“Challenging” is how Ivy Frignoca describes the grueling, seven-hour interview process for the position of Casco Baykeeper. “The Baykeeper Search Advisory Committee clearly put a lot of thought into all the attributes they wanted in the next Baykeeper.” Since joining the staff of Friends of Casco Bay in January 2016, Ivy has clearly demonstrated that she has quite enough stamina, commitment, and passion for the job!
In her first few months, she helped defeat a bad bill before the Legislature that would have weakened Maine’s Oil Spill Prevention Law, and met with coastal legislators to discuss pending marine-related bills. Ivy also met with Portland officials and the Portland Water District to discuss ways to deal with stormwater pollution. Ivy conducted many media interviews to highlight her focus on continuing Friends of Casco Bay’s work to reduce water pollution and to study and address climate change in our community.
Ivy helped advance statewide efforts to confront ocean acidification by working with others to create the all-volunteer Maine Ocean and Coastal Acidification Partnership, to coordinate the work of government agencies, academic institutions, resource harvesters, and nonprofit organizations that are studying ways to reduce the impact of— and how to adapt to—the changing chemistry of our ocean. They have put together a work plan and have been meeting to address how lower pH of sea water is affecting our shellfisheries and the overall health of our coastal waters.
Before Ivy came on board with Friends of Casco Bay, she worked on issues confronting our waters as an attorney at Conservation Law Foundation. Prior to moving to the Casco Bay region 26 years ago, she taught marine biology and ecology, interpreted natural history for park visitors, and advocated on behalf of Vermont state parks and forests.
