Working Waterfront

Financial hacks for fishermen

A version of this column first appeared in Landings, the newsletter of the Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance and is reprinted here with permission. Thinking about a new boat? Knowing how to pay for it is important. To help fishermen better understand financial management, the Vinalhaven Coop brought some experts from… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Guests find motel romantic, fisherman- and mink-friendly

I customarily do an end of year wrap up of the summer’s high points at the Tidewater, the motel on Vinalhaven I own and operate. It’s a great business to be in. Almost without exception, every visitor is delighted to be here, happy to be on vacation, relieved to be… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Making a living from a changing sea

By Heather Deese, Ph. D. This summer I had dozens of conversations about the changing Gulf of Maine and how these changes play out in our local fisheries. Many conversations took place in community halls and theaters during evening “A Climate of Change” events featuring four short films produced by the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Quoddy Tides chronicles maritime community

The Quoddy Tides bills itself as the “Most Easterly Newspaper Published in the United States.” That’s neither an idle boast nor an irrelevant fact. As editor and publisher Edward French chats with me about the paper’s history and role at its office on the Eastport waterfront, he glances out the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Stonington, Blue Hill area fishermen want to close lobster zone

Zone C has shut down its open-entry system into the lobster fishery. The state’s lobster fishery is divided into seven management zones, arrayed in a line along the coast from the Canadian border to the New Hampshire border. Zone C is the third one heading from east to west, and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The problem is ours to fix, so ‘Open your mouth!’

By Laurie Sproul “So, open your mouth lad! For every voice counts!” Dr. Seuss’ logic, expressed in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, prods us to vote. However, in our complex world it’s difficult sorting through the issues. Take climate change. Sea level rise threatening sewer plants; salt… SEE MORE

A lobster boat cruises through Portland Harbor with the Nova Star

Working Waterfront

Tweaking a model waterfront

Imagine stumbling onto an undeveloped shoreline. Protected by islands, this mile-long waterfront has deep water at one end and a gravel beach at the other. If that shoreline were to be developed for various maritime uses, how would you organize it? Portland’s waterfront developed the way most have, with ever-changing… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Consumers willing to pay for sustainably harvested seafood

By Chase Brunton Maine consumers would be willing to pay more for food that is sustainably harvested and some may even be willing to spend extra for seafood harvested in Maine waters, according to a recent survey conducted by researchers in the University of Maine School of Economics. The issue,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Sullivan artist has lifelong passion for granite

Obadiah Buell grew up on an abandoned industrial granite quarry dating back to the 1800s. Surrounded by massive stone blocks and the clear waters of granite pools, Buell has had a passion for granite—both for its utilitarian nature and sculptural qualities—since he was a child. In his 20s, he explored… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A dozen years of work on ocean acidification paid off

There’s something about the timeframe of 10 to 12 years. I’ve read that you can master something new in this amount of time—and ultimately, if you are brave enough, have four different careers in a lifetime. The field of sustainability studies has shown that system-level changes take an average of 10 to 12 years. At… SEE MORE