Working Waterfront

Mosquito plague has me thinking about the options

By Barbara Fernald On the first of July, activity on the islands is rolling along at a pace that rivals August. After a rainy, cold May and a rainy, cold June, any day with sun and warmth draws us all outside to catch up with gardening, boating, the beach, or… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A woman’s place on the working waterfront

Story and photos by Kelli Park From hand-hauling lobster traps to selling more than 10 million pounds of bait annually, Jennie Bichrest knows the working waterfront inside out. This summer, as the lobster industry faces a shortage of herring, the bait of choice, her business—Purse Line Bait—is playing a critical… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

UMaine study looks at Gulf of Maine temperature trends

Gulf of Maine temperature trends and variability during the past 11,000 years will be the focus of a five-year study led by a University of Maine paleo-oceanographer to enhance long-term environmental prediction and planning. Katherine Allen, a UMaine assistant professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences, and on… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A commissioner for changing times

By Rob Snyder When Patrick Keliher assumes his place at the front of the room, he does so humbly. His smile projects calm, his eyes look knowingly from behind wire rimmed glasses, and his jeans and flannel shirt are unassuming. He has the perfect presence to serve as Maine’s commissioner… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Everything is someone’s lunch

By Sandy Oliver Everything is someone’s lunch. I wander in the garden looking for spinach to eat as Eggs Florentine and notice that a section of seedlings has been wiped out. I dig around with my fingers and eventually turn up a fat, gray-brown curl of cutworm which, when squished,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Good science: Ecosystem-based fisheries management

By Tom Groening Fisheries management needs to be more localized and more closely tied to the people who work in the fishing industry. Those values are driving organizations like the Stonington-based Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries (MCCF), and this more sophisticated, nuanced approach to regulation was a theme at its… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Climate change drives writer from skeptic to alarmist

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming David Wallace-Wells; Tim Duggan Books, New York, 2019 Reviewed by Dana Wilde The question about climate change is not whether it’s happening, but how severe the catastrophe is going to be. This is the central theme of David Wallace-Wells’ The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine’s right whale plan is due by September

By Susie Arnold The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will submit a proposal to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in September outlining how the state’s lobster fishery will reduce its risk of entangling endangered North Atlantic Right Whales by 60 percent. Failure to submit a plan that meets… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

You don’t need a weatherman to know which way…

By Tom Groening Sitting in the sun on a brief foray out of the office the other day, I got to thinking about our relationship with the weather here in Maine. We’re not the only state whose identity is wrapped up in what climate conditions we face, but we’re one… SEE MORE

The Eastern Seaboard as seen from space.

Working Waterfront

Massive freshwater aquifer may lie off Atlantic Seaboard

By Craig Idlebrook Researchers have discovered evidence that there may be a massive freshwater aquifer off the U.S. Atlantic coast, according to a new study published in Nature. The study provided evidence of a vast underground pool of water with low salinity that may span the coast of New Jersey to… SEE MORE