March 26, 2024
Maine Seacoast Mission announces 2024 Sunbeam Awards
Maine Seacoast Mission President John Zavodny has announced the two recipients of the Sunbeam Award for 2024: Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, in Bethesda, Md., and the Island Institute. This year’s awardees were chosen for their commitment to the communities the Mission serves.
February 12, 2024
Opinion: Now is the time for a down payment on our coastal communities
Gov. Mills' calls for investment in both community recovery and statewide climate change adaptation must be heeded.
January’s back-to-back coastal storms eroded our coastlines, destroyed family homes and wharves, and swept years of hopes and dreams out to sea.
Even for those of us who work on the impact of climate change on Maine’s coastal communities, these scenes were shocking. There remains no doubt that we need to imagine a different future coast, one where our infrastructure, businesses and homes can withstand storms like these and the forces of climate change.
January 24, 2024
Maine faces daunting to-do list to recover from recent storms and prepare for more extremes
State and municipal leaders say they're scrambling to learn as much as they can about the three winter storms that flooded riverfront communities and set high tide records along the coast within the span of one month.
Those storms are what prompted an emergency meeting of the Maine Climate Council Tuesday in Augusta. The group gathered to discuss the impacts from the recent storms and share ideas on how Maine communities could better prepare...
January 24, 2024
Maine fishing towns rebuild in wake of monstrous storm
BRISTOL, Maine — On the waterfront in New Harbor, one of Maine’s most visited fishing communities, the damage is clear to see. Remnants of wharves that were torn apart by the back-to-back storms of Jan. 10 and 13 are still standing in places, while others have simply vanished, the wreckage pulled out and hauled away...
November 14, 2023
Area Island Institute Fellows get funding boost
Story published in Ellsworth American on November 10, 2023. Island Institute, a Rockland-based community development organization focused on island and coastal communities, has been awarded a $201,000 Rural Community Development…
August 24, 2023
A behind-the-scenes look at Maine’s growing scallop farming industry
Story by Alyssa Thurlow, published in WABI on August 18, 2023. Maine’s wild scallop harvest is still a few months away, but a group of fishermen in Penobscot Bay can…
August 4, 2023
A Maine boatyard has an electric boat it says could energize the working waterfront
Article by Peter Van Allen, published in Mainebiz on July 28, 2023. An Islesboro boatyard has unveiled a fully electric boat that it says could have implications for Maine’s working…
May 23, 2023
With development encroaching, state law passed to protect working waterfront
Saving working waterfront properties from conversion to non-commercial uses is one way to protect Maine’s fishing heritage, say advocates of a working waterfront access protection program.
Article by Laurie Schreiber, published in Mainebiz on May 15, 2023. Anew law is expected to greatly expand opportunities for protecting Maine’s remaining working waterfronts. “This new law will allow Maine’s…
May 23, 2023
VIDEO: A look inside Maine’s growing kelp industry
Kelp has quickly become Maine’s new cash crop.
Article by Alyssa Thurlow, published by WABI5 on May 18, 2023. Did you know Maine is currently the largest producer of kelp in the United States? There are farms located…
May 23, 2023
Electric boats are coming. Will Maine have mechanics to service them?
A regional nonprofit has partnered with educators on a three-part training course to help prepare technicians to work on electric boats.
Article by Sarah Shemkus, published in Energy News Network on February 13, 2023. Electric boats will soon be docking along Maine’s rocky coast. A new training program aims to help…
