Working Waterfront

Machias dike project raises sea level, fish concerns

The Maine Department of Transportation is moving forward with plans to replace the 90-year-old dike and bridge that carries Route 1over the Middle River in Machias, but new concerns will mean a more careful consideration. Late in March, the department held a virtual public meeting to explain and solicit public… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Caring for our elders: A call to action

Maine’s getting old, faster than any other state. Now is the time for “policymakers and lawmakers to think boldly about how best to address Mainers’ needs for long-term care services.” That call to action was issued more than a decade ago. The 2010 recommendations by experts convened by the Maine… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Numbers don’t always accurately tell our stories

Data collection may seem like an exacting approach in capturing community reality, but if the measuring tool does not match what is being measured, inequity can result. As Catherine D'Ignazio, in a presentation on Data Feminism sponsored by the Data Innovation Project, put it: “What gets counted, counts.” Because of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Why CMP corridor is good deal for Maine

The op-ed piece by Tom Saviello in the April issue of The Working Waterfront opposing the CMP corridor requires a rebuttal. First, if Saviello has read the May 3, 2019 Maine Public Utility Commission 107-page order (docket No. 2017-00232) concerning the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) corridor, he would… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Market economics, island style

It’s only been a year since the scope of this scourge began to make itself apparent. During those 12 months, several island businesses have closed and probably won’t re-open. Others have only clung to existence and hope to resurface this year. A few have remained healthy and prosperous because the… SEE MORE

Folks enjoy tasty treats at Choco-Latte in downtown Bar Harbor on the first weekend in May, as tourism traffic gradually picks up. PHOTO: EZRA SCHREIBER-MACQUAID

Working Waterfront

‘Revenge travel’ driving Bar Harbor reservations

The tourist season is still gearing up, but by early May, owners of hotels, inns, and campgrounds were seeing strong reservations and looking forward to a busy year. Many owners and operators said the numbers so far were better than 2019, which was already a strong year. They attributed the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Downeast ‘oasis’ subdivision marketed for urban dwellers

A high-end housing development is being planned for a 1,000-acre peninsula on Howard Lake in Robbinston. Merriwood Sustainable Community is described on its website as “just beyond the edge of the paved world—a vibrant and comfortable oasis nestled within the splendor of the Maine wilderness. Completely off the beaten path… SEE MORE

Ready Seafood’s 52,000-square-foot lobster processing facility in Saco, built in 2019, is the largest such operation in Maine. Front row, from left are Curt Brown, Francisco Bumba, and Lori Talbot. Back row, from left, Van Bo, Pamela Lukasa, Lee Stafford, and Korina Costanzo. PHOTO: KELLI PARK

Working Waterfront

‘New Mainers’ are key to seafood industry

Welcoming immigrants to Maine is more than just the polite, hospitable thing to do. It’s critical to the state’s economic future. That’s the view of the authors of Maine’s community development strategy for 2020-2029, who assert that the state will lose 65,000 workers to retirement by 2029 and that to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lobster fishery’s history suggests a response

The current threats to the lobster fishery, and consequently our coastal economy, presented by pending federal regulations to protect the critically endangered right whale have me reflecting on my experience as an academic studying the fishery and my family’s experience within the fishery. It was almost exactly 100 years ago… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The strange tale of a would-be chicken king

The Island Institute, publisher of this newspaper, has done a lot of work with small island schools and one of its best efforts was helping form the Outer Islands Teaching and Learning Collaborative, or TLC, which facilitates links between students from those small schools. Recently, the Institute’s education team asked… SEE MORE