Harvested rockweed on the shore in Hancock Point. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Court got rockweed case wrong

Commercial rockweed harvesting in Maine is not “unfettered.” This is a scare tactic. All rockweed harvesting in Maine is licensed by the Department of Marine Resources on location, frequency, and technology. SEE MORE

Bait bins on a pier in Cutler. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Working waterfront tax law is improved

It’s the letter no one wants to open—the dreaded perforated envelope from your municipality that comes once a year. Yep, you guessed it, your property tax bill. Taxes only seem to change in one direction, up, and if you live in coastal Maine, perhaps the slope of this curve is… SEE MORE

Megan Robinson, front, and Jessica Lindsay weigh fish at a Machias Bay salmon farm owned and operated by Cooke Inc. The New Brunswick-based company has been operating in Maine for 20 years. PHOTO: COURTESY COOKE INC.

Working Waterfront

Downeast salmon business marks 20 years

The pens are scattered across a region that extends from Cobscook Bay in the east, through Jonesport-Beals, to near Swan’s Island in the west. The fish spend about 18-24 months in the pens, reaching a weight of about 12 pounds, at which time they are ready to be sold. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Climate plan: What you need to know

Ultimately, the "Maine Won’t Wait" plan is essential because it guides the state’s approach to critical issues like climate change, economic resilience, and community well-being. SEE MORE

An aerial view of the Callahan Mine taken in the 1970s. The mine property is now a pond.

Working Waterfront

Closing the book on Hancock County Superfund site

The zinc and copper deposits in Harborside were discovered in the early 1880s. The Harborside Copper Mine, as it became known, produced around 10,000 tons of ore from three underground shafts between 1881 and 1883. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Being a messenger is risky business

I’ve been thinking about a play I saw on public TV many years ago, and believe it or not, my thoughts had nothing to do with the election. An Enemy of the People, written in 1882 by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, had been adapted by Arthur Miller, best known… SEE MORE

C. Ronald Bechtle in his Maine studio, ca. 2002. PHOTO: COURTESY REID BECHTLE

Working Waterfront

A modernist visits Hinckley boatyard

Bechtle offered an intriguing assortment of symbols and shapes to represent the marine setting, including bright red pennants, a black cross, circles, and squares. SEE MORE

Lia Morris, center, on a mussel farm in Penobscot Bay. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

At the mussel farm with Island Institute’s Lia Morris

I spent the day on the water with members of local and state government and staff from Sunrise County Economic Council touring Marshall Cove mussel farm off Islesboro. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering Lonnie and the Gawker

A man possessed of a measure of resilience way beyond nearly anything the rest of us will ever have to muster, or need to, died on Sept. 29. Before that unexpected departure, however, Lonnie Morton and his devoted wife Kathy brought together and—for 20 precious and memorable years—sustained community and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Isle Au Haut receives broadband with new sub-sea cable

Isle Au Haut installed its first subsea telecommunications cable Sunday, Nov. 10, establishing broadband access for the year-round island community. The 10 kilometer submarine cable connects Isle au Haut to Stonington on Deer Isle, which has terrestrial connections to the mainland. Axiom Technologies spearheaded the project and will provide services… SEE MORE