Working Waterfront

Why paper was king, and why it was deposed

Shredding Paper: The Rise and Fall of Maine’s Mighty Paper Industry By Michael G. Hillard Understanding Maine’s once-gigantic paper industry and what happened to it is a matter of perspective. Michael Hillard, author of Shredding Paper, a well-researched look at the mills that once employed thousands in communities all over… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Delegation hopeful York River gets scenic designation

Maine’s Congressional delegation has reintroduced the “York River Wild and Scenic River Act,” legislation to initiate the final step in the process to add the river to the National Park System’s Wild and Scenic Rivers Program. If the bill is passed by Congress and signed by the president, the York… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

On the record with… Tom Meyers of the Waterfront Alliance

Tom Meyers has spent his professional life as an active member of working waterfronts. After serving in the U.S. Coast Guard for 28 years and as the head of the Portland base, Meyers then spent 13 years as a transportation and waterfront coordinator for the city of South Portland. While… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A Maine power company: possible and practical

As Maine grapples with decarbonizing its economy to meet ambitious climate mitigation goals, I urge us to think big and consider what a statewide, ratepayer-owned electric utility could do to aid us in our quest. Electric utilities are natural monopolies. More than 100 years ago we had competing companies and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Ships, the Suez Canal, and our three ports

Assuming I have your attention, I am now going to ask you to look up and around the room in which you are sitting. What percentage of the things in the room were once aboard a ship? Thirty-five percent? Fifty percent? Seventy percent? Experts put the answer at over 90… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Halibut—a huge, thrilling, and tasty fish

“Once you’ve caught a halibut, you’ll never be the same, if you like fishing,” said Erik Waterman, a commercial fisherman who lives in South Thomaston and fishes out of Spruce Head. Waterman was talking about wild-caught Atlantic halibut, one of the largest fish in the Gulf of Maine and the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Federal flood insurance evolved, but not for the best

[caption id="attachment_24986" align="alignleft" width="300"] The King Tide in Camden.[/caption] In the February/March issue of The Working Waterfront, Peter Neill of the World Ocean Observatory suggested using flood insurance premiums to reduce risk instead of repeatedly rebuilding damaged structures (“Rethinking insurance as investment, not pay-out”). The concept of diverting insurance premiums… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Is ropeless fishing ready for prime time?

[caption id="attachment_24983" align="alignleft" width="300"] PHOTO: COURTESY BLUE PLANET STRATEGIES[/caption] As the North Atlantic right whale population declines rapidly, regulators have proposed or enacted a series of closures of significant areas of lobster fishing grounds off the coast of New England and Atlantic Canada to protect the endangered whales from entanglement… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Fight climate change, but not with CMP corridor

The December/January issue of The Working Waterfront featured a guest column by Orlando Delogu (“Maine must see bigger picture on utility project”) in which he questioned my motives on why I am against the New England Clean Energy Connect Corridor. I want to explain why I am against it. First,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘Sweet and salty’ scallop fishery in good shape

Maine’s scallop fishery has changed considerably over the years. David Tarr, a Brooklin resident, has gone both dragging and diving for scallops since he was a kid in the early 1980s. “Things were way different back then,” he said. “It was kind of a wild, wild fishery. It was boom… SEE MORE