Working Waterfront

Drought and our estuaries

By Catherine Schmitt According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, about half of Maine is in abnormally dry conditions, with moderate to severe drought along the entire coastline, affecting approximately 1,089,000 people or about 82 percent of the state's population. This is consistent with the pattern of recent years, when drought emerged… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Our oceans are worth a deeper dive

By Tom Groening The rock musician Frank Zappa often chose bizarre, sometimes off-color, but usually witty titles for his instrumental songs. One from the late 1970s, “The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution,” remains in my memory, even though I can’t summon to mind a single lick of the tune. The… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Energy policy question draws contrast in gubernatorial forum

By Tom Groening Pundits have characterized Maine’s four-way gubernatorial campaign as low-key, and the nature of an Oct. 4 candidate forum in Rockland bore out that observation. Independents Alan Caron and Terry Hayes were joined by Democrat Janet Mills and Republican Shawn Moody on the stage of The Strand… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Swan’s Island looks to diversified ocean economy

DALE JOYCE/HARBORVIEW STUDIO Jason and Jamie Matthews. By Jennifer Helman Ask a financial expert for the key to a successful portfolio and the response will be “diversification.” Having a wide range of products in your portfolio helps hedge against downturns in specific markets. The same is true for the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘High seas’ threatened by lack of regulation, ocean researcher says

During introductions at the Aug. 28 installment of “Coffee and Conversation,” a summer series at Bar Harbor’s College of the Atlantic, a joke was made about the school’s opening session tradition of having students and staff jump into the cold Atlantic Ocean off Bar Island to swim to the campus… SEE MORE

Photovoltaic panels in a yard on Islesboro.

Working Waterfront

Islesboro recharges for energy independence

Technological innovations like electric cars, photovoltaic panels, air-source heat pumps, and micro-grids can stir up a lively discussion at a gathering like the fourth annual Islesboro Energy Conference, hosted on the island on Sept. 8 by the community’s energy team. But organizer Toby Martin was more interested in the practical.… SEE MORE

Seas break over the main road on Islesboro in the area known as the Narrows.

Working Waterfront

Innovative infrastructure in face of sea-level rise

By Susie Arnold, Kate Tagai, and Allison Carmen Rising ocean levels and increasing storm frequency and intensity are already having an impact along the Maine coast. How we choose to adapt and improve our coastal infrastructure will determine how our communities succeed. Traditional approaches to improving built infrastructure include increasing the diameter… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The ‘priestess of nature’ who took on the ‘elixirs of death’

By Tom Walsh If you don’t know much—or even anything at all—about Rachel Carson, here’s your chance. The Library of America recruited the help of editor Sandra Steingraber in recently publishing a new retrospective on marine biologist Rachel Carson and her seminal role in jump-starting environmentalism in post-World War II… SEE MORE

An aerial view of House Island in Casco Bay.

Working Waterfront

Estuary Beat: A focus on monitoring

How blue is Casco Bay? Friends of Casco Bay is recruiting volunteers to help monitor water quality by observing the color of the water. The color of estuaries and bays can be an indicator of nutrient and sediment concentrations and phytoplankton production. With a simple smartphone photograph, volunteers can provide… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A plethora of peaches

The peach deluge is over for this year. For two weeks from the end of August into the second week of September a flood of peaches and a surge of panic fill the house while the three peach trees in my life deposit their fruit on the ground, in waiting… SEE MORE