The top of Cadillac Mountain on a busy summer day.

Working Waterfront

Island Institute staff reflect on meaning of Earth Day

Some of the staff at the Island Institute agreed to share their thoughts about Earth Day, on this, its 50th anniversary. Robin ChernowCommunity Development Officer, Education My first Earth Day-specific memory is from 1st or 2nd grade. My class got to spend part of the school day outside, helping to… SEE MORE

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Earth Day turns 50, and it’s more complicated than ever

By Philip Conkling One of the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the fates of humans across the globe are inextricably linked. Fifty years ago, the idea our lives depended on linkages with the natural world was a central part of the message of the first Earth Day and… SEE MORE

Ellen Cohill and Glen Charles outside Cohill's Pub and Inn in Lubec.

Working Waterfront

Bass Harbor Light will be transferred to National Park Service

By Laurie Schreiber Plans are in the works to transfer jurisdiction of the Bass Harbor Light Station from the U.S. Coast Guard to the National Park Service. The plan would include a provision that allows the coast guard to continue to access the light and maintain the mechanical connections for… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The wrath that follows environmental sin

Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? Bill McKibben; Henry Holt and Co., New York, 2019; 300 pages, hard cover, $28. Review by Dana Wilde Recently, a lobsterman from Swan’s Island told a reporter that, despite scientists’ finding that climate change has driven lobster populations north from… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Giving voice to emotional response to climate change

A Dangerous New World: Maine Voices on the Climate Crisis Meghan Sterling and Kathleen Sullivan, eds. Littoral Books, Portland, Maine, 2019 Review by Dana Wilde “No one wants to see disaster coming, but those who look, do,” David Wallace-Wells says in his chilling book about climate change, The Uninhabitable Earth.… SEE MORE

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Will Portland choke on its success?

By Tom Groening What if Portland wasn’t in Maine? What if the state’s border with New Hampshire fell along the shore of the Royal River in Yarmouth, instead of along the Piscataqua? Or what if Portland were somehow transported to the area near Newburyport, Mass.? What would be lost? It’s… SEE MORE

An engineer's conception of floating wind turbines.

Working Waterfront

Offshore wind is back in motion

By Tom Groening The perception that Maine’s forays into offshore wind power have been on hold aren’t quite accurate, said Jake Ward of the University of Maine. Under the name New England Aqua Ventus I, the university is pursuing siting a floating wind turbine off Monhegan Island as a test… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lobster landings again top 100 million pounds

By Tom Groening Despite a summer marked by light hauls, the overall lobster catch for 2019 again cracked the 100-million-pound threshold, the ninth consecutive year to do so. Total landings were 100,725,013 pounds. To put last year’s landings in historical context, Department of Marine Resources data shows that lobster landings… SEE MORE

A lobsterman and his young helper in the Fox Islands Thorofare.

Working Waterfront

Lobster science—last year was indeed strange

By Susie Arnold It was a strange year for the lobster fishery. In 2019, the scarcity of bait was a concern, and lobster landings were incredibly slow through the summer months. The July catch was the lowest recorded since at least 2008, the year the Department of Marine Resources began… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Salmon listing didn’t cause sky to fall, but species still struggling

By Catherine Schmitt Twenty years have passed since Atlantic salmon became certified as an endangered species, according to federal law. Ed Baum was a salmon biologist with the state at the time—and is now retired—and he remembers the moment well. He remembers other moments, too, like the power of a… SEE MORE