Working Waterfront

Warmer waters pushing northern shrimp out of Gulf of Maine

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. This winter was the fourth consecutive year of a moratorium on fishing for northern shrimp. Management of the fishery remains a subject of discussion. The small, sweet northern shrimp are an Arctic species, and are at the southernmost extent of… SEE MORE

Tenants Harbor lobsterman Hale Miller harvests seaweed in Muscle Ridge Channel in Penobscot Bay.

Working Waterfront

Landmark ruling blocks access to seaweed harvesters

A March 16 Washington County Superior Court ruling will allow private landowners to block harvester access to rockweed in the intertidal zone. The ruling is likely to be appealed to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. The plaintiffs, Washington County landowners Kenneth and Carl Ross and the Roque Island Gardner Homestead Corporation,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Dancing with the woodcock as a rite of spring

In the cold damp beginning of April, I walked out to check my garden, looking for any signs of life. Where were the snowdrops I planted last fall? I thought they would be up by now. Still, I know spring is on its way by the activity of the early… SEE MORE

Students hold a “blade” of kelp they’ve grown.

Working Waterfront

This teacher treats his students like research assistants

In his classroom at the Edna Drinkwater School in Northport, John Van Dis asks questions before he knows their answers. It’s an unusual approach for a teacher to take, but for a science teacher, it makes sense. Van Dis believes his grade 6 and 7 students should learn the way… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Periwinkles an under-heralded seafood product

Life is rough in the intertidal zone. Barnacles with their heads cemented to rock and pilings wait for the tide to rise so they can resume combing for plankton with their legs. Rockweed collapses on boulders and ledges at low tide and wafts upright at high. Crabs root around in… SEE MORE

Students sit on the shore during a lesson.

Working Waterfront

Girls embrace science in coastal setting

Who would want to wake up, layer up and sit outside in a circle with other students in the frigid cold air for 30 minutes, in silence, five days a week? What about writing your college essay about the importance of your rubber boots? And, by the way, leave your… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island Lyme, tick survey reveals deep concern

A survey aimed at residents of Maine’s 15 unbridged, year-round island communities reveals deep concern about ticks and the diseases they carry, such as Lyme disease. The survey found that 83 percent of those responding “thought Lyme disease was a problem on their island,” a March 3 preliminary report on… SEE MORE

An Atlantic sturgeon that measured 7 feet was caught in Merrymeeting Bay.

Working Waterfront

Holy leapin’ sturgeon!

Almost 20 years after a coast-wide fishing moratorium on Atlantic sturgeon was instituted, the giant, monstrous creatures of the deep are growing in numbers. Atlantic sturgeon live most of their lives in salt water, but hatch and spawn in fresh water. The species was once abundant, especially during colonial times. From the late… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Shrimp future remains cloudy

The continued closure of Maine’s shrimp fishery puts a strain on some of the state’s fishermen, but is having little impact on Maine’s restaurants, where the local seafood had been a winter favorite with customers. “It has not been a big impact on them because I think that restaurants, in… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A school for ‘that kid who just wants to work on the water’

There’s a lot of work to be done before it opens its doors, but Eric Jergenson likes to point out that the Maine Ocean School already exists. No, it’s not a figment of his imagination—the public, magnet high school was established by state law in the last legislative session. By… SEE MORE