Working Waterfront

Periwinkles an under-heralded seafood product

Life is rough in the intertidal zone. Barnacles with their heads cemented to rock and pilings wait for the tide to rise so they can resume combing for plankton with their legs. Rockweed collapses on boulders and ledges at low tide and wafts upright at high. Crabs root around in… SEE MORE

Students sit on the shore during a lesson.

Working Waterfront

Girls embrace science in coastal setting

Who would want to wake up, layer up and sit outside in a circle with other students in the frigid cold air for 30 minutes, in silence, five days a week? What about writing your college essay about the importance of your rubber boots? And, by the way, leave your… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island Lyme, tick survey reveals deep concern

A survey aimed at residents of Maine’s 15 unbridged, year-round island communities reveals deep concern about ticks and the diseases they carry, such as Lyme disease. The survey found that 83 percent of those responding “thought Lyme disease was a problem on their island,” a March 3 preliminary report on… SEE MORE

An Atlantic sturgeon that measured 7 feet was caught in Merrymeeting Bay.

Working Waterfront

Holy leapin’ sturgeon!

Almost 20 years after a coast-wide fishing moratorium on Atlantic sturgeon was instituted, the giant, monstrous creatures of the deep are growing in numbers. Atlantic sturgeon live most of their lives in salt water, but hatch and spawn in fresh water. The species was once abundant, especially during colonial times. From the late… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Shrimp future remains cloudy

The continued closure of Maine’s shrimp fishery puts a strain on some of the state’s fishermen, but is having little impact on Maine’s restaurants, where the local seafood had been a winter favorite with customers. “It has not been a big impact on them because I think that restaurants, in… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A school for ‘that kid who just wants to work on the water’

There’s a lot of work to be done before it opens its doors, but Eric Jergenson likes to point out that the Maine Ocean School already exists. No, it’s not a figment of his imagination—the public, magnet high school was established by state law in the last legislative session. By… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Hangover or happy hour? Boothbay region sorts out change

Sustaining economic vitality while maintaining small-town character is an ongoing struggle for Maine’s coastal communities. In the Boothbay region, this dynamic has its own flavor, in part because the towns continue to enjoy strong boatbuilding and fishing businesses, along with tourism, and in part because some of the changes in… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The trouble with March

I hate March. Someone described February as the two-month period between the end of January and the beginning of March, a completely unfair accusation. February is downright charming compared with March. February has the decency, usually, to provide at least a little snow, and a lot more if we are… SEE MORE

A fishing boat brings its catch to a buying station in Stonington.

Working Waterfront

Lobster catch at $533 million for 2016

Last year saw another record-setting catch, both in pounds and dollar value, for the Maine lobster fishery. The numbers, announced by the state’s Department of Marine Resources at the March 3 Maine Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport, included more than 130 million pounds, for which harvesters were paid $533 million. Including bonuses… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Book review: National parks as ‘breathing places’

The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks. By Terry Tempest Williams When filmmaker Ken Burns set out to document the history of America’s “best idea”—our national parks—he called on a number of distinguished writers and historians to help testify to their special place in our land—and… SEE MORE