Protestors outside Bangor's federal building.

Working Waterfront

Environment is a wild card for lobster

In June, a battery of highly paid lawyers sat at a table in federal court in Bangor, the company they represent on the hook for dumping mercury in the lower Penobscot River decades earlier. It was easy to imagine them being anxious as they listened to an opposing lawyer explain… SEE MORE

A necropsy is performed on the whale that washed up dead on Mount Desert Island in early June.

Working Waterfront

Whale death signals ongoing entanglement problems

By Laurie Schreiber In early June, a 35-foot female humpback whale washed up dead on Mount Desert Island. The 11-year-old whale, known as Spinnaker to the whale research and disentanglement network on the East Coast, had been involved in three known entanglements in gillnet and lobster trap gear. Researchers believe… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Fisheries, science are subjects of talks on Maine coast

The nonprofit fisheries policy organization Penobscot East Resource Center in Stonington is sponsoring (and co-sponsoring) three fisheries-related talks. “American Catch” Wednesday, July 29 6:30 p.m.—Paul Greenberg At College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor. Paul Greenberg is a lifelong fisherman and has written for The New York Times, National Geographic,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lobster coops use strength in numbers

Editor's note: This story was first posted on May 20, 2014. By Tom Groening VINALHAVEN — At the end of a typical summer day, an 18-wheeler will roll onto the mainland-bound ferry loaded with 300-400 crates of live lobster packed in seaweed. The lobster—40,000 pounds of it, provided by the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Tide Mill Organic Farm in Edmunds creates fine creamery products

Story and Photos by Leslie Bowman SEE THE SLIDESHOW Aaron Bell and his wife Carly DelSignore founded Tide Mill Organic Farm 15 years ago on the shores of Cobscook Bay in Edmunds in Washington County. With a herd of 60 milking cows, dairy production represents 50 percent of the farm's… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islesboro approves special deer hunt

By Tom Groening At a special town meeting on June 11, voters approved a plan that would allow hunters who live or own land on the island to take an unlimited number of deer from mid-December to the end of February. The plan, which carried in a 45-27 vote, is… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Be on the lookout for ‘oceans of jelly’

By Nick Record Last summer, beachgoers and mariners along the coast of Maine reported dense aggregations of jellyfish—mostly lion’s mane and moon jellies, with reports of salps later on in the year. The gelatinous critters bothered swimmers, clogged bilge pumps, gummed up lobster traps, and fascinated ocean geeks like me.… SEE MORE

The map shows two possible routes for a new bridge linking Eastport (formerly Moose Island) to the mainland. The route shown in the blue box

Working Waterfront

Port boosters want Eastport to be island again

The caption on an earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the preferred route for a new bridge. By Tom Groening EASTPORT — Drive around the picturesque village of Eastport and you'll see references to Moose Island. That's because until the 1930s, when an ambitious but unrealized tidal power project… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Thinking like a banker and a fisherman

By Rob Snyder Fishermen from 15 U.S. fishing communities recently met in Boston to talk fish and fishing. But if you closed your eyes and listened to the discussion, you would have assumed it was a room full of bankers. They talked of valuing new assets and entering new markets,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Birds on the brain, birds at my window

By Barbara Fernald As I sat at my kitchen table attempting to pull something out of my overloaded-by-too-much-to-do brain for this column, I gazed out through the window, taking in the lilac bush where the blossoms were just opening. Birds were flying back and forth between the bush and the… SEE MORE