Working Waterfront

Ocean economy changing—so should conversation

Drive down any part of Route 1 and you’re bound to spot at least a few signs sporting phrases like “Save the Fishermen, Stop the Mills,” or “Stop Ocean Industrialization.” Given the challenges facing Maine’s fishing industry, it’s no surprise people are concerned about the future of their coastal communities.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

What Mainers should know about energy corridor

Editor's note: The Working Waterfront has featured several opinion pieces on the corridor Central Maine Power wants to build/is building linking hydropower projects in Quebec with the New England grid. The issue is a bit out of our wheelhouse, but since renewable energy does relate to challenges for our climate… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Portland’s ‘ReCode’ reflects climate realities

In October 1957, national newspaper headlines announced that Jimmy Hoffa had been elected president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Soviet Union had successfully launched its satellite, Sputnik 1, into Earth’s orbit. Local headlines noted the less remarkable news that the city of Portland had updated its land… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

U.N. report on ocean goes beyond warning

Earlier this year, the United Nations announced the publication of its second World Ocean Assessment, presented as “the only comprehensive global analysis that looks at social, environmental, demographic, and economic trends affecting the state of the ocean...” The announcement described the first World Ocean Assessment, released in 2015, as a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Getting to know our greenery

Wildflowers of Maine Islands: The Downeast and Acadia Coasts By Glen H. Mittelhauser; University of Maine Press, 2021 Every April and May in Maine the world starts to turn color again. But differently in different geographies, we gather from Glenn Mittelhauser’s new guide, Wildflowers of Maine Islands. “There is much… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine’s mixed grades on air pollution

This year’s “State of the Air” report from the American Lung Association finds that Maine reported mixed results for air pollution throughout its counties and metro areas. Both Bangor and Portland metro areas were named among the cleanest cities for short-term particle pollution, while Portland reported a worsened level of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Eating as revenge on invasive crab

The Green Crab Cookbook By Mary Parks and Thanh Thái European green crabs are a scourge on the Maine coast, first introduced during the mid-1800s, likely by sailing vessels. They were first recorded in Casco Bay in 1900, and within 50 years had occupied the entire coast. These little crabs… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The truth is out there… or not

Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act By Nicholson Baker; Penguin Press, 2020 One of my many unproven cultural theories that hasn’t changed much for decades goes like this: In 1914 the world went insane. It showed no signs of recovering until the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Yes, it is a pretty great bay

I just learned that our world’s oceans have their own day, and it’s June 8, the day I am writing this column. But I want to bring us closer to home. For our 2021 Island Journal publication, which prints soon after this newspaper begins circulating, I wrote about Penobscot Bay,… SEE MORE

Visitors line up to board Diver Ed's boat in Bar Harbor.

Working Waterfront

Starfish Enterprise will sail from new, more easterly port

Too many people ashore and not enough animals under the water have forced one of Mount Desert Island’s most popular tourist attractions to move its operations this summer from Bar Harbor to Eastport on Passamaquoddy Bay. [caption id="attachment_26187" align="alignleft" width="350"] Diver Ed kisses a crab.[/caption] Ed Monat, universally known as… SEE MORE