Working Waterfront

Port Clyde town landing plan subject of May 14 vote

On May 14, St. George residents will be asked to vote on a $2.6 million rehabilitation and development project at the former St. George Marine property at 10 Cold Storage Road in Port Clyde. The first phase of the project was completed in 2015 when the town purchased the property… SEE MORE

A view of the Bagaduce River over Castine rooftops.

Working Waterfront

Updates from the Maine Sustainability & Water Conference

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Navy, University of New England, and Maine Department of Marine Resources have documented that both Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon use the Piscataqua River, making short forays into the estuary between April and November. Some of the sturgeon go on to spend the summer… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Letters to the editor

Emergency ferry runs more complicated I am writing in response to the article, “Ferry Service impacted with rising emergency trips,” in the April edition of The Working Waterfront. As a resident of Swan’s Island, diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer in 2016 and living with an ongoing issue of small bowel… SEE MORE

A summer scene on Great Cranberry Island.

Working Waterfront

April’s hope supplants March’s misery

Year-round residents of the Cranberry Isles have just made it through a rough end of winter to face the fickle brown month of April. In February, the ice-rain-ice weather had yards looking like skating rinks. March had its own kind of nastiness with endless wet snow and high winds causing… SEE MORE

A view to the Camden Hills from the Islesboro ferry.

Working Waterfront

Lots of lobster news, and a win for public access

Tugboats are the work horses of the maritime world, and seem, by design, to be steady, sure-footed, and safe. But the April Commercial Fisheries News reports on an odd, and probably unusual, tugboat mishap. Two tugs, the 40-foot Helen Louise and the 80-foot Capt. Mackintire, collided on Feb. 22 off… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Clean energy from a meeting of Iceland and Maine

By Cameron G. Brien What is the single largest commodity the nation of Iceland produces in a single year? Is it fish? Banking? The attractive, blonde descendants of Viking shield-maidens? It is, in fact, something much more abstract than any of those things. What Iceland produces more of than anything… SEE MORE

A right whale that has recovered from wounds linked to fishing gear.

Working Waterfront

Right whale story misled readers

By Patrice McCarron I was disheartened by the article on the plight of North Atlantic right whales on the front page of April’s The Working Waterfront. The story and accompanying photo misleads the public about interactions between the Maine lobster fishery and right whales and runs counter to the Island… SEE MORE

The Port Clyde waterfront in St. George.

Working Waterfront

Seeking community, and time by the water

Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. I never thought I would find myself craving less alone time. Last year I longed for stretches… SEE MORE

The HELIO group tries rowing a local "dragon" boat.

Working Waterfront

College of the Atlantic inspires ‘human ecology’ model in Japan

In 2014, a group of residents of the town of Ōsakikamijima, Japan, invited the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor to help them start a college. Ōsakikamijima is on a small island in the Seto Inland Sea, off Hiroshima. It has a population of 7,800 that’s trending up in… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

New master of MMA’s Bowdoin has global experience

Capt. Will McLean recalls sailing the 134-foot steel brigantine Corwith Cramer in 15-foot seas. He was working as senior chief mate and relief captain for Sea Education Association, an undergraduate ocean education school in Woods Hole, Mass., which takes students on research expeditions to places as far apart as the North… SEE MORE