Working Waterfront

Thanking a senator for her help

Name: Erin Quetell Title: Policy director Focus: I lead on critical policy issues, such as clean energy and municipal resiliency. I work closely with staff across the organization to support their on-the-ground work through relationship building, coalition development, and policy awareness and advocacy. In This Photo: On March 12, I… SEE MORE

The taped-fingers of sardine packers reveals the cost of the work.

Working Waterfront

‘Put your scissors where your mouth is!’

It was the summer of 1970 when Rita Willey won the first sardine packing contest at the Maine Lobster & Seafood Festival in Rockland. She was 31 years old and had been packing sardines for 14 years. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A rescue at sea

Last March, Avrum and Michelle and their newly acquired catamaran, the Write Now, found themselves driven to seek shelter from a windstorm in a remote cove on the Abaco archipelago. While trying to turn hard upwind as increasingly threatening winds pushed their bow toward shore, the steering failed, unresponsive. An… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Tariffs would pinch lobster markets

In 2024, Maine exported goods to 168 countries, with Canada the top export destination, by far, she said, with 40% of Maine exported goods arriving there. Canada also is the place where most of Maine’s imports—70%—originate. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Of books and boats—Brooklin library to host maritime research center

Serendipitous timing and a simple request have combined to keep a large collection of nautical publications in Brooklin, preserving the library’s local roots. Last June, Jon Wilson gave visitors a tour of the WoodenBoat Library—a 6,700-volume “labor of love” he put together over decades of book and periodical collecting. Wilson… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Alcohol and fishing don’t have to be partners

Fishermen have long been stereotyped as heavy drinkers, a perception reinforced in media, pop culture, and even within their own communities. This assumption creates a damaging cycle. When people expect fishermen to drink, it normalizes excessive alcohol use... SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Finally, a plan to remediate Penobscot River mercury

Some tiny bottom-dwelling organisms may have to be sacrificed for the health of a Penobscot River cove. But because these critters play an important role in the ecosystem, scientists hope to observe a temporary decline in their population along the intertidal flats of Orrington’s East Cove 3 when permits are… SEE MORE

The approach the ferry service takes to the Fox Islands Thorofare. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Coast Guard in the fog over buoys

In an apparent effort to demonstrate that it takes the Trump administration’s war on “fraud, waste, and abuse” seriously, the U.S. Coast Guard plans to discontinue—remove—more than 150 buoys and other aids to navigation, such as fixed “daybeacons,” from Maine’s coastal waters. The Coast Guard’s stated rationale for the planned… SEE MORE

Ropeless lobster gear is demonstrated in Jonesport. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

More testing in the works for on-demand lobster gear

As temperatures warm, the Maine lobster season is beginning in earnest. The fishery, one of the strongest remaining owner-operator in the world, known for its adaptability and heritage, has seen its share of change. Today the industry finds itself on the cusp of another possible change with the introduction of… SEE MORE

A passenger disembarks the ferry on Islesboro. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Ferry rates proposed to increase… again

Just a year after raising its fares, the Maine State Ferry Service is proposing another rate hike to meet what it says are unanticipated rising costs. Ticket prices for walk-on passengers and vehicles would rise by about 13.5%, the service reports, in its proposal aired at a public hearing on… SEE MORE