-I-E A-R-N-O.

 

GK: Alright Hallie, and where are you, where are you coming from today?

 

HA: I’m from Lincolnville, Maine, and I go to school at College of the Atlantic.

 

GK: And what, do you have a fishing history?

 

HA: Not really, no.

 

GK: And so what brought you to the Forum?

 

HA: I’m really interested in aquaculture and hoping to learn more about that and I’ve always been interested in the oceans and thinking about doing marine biology sorts of things.

 

GK: What brought you to that like why have you been interested in it?

 

HA: I’ve always loved the ocean since I was really young and as long as I can remember and I always knew I wanted to work with the ocean in some way. I wasn’t really sure how, so I’ve been exploring that a little bit and aquaculture is one thing that I’m really excited about.

 

GK: What makes you excited about it?

 

HA: Umm I really like farming as well so it was a way to combine farming and getting sustainable healthy food to people with the ocean and my interests kind of merged in aquaculture.

 

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GK: Can you tell me what your parents do and what your childhood was like in Lincolnville?

 

HA: I actually grew up in Northern New Jersey.

 

GK: OH you did.

 

HA: So very different from Maine.

 

GK: And so then you went from Lincolnville connection.

 

HA: We moved four years ago.

 

GK: Oh cool.

 

HA: Yeah . . .

 

GK: Okay. Yeah, so what was it like in New Jersey?

 

HA: Oh god, um. We lived in a really suburban area outside of New York City. Um we weren’t very close to the ocean, but I really liked going to the beach in the summer. We visited Maine a lot growing up before we moved.

 

GK: And did you feel a connection to it when you came?

 

HA: Definitely yeah, I knew I wanted to live on the Maine  coast. So I’m glad I got to.

 

[0:01:55.9]

 

GK: What brought your family to Lincolnville?

 

HA: My step dad.

 

GK: Okay.

 

HA: He’s from the area, mid-coast Maine area. So we’ve been trying to move and it was a good time when I was starting high school and my sister was starting middle school to make that transition.

 

GK: Yeah and what, did anything like surprise you about the community there or what at was it like when you made that transition?

 

HA: Something that was really interesting was that everybody knows everyone. So in New Jersey like we’d go to the grocery store and not see anyone we knew and it would be weird if we saw someone we knew and now every time we go to the grocery store we know we’re going to run into someone. It’s nice to have a small community like that.

 

GK: Is that something that you, that you like?

 

HA: I enjoy it, yeah. I think I have a lot of friends that have grown up in Maine and are really used to that and want to get out of Maine because of it. But I think I’m sort of the other way because I’ve lived somewhere else and I’ve seen what it’s like in other places and really like.. I like that it’s able to know everybody in my school and yeah.

 

GK: Yeah, so you’re at COA now.

 

HA: Yeah

 

[0:03:00.5]

 

GK: And is this your first year?

 

HA: Yes, it is.

 

GK: Okay and can you just tell me I mean what’s that like? What are the classes you’re taking like? What has it been like for you?

 

HA: It’s been great. Um I’m taking a lot of Marine science, ecology sorts of classes, which I’m really enjoying and getting to explore the island and see more of Maine. Um I’ve also got to spend some time on the water which is awesome.

 

GK: That’s great, what were you doing?

 

HA: Mostly learning how to drive the boats right now, which is a challenge but it’s fun.

 

GK: So is that something at COA that you have to do, is learn how to drive the boats or?

 

HA: No it’s just a thing that I was really interested in, so I’ve been asking about it and trying to get involved in any way I can.

 

GK: That’s great, what kind of boats are you driving?

 

HA: Zodiacs, so they are little inflatables and learning to sail. Um I was on the high school sailing team in Rockland right here.

 

GK: Oh wow

 

HA: Sailing out there, yeah. So I’d like to get more involved in that and sail bigger boats

 

[0:04:04.1]

 

GK: That’s great.

 

HA: Yeah

 

GK: Was it like, I mean did you have experience on the water when you were in New Jersey or is this…

 

HA: No not at all. The first time I stepped in a sailboat was right out there. Um when I tried to join the sailing team, I wasn’t on the team to start, but after a couple seasons of learning I was able to.

 

GK: Cool, did it scare you at all or how did you feel when you first got on that water?

 

HA: I had no idea what was going on, I didn’t . . . there’s all these sailing words like people would say “trim the sheet” and I’m like “what are you talking about?”

But it was a lot of fun cause I just got to go out on the ocean after school every day and just sail.

 

GK: Yeah yeah, that’s so great. And what I mean you know you’re at the forum. Is this your first time at the fishermen’s forum?

 

HA: It is yeah.

 

GK: What’s that been like?

 

HA: It’s been really cool. I’m trying to learn more about aquaculture so I can try, I hoping to work on a COA aquaculture project and I want to learn as much as I can about that here.

 

[0:05:07.3]

 

GK: What did you learn today, did you, do you feel like you’ve, there’s been some knowledge passed on to you?

