Working Waterfront

Picking up the migratory cues

By Allison Carmen Before moving to the Northeast, I spent part of my undergrad training as a National Association of Underwater Instructors research diver. When we weren’t on assignment counting nurse sharks or sea bass deep in the Catalina kelp forests, my scuba friends and I could be found finning… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Getting from here to there is essential

It’s not the sexiest topic, but transportation policy impact radiates out through many arenas, including economic development, land use planning, population movement, and environmental protection. For part of my tenure at the Bangor Daily News, I covered the legislature’s transportation committee. It was refreshing to hear debates break along lines unrelated to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

In ‘Searching for Stars,’ physicist tackles perennial problems

Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine,by Alan Lightman; Pantheon Books, New York, 2018 Review by Dana Wilde More than 60 years ago, the British physicist and novelist C.P. Snow stirred up an intellectual hornets nest in a magazine article, “The Two Cultures.” Science and the humanities, he said,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Great Lakes water poses questions of balance

"Enjoy your cup of Lake Superior," a voice said. I looked at the steaming coffee in my hand. I hadn't connected the water used to brew my coffee with the great body right outside the window, but of course for the residents of Madeline Island and for the other 48… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Anxiety rises over battered coasts, battered communities

Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore By Elizabeth Rush (2018; Milkweed Editions) Reviewed by Tina Cohen Elizabeth Rush’s Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore brings readers to places along America’s edges where life is changing. These places are being redefined by rising sea levels, by storms battering coasts, and by… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Considering the spectacular Sheepscot

By Catherine Schmitt There is a break in the ragged Maine coastline between Seguin Island Light and Damariscove, a widening where the Atlantic Ocean floods into a rock-ledged bay, and through a complicated network of glacial-scoured back rivers, side channels, and islands. As the tide turns and the wind shifts, birds… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Gentle giant of the sea paddles into Maine waters

By Wanda Curtis One of the largest fish increasingly seen in the Gulf of Maine is the Mola mola, or ocean sunfish. These gentle giants, which can grow up to 5,000 pounds, are found in temperate and tropical oceans throughout the world. It’s been nicknamed the “swimming head” because the… SEE MORE

Brunswick High School Marine Biology students test our their waders on their first day at the outdoor classroom on Maquoit Bay.

Working Waterfront

Brunswick boosts next generation of marine entrepreneurs

KELLI PARK Brunswick High School Marine Biology students check green crab traps with their teacher, Andrew McCullough. Story and Photos by Kelli Park Young marine entrepreneurs in Maine are seeing new opportunities evolve almost as quickly as the changing tides. In Brunswick, the Student Shellfish Initiative is helping some of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Former Google employee launches seaweed tea business

By Stephanie Bouchard If you were Josh Rogers’ childhood friend, you probably were offered dried dulse instead of Doritos chips for a snack. The red seaweed is today a trendy health food, but in the 1980s in Auburn, his friends thought it was “totally bizarre.” Rogers hasn’t given up trying… SEE MORE

Ocean Approved's kelp lease site off Chebeague Island.

Working Waterfront

When kelp met mussel…

By Susie Arnold Without a doubt, aquaculture is a major growth industry in the state. And it is not just about finfish. Shellfish and seaweed farming are on the rise. A recent market study, commissioned by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, found that Maine has the potential to become… SEE MORE