The approach to the Fox Islands Thorofare. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Mariners call for navigational aid maintenance

Lighthouses and buoys aren’t the only navigational aids on which mariners rely for safe transit. Structures known as day shapes or beacons, often built on ledges, also warn boaters away from danger, and some mariners have complained that as they deteriorate, the Coast Guard is failing to maintain them. Rep.… SEE MORE

Newschäfer at Lyman-Morse boatyard in Thomaston in September 2020. PHOTO: ROBERT MITCHELL

Working Waterfront

Solo sail around the world—for the win

On a solo round-the-world sailing race, Kirsten Neuschäfer had a teammate—her boat the Minnehaha. More than a tool, her boat was a partner in a race that takes incredible skill, determination, and a large dose of luck, she explained. It’s dubbed a race for “those who dare.” Neuschäfer dared and… SEE MORE

Aaron Bourassa, project manager overseeing the stabilization project at Fort Preble on the Southern Maine Community College campus. PHOTO: CLARKE CANFIELD

Working Waterfront

Fortifying Portland Harbor’s sentinel

[caption id="attachment_38490" align="alignnone" width="700"] An aerial view of the Southern Maine Community College campus, built within the confines of Fort Preble. PHOTO: COURTESY SMCC[/caption] Workers have moved three-ton granite blocks and taken measures to mitigate erosion and improve drainage in an effort to stabilize Fort Preble, a historic fortress… SEE MORE

Strike at Bath Iron Works, July 1, 1985. PHOTO: GEN WILLMAN

Working Waterfront

Shipbuilding legacy strengthened by unions

Maine’s proficient, hardworking, and regionally low-paid laborers helped to secure a competitive edge in the shipbuilding industry of the 19th century, contributing to the state’s significance as a center of American shipbuilding and fleet ownership. Like many historic narratives, this shipbuilding prominence has often been examined through the lens of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Alive in the time of herons

On an overcast August day, my teammates and I set off on a training swim down the Millstream. We were building up mileage ahead of our 5K fundraiser for LifeFlight of Maine, our fourth such venture in as many years. As we passed the waterfront house that serves as our… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Collins secures aquaculture funds

Sen. Susan Collins, vice chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that she advanced $7 million in congressionally directed spending to establish an Aquaculture Workforce Innovation Center at the University of Maine in the fiscal year 2024 commerce, justice, and science appropriations bill. “Maine’s aquaculture industry has seen significant growth… SEE MORE

Artist David Hurley poses near his sturgeon mural on the Bayview Events Center, near Belfast’s harbor walk. PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Mural honors Belfast’s sturgeon story

Let’s get the pronunciation lesson out of the way first. The river that flows into Penobscot Bay in Belfast is called the Passagassawakeag, which in the native Wabanaki language means, “Place where sturgeon may be speared by torch light.” It’s pronounced: puh-SAG-uh-sa-WAW-keg. There don’t seem to be many sturgeon in… SEE MORE

Eastport’s buoy in its setting on the city’s breakwater on a foggy night in August. PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Selfie magnet—Eastport’s artsy buoy

Eastport has plenty of bragging rights—its pretty, compact downtown with red brick buildings and handsome 19th century homes. Its dramatic, wild tides and its setting at the confluence of two bays, the Passamaquoddy and Cobscook. Its proximity to Canada, visible across a strait. [caption id="attachment_38225" align="alignleft" width="325"] Eastport’s buoy in… SEE MORE

An image of herring seining off Vinalhaven in 1957, photographed by Life magazine’s Eliot Elisofon. PHOTO: PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM

Working Waterfront

When a Life photographer captured a herring harvest

Seining for herring—known in the seafood market as sardines—was a common sight on the Maine coast in 1957, but there is nothing common about the accompanying photograph. It is the work of a photographic master as evidenced in its composition and timing. Looking at the image below, you’re met with… SEE MORE

A stage CV Calanus finmarchicus from the Gulf of Maine, showing its lipid oil sac.

Working Waterfront

Tiny copepod plays outsized role

The world’s oceans are teeming with plankton, microscopic life that move where the currents take them. Among the plankton are algal cells called phytoplankton and single-celled and multicellular animals called zooplankton. A vertical tow with a fine-mesh net deployed just about anywhere in the ocean will yield animal plankton. While… SEE MORE