Working Waterfront

Oysters—from delicacy to staple?

By Kelli Park Emily Selinger has made it her mission to change the way we look at oysters, one farm-share at a time. Selinger spent her childhood on the Harraseeket River in Freeport, where she fell in love with working on the water. She taught sailing classes at a young… SEE MORE

A right whale entangled in what is believed to be Canadian crab gear.

Working Waterfront

Canadians also working to protect right whales

By Craig Idlebrook In response to an unexpectedly deadly summer for the North American right whale population in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Canadian government, conservationists, and fishermen are racing to put in place new measures to prevent ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements for the critically endangered mammal.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Mosquito plague has me thinking about the options

By Barbara Fernald On the first of July, activity on the islands is rolling along at a pace that rivals August. After a rainy, cold May and a rainy, cold June, any day with sun and warmth draws us all outside to catch up with gardening, boating, the beach, or… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A woman’s place on the working waterfront

Story and photos by Kelli Park From hand-hauling lobster traps to selling more than 10 million pounds of bait annually, Jennie Bichrest knows the working waterfront inside out. This summer, as the lobster industry faces a shortage of herring, the bait of choice, her business—Purse Line Bait—is playing a critical… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

UMaine study looks at Gulf of Maine temperature trends

Gulf of Maine temperature trends and variability during the past 11,000 years will be the focus of a five-year study led by a University of Maine paleo-oceanographer to enhance long-term environmental prediction and planning. Katherine Allen, a UMaine assistant professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences, and on… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A commissioner for changing times

By Rob Snyder When Patrick Keliher assumes his place at the front of the room, he does so humbly. His smile projects calm, his eyes look knowingly from behind wire rimmed glasses, and his jeans and flannel shirt are unassuming. He has the perfect presence to serve as Maine’s commissioner… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Everything is someone’s lunch

By Sandy Oliver Everything is someone’s lunch. I wander in the garden looking for spinach to eat as Eggs Florentine and notice that a section of seedlings has been wiped out. I dig around with my fingers and eventually turn up a fat, gray-brown curl of cutworm which, when squished,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Good science: Ecosystem-based fisheries management

By Tom Groening Fisheries management needs to be more localized and more closely tied to the people who work in the fishing industry. Those values are driving organizations like the Stonington-based Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries (MCCF), and this more sophisticated, nuanced approach to regulation was a theme at its… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Climate change drives writer from skeptic to alarmist

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming David Wallace-Wells; Tim Duggan Books, New York, 2019 Reviewed by Dana Wilde The question about climate change is not whether it’s happening, but how severe the catastrophe is going to be. This is the central theme of David Wallace-Wells’ The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine’s right whale plan is due by September

By Susie Arnold The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will submit a proposal to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in September outlining how the state’s lobster fishery will reduce its risk of entangling endangered North Atlantic Right Whales by 60 percent. Failure to submit a plan that meets… SEE MORE