Working Waterfront

Equitable access to broadband is a worthy investment

The pandemic clarified what many already knew—your ability to connect to the internet is not guaranteed. Where you live determines the quality of the infrastructure you can access. Your ability to use that connection depends on whether you can afford internet service, if you have a device to use, and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Challenges with a purpose is island life

A newcomer to the island, upon hearing about some of the inconveniences and stressors of island life, asked me, in all seriousness, “So why do you stay?” There are times when I ask myself the same question. Like on a dark, rolling December ferry ride, shivering in my car (because… SEE MORE

Václava "Vendy" Hazuková poses withi senors used in her research.

Working Waterfront

UMaine student studies Greenland lakes

Next April, Václava “Vendy” Hazuková will go to an arid, treeless area in West Greenland to solve a puzzle. It’s not known how lakes there contribute to Arctic carbon cycling — the process in which carbon atoms move from the atmosphere to the Earth and back. Where carbon is —… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘Contagiously positive’ Saltonstall honored

When it comes to climate change and our progress in addressing it, sometimes all we hear is how bad things are. It is, after all, a formidable situation which requires a serious attitude. Unfortunately, seriousness often takes the form of grimness, but that’s not how Sam Saltonstall, the Natural Resources… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

UMaine launches ‘blue economy’ program

The Maine Business School at the University of Maine will launch a graduate education and collaborative research initiative to support Maine’s marine economy with the help of a $50,000 award from the William Procter Scientific Innovation Fund. Together with UMaine’s Darling Marine Center, the Maine Business School is launching the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Canada’s Pelee Island gets $20 million internet upgrade

What is believed to be the longest freshwater fiber link in Canada —almost 75 kilometers (46 miles) in length—will soon be installed to create an upgraded broadband internet connection for every resident and business on Lake Erie’s Pelee Island. The federal and provincial governments will jointly fund the $20 million… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A commencement speech that might have been

This might have been this year’s commencement address, had there been a commencement: “You and I and many of the others gathered here have a great deal in common. We each finished high school in Vinalhaven and we each have the rest of our lives ahead of us. I hope… SEE MORE

A pier in Jonesport. FILE PHOTO: LESLIE BOWMAN

Working Waterfront

Fellowship supports marine science Downeast

This July, two co-workers and I drove north and east to Great Wass Island. The island is connected by a bridge to Beals Island, off of Jonesport, and is the home of the Downeast Institute. I was excited to meet Hannah Greene, an Island Institute Fellow, and my mentee for the past year. Hannah lives on the island and supports the Downeast Institute’s education programs. SEE MORE

Maine Maritime Academy students work on deck on the training vessel State of Maine. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Brennan to retire from MMA

William J. Brennan, president of Maine Maritime Academy, has announced his decision to retire after the upcoming school year, capping off 12 years of dedicated service to the institution. “It is an exciting moment for me, but I really do have mixed emotions about the announcement,” Brennan said. “This is… SEE MORE

Ted Ames on the Stonington waterfront. PHOTO: PAUL MEADOW/MAINE CENTER FOR COASTAL FISHERIES

Working Waterfront

Ted Ames honored by Bowdoin

Lifelong fisherman and scientist Ted Ames was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Sciences by Bowdoin College on Aug. 14 at its delayed 2020 commencement. In presenting the degree, Dr. John Lichter, colleague and friend of Ames at Bowdoin, said that when groundfish stocks collapsed in the mid-1990s, Ames set out… SEE MORE