 

HA: Yeah, some of the talks that were really interesting were about the green crab exclusions on the mud flats for clams and we actually worked on an experiment doing the same thing with our marine biology class in Bar Harbor. Um and I had a few different sites but mostly Hadley Point, seeing if we could get the same results and actually we were to get similar results to what some of the talks were saying. So it was interesting to see how their methods differed from our and how their results differed, but also got similar results up and down the coast.

 

GK: What were those results can you tell me like . . .

 

HA: Yeah, the ones that didn’t have crabs in them there were tons and tons and tons of clams. We counted so many tiny clams and then there would be a crab or if the box was gone or it we just took a sample there would be hardly any clams. I don’t have the results in front of me right now, but . . .

 

[0:06:08.2]

 

GK: Yeah but it was striking, like you could see the difference?

 

HA: Yeah you could definitely see, it was a box full of clams vs. a box where we had to work to find clams or some didn’t have any.

 

GK: Yeah, what do you see um living in Bar Harbor, I mean I know you’re new to that community, but what are some of the concerns or hopes for the future thoughts that you have about that community, being a student.

 

HA: I don’t know. I’d like to learn more about the community, be more involved, unfortunately haven’t been able too much. I went to the oh I don’t remember what it’s called

. . . the I think Marine Advisory Council meeting maybe . . .

 

GK: I don’t know . . .

 

HA: I don’t know. Giuila would know, she was there too. Um and that was cool to see how that process works. I still don’t quite understand it, but I’d like to learn more about it.

 

[0:06:58.4]

 

GK: Yeah, do you have thoughts um you know being here and being sort of at the forefront of like the next generation? Um just things that you want to focus on or are concerned about for the future of the Maine coast?

 

HA: Yeah, everything. I’m really concerned about climate change and ocean acidification and overfishing and plastics and pollution. The list goes on and on. That’s one of the reasons why I was drawn to aquaculture because it seems like it would be a way to mitigate at least overfishing and there were some studies that have shown that it might be able to help with ocean acidification really locally. Um and it seems like a really sustainable step in the right direction as something we can tangibly do like, solving climate is really really overwhelming.

 

GK: Hold on let’s pause for this gigantic noise.

 

(GK and HA laugh.)

 

GK: Oh that’s what it is, cause I won’t be able to use any of what you said.

 

HA: Oh no

 

[0:08:00.1]

 

GK: Alright go ahead. Darnit, what did you just say, something . . .

 

HA: Oh climate change, solving that is really overwhelming but doing something like aquaculture seems very doable and it’s hopefully going to help a little bit or at least make, lessen some of the effects.

 

GK: And it feels like it’s something that maybe has a future in Maine?

 

HA: Yeah, definitely. I think it’s happening in Maine now, especially based on some of the talks today. It seems like people are really getting involved and exciting about it.

 

GK: Do you feel like your peers and the people that you’re in school with um have like similar passions or outlooks on these kinds of issues?

 

HA: I think at COA yeah. It’s sort of a shared belief that we really need to do things about climate change and plastics and all of that. I think aquaculture is also sort of be talked about more. I hear it being talked about around campus.

 

[0:09:05.7]

 

GK: Do you eat oysters?

 

HA: We have had mussels in the dining hall.

 

GK: Oh really!

 

HA: We haven’t had oysters.

 

GK: Cool.

 

HA: I’m hoping we can grow our own, but that’s a little ways off.

 

GK: That would be amazing.

 

HA: Yeah.

 

GK: That would be really cool. Um was there anything that you wanted to talk about when you came up. Or a question you thought I might ask you.

 

HA: That’s a good question. I didn’t really know what to expect, I just sort of showed up . . .

 

GK: I love that you did, that is so great.

 

HA: Thank you.

 

GK: No, I think it’s cool to have the perspective of the students. what are you most looking forward to in the next three years at COA, right, you have three more years?

 

HA: Yeah, um oh, there is a lot to see on MDI and the surrounding islands. I’m hoping to get to spend some more time out on the water, um working on aquaculture . . .

 

[0:10:01.7]

 

GK: Hold on, oh my god. I hope this doesn’t go on for the next twenty minutes . . .

 

HA: Oh no.

 

GK: of dragging chairs.

 

HA: I don’t even know what those are . . .

 

GK: We will just pause for a sec.

 

HA: Yeah.

 

GK: Of course, okay so this is back on. So yeah, you’re excited to explore other places around there

 

HA: Yeah, and doing research on other islands and doing more research on the intertidal and on aquaculture. I’m really excited about seaweed in general.

 

GK: Do you think seaweed is something you would want to . . . do you think you would want to grow, you would want to fish . . .

 

HA: Yeah, I think that would be really cool, especially um people have tried mixing seaweed and shellfish, because the seaweed would in theory help with ocean acidification and make the shellfish grow better, so that would be, that is something I’ve been wanting to try out.

 

GK: That’s great, yeah and you are you have the opportunity at COA to kind of do those things as experiments?

 

[0:11:02.1]

 

HA: Hopefully, yeah

 

GK: I hope you get to.

 

HA: Thank you.

 

GK: I look forward to, in four years, you coming back in here and telling us what you’re up to.

 

HA: Oh yeah, that would be so cool.

 

GK: It would be so fun. Thanks Hallie.

 

HA: Thank you.

 

GK: That’s great.

 

[0:11:16.1]