Luke Maker, 8, of Machiasport runs the family skiff through a cove earlier this summer using an electric outboard purchased through a grant from Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. Luke and is father, Ryan, fish for lobster. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Lobster season brings sense of normalcy

The 2024 lobster season has brought Maine fishermen something they haven’t experienced in recent years: A sense of normalcy. After several years of volatile price swings for their catches, unpredictable harvests, and increased costs for everything from bait to fuel, this year is shaping up to be unusually ordinary, lobstermen… SEE MORE

Visitors enjoy sitting on the town dock in Castine’s harbor area. The dock was destroyed by the January storms, but the new decking material will allows waters from storm surge to rise through while encountering less resistance. PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Building a better waterfront

But even as the storm raged, Harbormaster Scott Vogell was planning the rebuild. Rather than return the decking—which was the typical wood, an estimated 3-3/4-inches thick by 8-inches wide—Vogell inquired about new materials. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Community at the heart of resilience plan

Our community resilience plan was created this way, with residents offering what they had to give, their knowledge of history and place, their ideas and visions, and what they valued. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Strategies for a climate-ready coast

For Maine’s rocky shores, offshore seaweed habitats and oyster reefs can effectively reduce wave energy. Restored kelp forests in Norway have cut wave height by up to 50% and wave energy by 70-80%, enhancing shoreline stability. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Raspberry bounty leads to recipe

Seven or eight years ago I asked my neighbor Mary, who was off island at Surry Gardens to buy some plants, if she would pick up three small raspberry bushes for me. It has always been my dream to have a raspberry patch in my own yard, one that would… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Sea cucumber gunk: deadly weapon, potential biopolymer

In case there was any doubt, our August heat wave makes it clear that summer is in full swing. Summer means the beach, with all the weird sea creatures it has to offer. Among these weirdos is the tropical sea cucumber, Holothuria leucospilota, which is mainly found in the Indian… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

In the flow—cytometry tracks tiny organism

The research tools the scientists use to probe the changing ocean—flow cytometry and imaging flow cytometry, and the insights they enable—were the topic of the second presentation in Bigelow’s annual summer series... SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Bike and walk to a better climate future

Climate change arguably is one of the biggest challenges we face as a nation, as a world. It is a challenge that does not have a single solution, but requires us to deploy a wide range of actions to drastically reduce global warming, pollution, and to prepare for the climate… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Coastal cleanup returns

The Maine Coastal Program, a division of the Department of Marine Resources (DMR), has opened registration for the annual Coastal Cleanup, a volunteer-driven initiative designed to clean debris from shores and waterfront communities. Part of the International Coastal Cleanup, Maine’s Coastal Cleanup will run from Sept. 7-21. Anyone who wishes… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

State awards $21.2 million in resilience grants

Sixty-eight Maine working waterfronts will receive $21.2 million in resilience grants from the state to support recovery and rebuilding from damage caused by devastating storms this past winter. The Working Waterfront Resilience Grant Program is funded with $60 million in state funding authorized through the supplemental budget in May— the… SEE MORE