Working Waterfront

Feds provide Maine with broadband funds

The Maine Connectivity Authority was awarded $30 million in federal funding from the Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure grant. This investment is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will support Maine’s strategic goal of providing universal broadband access throughout the state. “As one of the most rural states in the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Feds ordered to re-work whale rules

In a major victory for Maine’s lobster industry, a federal appeals court in June ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to go back to the drawing board and re-work the most recent federal regulation to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. In its decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals… SEE MORE

Gov. Janet Mills held a ceremonial bill signing for LD 574, a measure sponsored by Rep. Morgan Rielly, D-Westbrook, and cosponsored by Rep. Vicki Doudera, D-Camden, that would expand the language of working waterfront covenants to include nonprofit corporations and charitable trusts that are authorized to hold conservation easements, further protecting Maine’s last remaining miles of working waterfront.

Working Waterfront

Land trusts can now protect working waterfronts

A bill sponsored by Rep. Morgan Rielly of Westbrook (LD 574: An Act to Amend the Laws Governing Working Waterfront Covenants) has been signed into law, greatly expanding opportunities for protecting Maine’s remaining working waterfronts. “Maine’s fishing industry accounts for nearly $1 billion in annual revenues, and it’s an industry… SEE MORE

The staff at the Penobscot Park dining room and lunch counter in Searsport. PHOTO: PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM

Working Waterfront

Ready to serve ‘people from away’

The staff of the Penobscot Park dining room and lunch counter in Searsport meet the gaze of the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. photographer’s camera in the accompanying photo. Their serious faces are frozen in time on a glass plate negative. The tables are set and the shelf behind the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Vinalhaven native named ferry chief

[caption id="attachment_37218" align="alignleft" width="275"] William Geary Jr.[/caption] William Geary Jr. has been named director of the Maine State Ferry Service. Born on Vinalhaven, Geary is a 1998 graduate of Maine Maritime Academy, where he earned an unlimited 3rd mate’s license. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine should welcome immigrants… again

Few countries were unscathed by the Great Recession, whose symptoms first appeared in the fall of 2008 and which metastasized six months later as U.S. unemployment rates nearly hit 10%. Scary times, and certainly unprecedented in most of our lifetimes. One country that was hit especially hard was Iceland. The… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Anatomy of a failure: Who killed Quoddy?

Moondoggle: Franklin Roosevelt and the Fight for Tidal-electric Power at Passamaquoddy Bay By Mark C. Borton, Downeast Books (2023) A rival to the Hoover Dam in Eastport? That could have been the Quoddy project to generate electricity from one of the highest tides in the world. For Mainers, the ghost… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Storm damage closes Bean lobster pier

A powerful winter storm that left thousands without power for days and brought devastation to communities all along the Maine coast in December also struck a blow at Linda Bean’s lobster empire, though the ultimate impact on the high-profile business is unclear. The storm that struck just days before Christmas… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

They’re back—cruise ship season underway

Maine’s cruise ship season began April 23 with the arrival in Portland of Holland America’s Zaandam, carrying about 1,400 passengers. A smaller cruise vessel, the Ocean Navigator of the American Queen Voyages line has been in Eastport with crew only since April 10. A live, real-time schedule of cruise visits… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Money for art and where to find it

If you were an artist looking for funding during the Renaissance, you might have hit up the Medici family. Today, the best sources are government commissions and private foundations, according to a presenter at the Island Institute’s Artists & Makers Conference on April 28. “I’m assuming you’re here because, like… SEE MORE