Working Waterfront

In praise of pruning

In the summer, with my days suddenly unstructured, I become an inveterate putterer. No shelf is left unorganized, no drawer unpurged. The yard gets the most attention. At some point every day, I find myself wandering from plant to plant, flowers and vegetables alike, touching leaves, saying hello (out loud!),… SEE MORE

A stage CV Calanus finmarchicus from the Gulf of Maine, showing its lipid oil sac.

Working Waterfront

Tiny copepod plays outsized role

The world’s oceans are teeming with plankton, microscopic life that move where the currents take them. Among the plankton are algal cells called phytoplankton and single-celled and multicellular animals called zooplankton. A vertical tow with a fine-mesh net deployed just about anywhere in the ocean will yield animal plankton. While… SEE MORE

A summer scene off Stonington. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Stonington launches resilience strategy

The Hancock County town of Stonington is launching an economic resiliency strategy to complement its 2018 comprehensive plan and to proactively respond to current and future challenges and changes impacting the town’s ability to thrive as a year-round community. The analysis and action plan was commissioned in the spring of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Weeded needed in gardening book

A Maine Garden Almanac: Seasonal Wisdom for Making the Most of Your Garden Space By Martha Fenn King, Down East Books (2023) There are a lot of books I end up reading because they have “Maine” in the title. Even if not for review purposes, I’d probably grab them anyway,… SEE MORE

Participants at a Build Maine conference work at creating a hypothetical housing development following a zoning ordinance. PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

On the record with… GrowSmart Maine’s Nancy Smith

When Nancy Smith first came to Maine in 1981, she was thinking, professionally, about the growth of trees and forests. Today, her work focuses on ensuring that Maine communities retain their character and function. Or, in other words, that they grow smart. Smith grew up in Connecticut and went to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Legislature, governor pass offshore wind bill

In what proponents describe as a way to jumpstart a new offshore wind industry for Maine, the legislature passed and Gov. Janet Mills signed into law LD 1895, “An Act Regarding the Procurement of Energy from Offshore Wind” on July 27. The coalition of groups that support the bill say… SEE MORE

A fishing boat hauls traps with Stonington in the background. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

A curated coast—stories preserved and amplified

If you visit 44 North Coffee’s Stonington location through mid-October, you’ll notice something different about the beloved cafe. This year, 44 North is hosting an exhibit of photographs, audio stories, and a soundwalk by The First Coast, a collective of storytellers and documentarians that I helped curate. Founded in 2016… SEE MORE

An aerial veiew of Scarborough Marsh from May 2021. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

A delicate dance between sea and land

Behind the forested dunes of Popham Beach, where the Kennebec River finally meets the sea, is an extensive salt marsh. Great blue herons hunt for eels amid blooms of sea lavender and milkwort; saltmarsh sparrows search for spiders in the grass. As in all marshes, the grasses and rushes each… SEE MORE

Gabe Pendleton of Pendleton Yacht Yard takes an Island Institute's Alex Kravitz for a spin around Rockland Harbor in a boat powered by a 40-horsepower electric outboard. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Electric outboards show their stuff

In an effort to “electrify the working waterfront” in Maine, staff from Island Institute (publisher of The Working Waterfront) along with Gabe Pendleton, owner of Pendleton Yacht Yard on Islesboro, put new electric outboards through their paces on Rockland Harbor on July 27. Pendleton Yacht Yard’s new fully electric boat,… SEE MORE

University of New England student Clayton Nyiri unhooks a dogfish caught by fellow marine science student Jamison Saunders. PHOTO: CLARKE CANFIELD

Working Waterfront

Don’t let the dogfish bite

“Dog!” whoops Ben Gowell as he reels in his line 12 miles offshore, pulling up a spiny dogfish from nearly 300 feet down. The dogfish, well-known among recreational and commercial fishermen, is one of many that have been landed this mid-July day aboard a University of New England research boat.… SEE MORE