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

A schooner sails past the tanks in South Portland on a late May Saturday.

Working Waterfront

Is a Portland cell tower killing fish?

Complied by Tom Groening Are the radio waves from a cell tower killing fish? As odd as that question sounds, it's being taken seriously by the Portland school system, the Portland Press-Herald reports. The cell tower in question is on the roof of Deering High School, and a biology teacher… SEE MORE

Vinalhaven school students and staff start to congregate outside around the trash collage and spend some time considering all the trash they collected.

Working Waterfront

Vinalhaven’s trash collage teaches lessons on litter

By Kris Osgood Small island schools often struggle to match what bigger mainland schools do: fielding sports teams, filling out bands, casting plays. But small island schools offer opportunities that might be out of the question for mainland schools. Last May, the Vinalhaven School participated in one such undertaking. "Why… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

New England in Lyme zone, but states have few answers

Lyme disease was first identified as a disease in Connecticut in the 1970s. Since then, it has spread slowly northward, as climate change and an expanding deer population have made states like Maine more hospitable to black-legged ticks (also called deer ticks) which carry the disease. A 2015 Yale School… SEE MORE

Environment

A cruise ship as seen from Cadillac Mountain.

Working Waterfront

Expect record-breaking number of cruise ships in Bar Harbor

The cruise ship business must have been hit by the Great Recession, as were other sectors of the tourism economy. So the news, reported by the Mount Desert Islander, that the schedule for cruise ship visits to Bar Harbor for this spring, summer and fall shows "the town on track… SEE MORE

Chris Warner explains the restoration design with John Hagan setting green crab traps in the background.

Working Waterfront

Beating the green crabs in Georgetown

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. "We believe, yes!" This is Georgetown clammer Chris Warner's answer to the question: Can a single shellfish harvester with a small up-front investment create a viable soft-shell clam farm and beat the green crabs? But you don't need to take… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine beach monitoring program to lose EPA funding

With summer fast approaching, Mainers and visitors are already flocking to the state's beaches. But how clean is the water, and is it safe for swimming? According to a 2014 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Maine ranked 27th on a list of 30 coastal states for water… SEE MORE