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An article in the July/August issue of the “foodieodical” Zest Maine discusses the age-old problem experienced by Maine fishermen in the summertime: the spiny dogfish, who migrate to the Gulf of Maine in huge numbers each year, clogging up fishing nets, feeding on valuable species, such as cod, and competing with other ocean dwellers for food.

In an interview for the article, Sulikowski stated that a potential solution to the problem created by this species, actually a member of the shark family, is to create a market for dogfish. If more people wanted to eat dogfish, fishermen could benefit from the revenue of its sale while keeping the pesky population under control and, thereby, ultimately protecting the stock of valuable seafood that dogfish – and humans -- find tasty.

According to Sulikowski, the sooner a solution is found, the better for Maine’s seafood economy. “Imagine a school of 20,000 dogfish descending in an area,” he said. “If you’re a codfish, what are you going to do? Get outta there. If there’s a bunch of baby cod, they’ll eat the baby cod. If there’s lobster, they’ll probably eat the lobster. It has the potential to affect a lot of different fisheries if we don’t figure things out.”