Category: Marine

Working Waterfront

Remembering Susan Jones: A guiding light

The Maine fishing industry lost a guiding light when Susan Jones passed away in early September in Stonington at the age of 78. Her leadership shaped the fishermen’s newspaper, Commercial Fisheries News (CFN), for 40 years, from the early 1980s until her retirement in 2014, during which it was the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Saving Marshall Point

One of the Maine coast’s most recognizable, beloved—and accessible—scenes might have had another fate. In 1988, a rumor circulated through St. George—which includes the villages of Port Clyde, Tenants Harbor, and Martinsville—that the Marshall Point Lighthouse would be converted into a hotel and resort property. This is the iconic site… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

State’s new economy anchored in the sea

On Maine’s rugged coast, where shipbuilding, fishing, and working waterfronts have defined generations, leaders say the future is once again tied to the sea—this time through aquaculture, marine technology, and research. University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy told attendees at the 2025 Maine Blue Economy Innovation Summit on Oct. 3… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Rising seas require long-term planning, experts warn

Sea level rise will accelerate in the decades ahead, and coastal communities should act now to assess risks and identify solutions for the long term—generations or even a century or more into the future. That was the message delivered by the keynote speaker at the fourth annual SOS Saco Bay… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine’s new jobs need a waterfront

I’m fascinated by working waterfronts—those extraordinary places along the Maine coast that link coastal communities to global trade, connect people to the ocean and good food to our tables, and provide a window onto our heritage and our future. These places also happen to be endangered. Here’s the problem: capturing… SEE MORE
Cushing fisherman Danny Staples handles recently caught lobster at his private wharf in October. Staples has led a town effort to buy a nearby property and make it into the community’s first public working waterfront. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Shoring up Cushing’s working waterfront

Longtime fisherman Danny Staples has his own wharf on Pleasant Point Gut in Cushing, where he and several others can access the water, land lobster, and do some maintenance of their vessels. But that piece of waterfront didn’t help Staples this past fall, when his boat’s rudder broke as he… SEE MORE