Working Waterfront

COA names new president

The College of the Atlantic board of trustees has announced its unanimous selection of Dr. Sylvia Torti as the college's seventh president. Torti, an accomplished writer, ecologist, and innovative academic leader with 15 years of experience in higher education, will succeed president Darron Collins upon his retirement at the end… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The passing of a fisheries icon

Francis J. O’Hara Sr., president of the O’Hara Corporation, passed away on Aug. 3 at his home in Camden at the age of 91. If there is a name that’s synonymous with Maine’s fishing industry, it’s Frank O’Hara. SEE MORE

A storm in March pushes water from Penobscot Bay over Route 1 in Lincolnville Beach. PHOTO: JUDY BERK

Working Waterfront

James Croll and sea level rise

“That’s the way it looks from here” was the jaunty sign-off of Lou McNally, Maine Public Radio’s long-time weather forecaster, and we knew a storm was coming. But king tides and climate change played another game. On Jan. 13 the Maine coast was inundated. Water flowed into hundreds of towns,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Despite legal restrictions, rockweed business thrives

Seaweed has been used as a soil amendment for as long as crops have been grown, with documented use dating to the Roman Empire. In Maine, it was used by indigenous people, and then during the colonial period, hauled in wagons from the shore. It remains in use today, and… SEE MORE

Monhegan School. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

The wonder and work of island schools

Teaching a handful of students, each in a different grade, in a quaint one- or two-room school overlooking the harbor on a remote Maine island accessible by ferry that runs intermittently in the winter might sound like complete nuttiness to one person, an interesting puzzle to figure out to another,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Women of the waterfront

Facilities manager. Juggler. Mediator. First responder. Diplomat. Code enforcer. These are some of the roles harbormasters fill, as revealed during a panel discussion hosted by Midcoast Women on March 13 at Rockport Public Library. Kathy Given has been Belfast’s harbormaster for 30 years. She’s not sure whether she was Maine’s… SEE MORE

“The J. O. Brown Boatyard, North Haven” (2012) by Seaver Leslie; transparent watercolor, 11-inches by 14 inches.

Working Waterfront

Seaver Leslie pays tribute to Brown Boatyard

Leslie painted at the boatyard in the spring and summer of 2009 and 2010, focusing on the interior, with a series of detailed drawings preceding the watercolors. SEE MORE

The Pemaquid Light fog signal bell shown on a postcard dating to about 1905. PHOTO: MAINE MARITIME MUSEUM

Working Waterfront

Centuries-old infrastructure laid bare

Coastal Maine continues to reel from the effects of back-to-back January storms that caused long-lasting damage to working waterfronts, homes, areas of leisure, as well as cultural heritage sites. By nature of their location, lighthouses and their supporting structures are especially vulnerable to the destruction caused by extreme winds, surf,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The new shape of water

How does water shape communities? I think about this as I load onto the Sunbeam on my way to Frenchboro, an island community off the coast of Mount Desert Island. It is a beautiful blue-sky morning, deceivingly sunny for my weather app to be reading 20 degrees. Working and living… SEE MORE

The Oliver’s Ridge workforce housing project on Deer Isle, shortly after construction concluded.

Working Waterfront

‘Attainable’ housing: lessons learned

Deer Isle and Stonington and Mount Desert Island are separated by a short hop across Blue Hill Bay. But if housing shortages are to be addressed, those two regions should tailor their work differently, and consider solutions within the context of a micro-region. That was one of the takeaways from… SEE MORE