Working Waterfront

Pretty wood, pretty tones— Peter Gallant builds violins with unusual woods

WOOLWICH – Peter Gallant didn’t grow up in a musical household in Lawrence, Mass., but the electrical designer remembers going into music stores and staring at the stringed instruments. There was a variety in how guitars looked, he noticed, but the violins all looked the same. Today, Gallant, 57, is… SEE MORE

Protestors outside Bangor's federal building.

Working Waterfront

Environment is a wild card for lobster

In June, a battery of highly paid lawyers sat at a table in federal court in Bangor, the company they represent on the hook for dumping mercury in the lower Penobscot River decades earlier. It was easy to imagine them being anxious as they listened to an opposing lawyer explain… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Ernestina-Morrissey: A schooner that carries history

By Laurie Schreiber BOOTHBAY HARBOR—Talk about living history. The historic Boothbay Harbor Shipyard is beginning a new phase to restore the historic Essex, Mass.-built Ernestina-Morrissey—a former Grand Banks fishing schooner, Arctic explorer, U.S. Naval ship and Cape Verdean trans-Atlantic packet, and today the official tall ship of the Commonwealth of… SEE MORE

Business

Working Waterfront

Poor Internet speeds hampering island economies

By Tom Groening Fast Internet is more than a matter of convenience. Economic and community vitality hinge on download and upload speeds, local and state policy makers have realized. And the status quo is not cutting it, they say. One survey puts the U.S. at 17th among developed nations for… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lyman-Morse buys Wayfarer Marine

By Tom Groening Thomaston-based Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding has purchased Wayfarer Marine in Camden. Lyman-Morse announced the purchase on July 1. The terms of the purchase were not disclosed. Both boatyards have deep ties to their communities. Lyman-Morse's history dates back nearly 100 years, while boatbuilding at the Wayfarer site began in… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lobster coops use strength in numbers

Editor's note: This story was first posted on May 20, 2014. By Tom Groening VINALHAVEN — At the end of a typical summer day, an 18-wheeler will roll onto the mainland-bound ferry loaded with 300-400 crates of live lobster packed in seaweed. The lobster—40,000 pounds of it, provided by the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Tide Mill Organic Farm in Edmunds creates fine creamery products

Story and Photos by Leslie Bowman SEE THE SLIDESHOW Aaron Bell and his wife Carly DelSignore founded Tide Mill Organic Farm 15 years ago on the shores of Cobscook Bay in Edmunds in Washington County. With a herd of 60 milking cows, dairy production represents 50 percent of the farm's… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Parallel parking at sea means thinking two steps ahead

By Benjamin Stevens Growing up in a fishing community, I got to see countless lobster boats make their tight turns and sudden stops at the Islesford coop dock. Boaters love to show off, and there is no feeling like executing a slick maneuver in front of a crowd of tourists.… SEE MORE

The map shows two possible routes for a new bridge linking Eastport (formerly Moose Island) to the mainland. The route shown in the blue box

Working Waterfront

Port boosters want Eastport to be island again

The caption on an earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the preferred route for a new bridge. By Tom Groening EASTPORT — Drive around the picturesque village of Eastport and you'll see references to Moose Island. That's because until the 1930s, when an ambitious but unrealized tidal power project… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Thinking like a banker and a fisherman

By Rob Snyder Fishermen from 15 U.S. fishing communities recently met in Boston to talk fish and fishing. But if you closed your eyes and listened to the discussion, you would have assumed it was a room full of bankers. They talked of valuing new assets and entering new markets,… SEE MORE