Working Waterfront

Global warming, climate change are two issues

Rob Snyder’s “Field Notes,” entry No. 41 in the July issue of The Working Waterfront, “Climate decisions reflect on who we are as a nation,” concerned me. Rob is a respected friend of mine. Being a scientist/engineer, there is little doubt in my mind that CO2 emissions have warmed the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Could green crabs become a Maine delicacy?

Invasive green crabs responsible for decimating Maine's soft-shell clam industry are being investigated for possible culinary purposes. Art conservator Jonathan Taggart, marine biologist Marissa McMahan, and Georgetown lobsterman Chris Jamison traveled to Venice last year to learn the secrets of harvesting green crabs for gourmet dishes. Young, soft-shelled green crabs are harvested… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Searsport’s Penobscot Marine Museum chronicles ‘evolving fisheries’

One of the more telling components of the Penobscot Marine Museum’s summer exhibit is a collection of headlines from the fisheries trade magazine, National Fisherman, pasted to a wall above a timeline that begins in 1954 and ends in 2014. Visitors reading the headlines will come away with at least… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Trump EPA cuts would have Maine fisheries navigating ‘blind’

Science and research are being targeted for deep cuts in the Trump administration’s proposed budget, and if those cuts are made, Maine’s fisheries will be navigating blind into an uncertain future. That was the message from a panel that gathered on Thursday, June 29 at the University of Southern Maine… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Waiting for the warmth prompts grateful thoughts

As people start to reappear in the Cranberry Isles, looking forward to a fresh summer season, no one seems to be asking, “How was your spring?” Most everyone in the Northeast has experienced a colder, wetter month of May than usual. When people arrive to see tulips barely starting to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islander teamwork rescues feathered family

As near as anyone has been able to tell so far, there were ever only two water-powered granite polishing mills in the world (one may have been in Springfield, Mass.), and only one powered by tidal water. The latter was on Vinalhaven and it was powered by big iron turbines… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Are the mussels really gone? Depends on where you look

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. There has been a lot of curiosity about the reported decline of blue mussels along Maine’s coast. Over the last year, we have visited 32 coastal towns and islands, from Portsmouth to Eastport, sharing our Climate of Change documentary film… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Children’s guide book offers fresh vision of Acadia

Ten Days in Acadia: A Kids’ Hiking Guide to Mount Desert Island By Hope Rowan/Art by Jada Fitch Published by Islandport Press, 2017 Twelve-year-old Hattie and her family take a 10-day vacation to Acadia National Park, where they enjoy hiking the trails, eating lunch on the mountaintops, swimming in the… SEE MORE

The upper tidal reaches of the Medomak River have been cleaned.

Working Waterfront

Estuary Beat: Cleaning the Medomak, a beach conference, and fish passage in the Bagaduce

Beaches Conference to address access, erosion The 2017 Beaches Conference takes place July 14 at Wells High School. In addition to a new location, the biennial event has expanded to include coastal New Hampshire. The program for the day is packed full of presentations, workshops, field trips, demonstrations, and exhibits,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Harpswell facility critical to saving seal pups, other marine mammals

Ever since she was a young girl, Lynda Doughty has wanted to work with stranded marine mammals. Today, Doughty is executive director of Marine Mammals of Maine, a federally authorized marine mammal response organization that responds when seals, dolphins, porpoises, and whales are stranded or injured on the coast from Rockland south to… SEE MORE