Working Waterfront

Have you seen the Scuttlebutt?

The phrase “buyer beware” seems inappropriate for someone settling in a pretty Maine waterfront community. But maybe “buyer aware” makes some sense. After all, if that town has a working waterfront, a newcomer’s expectations may not match reality. Fishermen’s pickups driving by at 4 a.m. in summer. Diesel boat engines… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Untangling Acadia’s ‘bad air’ days

What happens when Acadia has a "bad air” day? The prevailing winds responsible for giving Downeast Maine its nickname have led some to grant the state a less than flattering moniker: “The tailpipe of the United States.” Like exhaust flowing through a tailpipe, clouds of emissions from industrial areas or… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Darling Marine’s Heather Leslie honored

Heather Leslie, professor of marine science and director of the Darling Marine Center at the University of Maine, has been named a 2022 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow, one of the highest honors in the scientific community. AAAS Fellows are a group of scientists, engineers, and… SEE MORE

Eelgrass grows in submerged waters in Casco Bay. PHOTO: STEVE KARPIAK

Working Waterfront

‘Staggering’ eelgrass decline in Casco Bay

Eelgrass meadows in Casco Bay have declined in size by 54 percent over the past four years, a loss described as “staggering” in a new report from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). This decline of the federally protected marine habitat places eelgrass meadows in Casco Bay at their… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Cod survey shows promising numbers

It's hard to overstate the importance of cod in New England and Maritime Canada history. The fish has sustained those living here before and after the arrival of Europeans, and even fed those back on the continent. Stonington’s fish pier was built in the late 1980s in anticipation of increased… SEE MORE

A view of Johnson Bay in Lubec from between two houses.

Working Waterfront

Lubec’s Safe Harbor project back on track

[caption id="attachment_35660" align="aligncenter" width="875"] A panoramic view of Johnson Bay in Lubec. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING[/caption] Lubec's Safe Harbor project, which has been in the works for more than five years and recently stalled for lack of funding, has taken a significant step forward with an additional $10 million expected… SEE MORE

A photo from about 1900 shows what was once Winnegance Tide Mills, near where a bridge today carries Route 209 over Winnegance Creek. PHOTO: MAINE MARITIME MUSEUM

Working Waterfront

Tidal power is not new to Maine

Prior to advances in transportation and energy production, industry and commerce across civilizations often relied on proximity to water. In the case of the lumber industry, one of Maine’s largest industries to date, the reliance was three-fold: inland timber harvests floated down-river to mills via log drives, saw mills used… SEE MORE

From left, the Island Institute's Eastport Island Fellow Paige Atkinson; Institute staff Alex Zipparo; Mount Desert Island Fellow Brianna Cunliffe; and Institute staffer Abby Roche.

Working Waterfront

Resilience is the response

I was on Great Cranberry Island for a community event recently and encountered a sight that will not be easily forgotten. As I stood on the dock awaiting the mailboat back to mainland, I looked to the west and saw several gravestones on a grassy enclave that were dangerously close… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The radical idea of public parks

I was walking recently along Belfast’s Harbor Walk, a paved trail that follows the shore along a large lawn area where a shuttered poultry plant once stood, past a boat dealer and marina, across Main Street and, amazingly, through the Front Street Shipyard, offering views of yachts, ocean-going fishing vessels,… SEE MORE

Sea smoke over Friendship Harbor on Feb. 4 during that day’s double-digit below zero temperatures. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Fog happens—here’s how

In the late 1700s, the people who established what today is Belfast at the top of Penobscot Bay first built their homes on what locals call the East Side of town. A small cemetery, with crude slate gravestones, is all the evidence that remains of that foothold, since those early… SEE MORE