Category: Business

Working Waterfront

Building a better lobster trap

It would be nice, Mark Brooks admits, if his family’s business could make just a few types of lobster traps. But with a laugh, he explains that lobstermen, legendary for their independent views on what works and what doesn’t, would not be the loyal customers they are if the company… SEE MORE
Paul Greenberg

Working Waterfront

Museum hosts Maine Marine Fare, Sept. 9-10

Maine Marine Fare, a two-day symposium Sept. 9-10 at Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, focuses on what we take from and eat from the sea off the Maine coast, featuring Paul Greenberg as the keynote speaker at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Greenberg, a James Beard Award winner and author of  Four Fish and American Catch,… SEE MORE
The Margaret Todd obscures the view of a cruise ship off Bar Harbor.

Working Waterfront

Southwest Harbor cool on cruise ships

Bar Harbor is Maine’s top cruise ship port, with 165 visit scheduled this year, bringing 226,846 passengers—up from 121 visits and 159,515 passengers in 2016. On cruise ship days, the waterfront and downtown are packed with visitors tendered in from ships at anchor. Many hop on buses that head to… SEE MORE
A house on Hancock Point boarded up for winter.

Working Waterfront

Reader views on affordable housing

This month, we sought reader thoughts on affordable housing, asking on The Working Waterfront’s Facebook page: Has your town already been priced out of the starter house market? If prices are high, what effects are you noticing? Are there too many seasonal homes? What might the state do to create… SEE MORE
The Emerson harvester

Working Waterfront

The science, history, and business of the Maine blueberry

Maine’s wild blueberries started out 10,000 years ago as a scrappy survivor in the nutrient-deficient sandy plain left behind by receding glaciers. Today, the wild blueberry is a signature Maine product. Growing naturally in fields and barrens that stretch along the Downeast coast, the blueberry is adapted to Maine’s naturally… SEE MORE
Houses close to the shore on Moody Beach in Wells

Working Waterfront

Maine beaches remain battlegrounds

A day-long conference devoted to beaches on the coast of Maine, in July, might seem like, well, a day at the beach. In fact, beaches here are at the center of threats and debates. Threats include sea level rise, erosion, and land-based pollution. Debates swirl around development, flood insurance, and… SEE MORE