Maine Maritime Academy's training ship State of Maine docked in Castine.

Working Waterfront

Maine Maritime Academy’s training vessel leaves for two-week voyage

Maine Maritime Academy students, officers and crew will depart Castine on Saturday, Jan. 2 at about 10:30 a.m. on the training ship State of Maine for a two-week training voyage to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The ship will carry 210 students and crew and is due to arrive on… SEE MORE

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Science shedders: Lobster studies yield new understanding

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. The lobster fishery is a critical part of the United States and Canadian economies. In 2013, the U.S. fishery landed $463 million worth of lobsters ($385 million of which were landed in Maine) and the Canadian fishery brought in approximately… SEE MORE

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‘Jig’ gear: a better way to catch ground fish

When Darius Kasprzak, skipper of the Marona and president of the Alaska Jig Association showed up in Rockland, he knew that his biggest problem in convincing Mainers the merits of jig-fishing was the lack of… well, fish. “There ain’t ground fish in Penobscot Bay, and good luck finding them anywhere else,”… SEE MORE

The November light at dusk brings out unusual colors on this Stonington shore.

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Stonington tops in lobster again, hitting $60 million mark

Maine's top lobster landing port each year is Stonington, and according to the Island Ad-Vantages newspaper, the value of landings in 2014 exceeded the previous year by $11 million, hitting a total value of $60 million. The port saw five million more pounds of lobster landed than in 2013. Given… SEE MORE

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The sea continues to lure Linda Greenlaw

The witty and colorful Linda Greenlaw was the featured attraction that night, but a pall hung over the Maine Maritime Academy campus on the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 21. It had been just three weeks since the El Faro, a container ship traveling from Jacksonville, Fla., bound for Puerto Rico,… SEE MORE

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Stonington’s Hagen Wharf slated for rebuild

A pending project to revitalize Stonington's Hagen Wharf is expected to boost a waterfront attraction central to the town's transient boater and tourist economy. Located downtown, Hagen Wharf comprises a granite pier with a ramp down to several floats, with some public parking. It’s home to the community’s Stonecutter Statue,… SEE MORE

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Arm Maine to fight ocean acidification and other climate challenges

The Portland Press Herald’s recent "Mayday" series on the effects of climate change on the Gulf of Maine called attention to a critical fact at the heart of the Island Institute's work: the economic future of Maine’s island and remote coastal communities depends on a healthy, productive Gulf of Maine. The… SEE MORE

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Maine trade mission to Japan, China hailed as success

The notion of sustainable harvesting practices translates well into Chinese and Japanese, according to Deirdre Gilbert, policy director for the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Gilbert, who travelled to Tokyo and Shanghai on a trade mission with Gov. Paul LePage late last month, provided an overview of Maine’s lobster industry management and… SEE MORE

Ray Bowden enjoys the autumn sunshine on board the Bagheera.

Working Waterfront

On board for autumn colors

Fall foliage and boats don't seem to go in hand in hand, but in Portland, the best way to see the season's colors is to cruise around Casco Bay's islands. SEE SLIDESHOW The Portland Schooner Company, based on the Maine State Pier, offers four daily two-hour sails throughout spring, summer… SEE MORE

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Fathoming our tides

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. The coast of Maine and neighboring Maritime Canada are extraordinary in many ways, but there is one way in which we are truly unique on the planet—the height of our tides. What are tides? Scientists define tides as the back… SEE MORE