Swan's Island Donnie Carlson builds a lobster trap.

Working Waterfront

Donnie Carlson found his niche on Swan’s Island

DALE JOYCE/HARBORVIEW STUDIO Donnie Carlson By Jennifer Helman/Photos By Dale Joyce Many people in the lobster industry see fishing as a birthright. They fish because their father fished, and maybe his father before him. Donnie Carlson started on that familiar path, but took an unexpected turn 30-plus years ago. As… SEE MORE

A view of the mouth of the Penobscot River from Fort Point in Stockton Springs.

Working Waterfront

Penobscot River mercury study: $300 million in remediation

By Catherine Schmitt The Penobscot River estuary is the largest in Maine, and one of the largest embayments on the East Coast. Islands and rocky shores dominate, but in the upper reaches, along the Marsh River in Frankfort and the Orland River, are extensive salt marshes and mudflats where the… SEE MORE

Carley Mayhew and Mott Feibusch of Monhegan Coffee Roasters.

Working Waterfront

The Monhegan trifecta: beer, coffee, chocolate

KELLI PARK Dylan and Mandy Metrano, owners of La Nef Chocolate. KELLI PARK Matt Weber of Monhegan Brewing Company. Story and Photos by Kelli Park What’s the word on Monhegan? The answer, offered this summer by an island businesswoman, was to the point—beer, coffee, and chocolate. In recent months, an… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Portland development pressures already tight parking

By Susan Olcott Two developments planned for the peninsula part of Portland will add 180,000-square-feet of office space—and more parking pressure. An Oct. 17 business breakfast forum hosted by the Portland Press Herald used the developments as a jumping off point for a wide-ranging discussion about parking and traffic pressures. Wex, a… SEE MORE

A view of Mount Desert Island from Great Cranberry Island

Working Waterfront

National Park Service wades into worker housing issue

By Tom Walsh Maine’s uncounted thousands of seasonal workers on our coast are largely invisible. Nonetheless, they are essential cogs in the machine that makes possible the substantial revenues left behind by millions of visitors to Acadia National Park and other waterfront tourist destinations. Hotels, motels, B&Bs, restaurants, bars, gift… SEE MORE

Volunteers pitch in to work on the store building.

Working Waterfront

Lots in store for Isle au Haut’s store

By Molly Siegel It is a clear September day and the sounds of paint scrapers, nail guns, and hammers ring out across the Isle au Haut Thorofare. Volunteers have been working for two days to make much-needed improvements to the community’s Island Store Co-op. With tasks ranging from stripping old… SEE MORE

The setting sun strikes the rocks on the island’s sheer

Working Waterfront

Canada’s Grand Manan Island beckons tourists

KELLI PARK Women harvest dulce on the island’s western shore. KELLI PARK One of Grand Manan’s fishing weirs. STORY and PHOTOS by KELLI PARK There are places that live in our imaginations and seem just beyond our reach. If you’ve been to easternmost Maine and looked across the water, you… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Former Google employee launches seaweed tea business

By Stephanie Bouchard If you were Josh Rogers’ childhood friend, you probably were offered dried dulse instead of Doritos chips for a snack. The red seaweed is today a trendy health food, but in the 1980s in Auburn, his friends thought it was “totally bizarre.” Rogers hasn’t given up trying… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

MDI lab sees break-through in regenerative medicine

PHOTO: COURTESY MDI BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY Kevin Strange, Ph.D., CEO of Novo Biosciences in Bar Harbor. By Tom Groening Two scientists walk into a bar. It’s not the start of a joke, but someday, it may be marked as the start of a break-through in regenerative medicine. Work that began at… SEE MORE

Ocean Approved's kelp lease site off Chebeague Island.

Working Waterfront

When kelp met mussel…

By Susie Arnold Without a doubt, aquaculture is a major growth industry in the state. And it is not just about finfish. Shellfish and seaweed farming are on the rise. A recent market study, commissioned by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, found that Maine has the potential to become… SEE MORE