Crustacean off Great Cranberry Isle. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Trends emerge on communities reliant on lobster

The value of Maine’s 2022 lobster fishery was $388 million, a decline of over $353 million compared to 2021. While this is a significant number, the total value of Maine’s lobster landings didn’t exceed $350 million until 2013. In addition, we know that the value of these landings is not… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A sailing adventure enjoyed vicariously

In Slocum’s Wake By Nat Warren-White, Outskirts Press, Inc. (2022) Garrison Keillor once said something like, “We need to write because, otherwise, nobody will know who we are.” I think others write to find out who they, themselves, are. Having known Nat Warren-White since the 1960s as a casual acquaintance,… SEE MORE

Josephine-Ginn-Banks-View-of-Stonington-Harbor-Undated-between-1900-and-1920-Gift-of-Wilma-Voss

Working Waterfront

‘Women Behind the Lens’ reveals new perspectives

Much of the maritime industry and its history has been dominated by white men. A new photographic exhibit at Maine Maritime Museum in Bath seeks to take a look at that male-dominated legacy through the lens—literally—of three women intimately connected to it. “Women Behind the Lens” displays together for the… SEE MORE

Vinalhaven's lobster coop. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Lobster landings: catch remains high, price drops

Following 2021’s historically high values for Maine’s commercially harvested marine resources, harvesters in 2022 earned $574 million, an amount that is consistent with more recent history, according to preliminary data released from the Maine Department of Marine Resources on March 3. While overall value represents a 37 percent drop compared… SEE MORE

Alison Hill, “Coiling the Ropes,” 2015, oil on canvas, 24 by 30 inches.

Working Waterfront

Down at the Monhegan Dock with Alison Hill

The dock on Monhegan is the center of that far-out-at-sea island’s universe. “It’s our lifeline,” writes painter Alison Hill. “It’s the first thing we see when we arrive,” she notes, “and the last thing we see when we leave.” For Hill, who moved to Monhegan in May 2002, the setting… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Working waterfronts ‘speak’ in podcast

Koch grew up on Deer Isle, where she was steeped in the stories and history of her community. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

On the record with… Project Puffin’s Steve Kress

Last fall, Dr. Steve Kress, PhD, received a lifetime achievement award from the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Kress, 77, has a long list of credits to his name, but undoubtedly he is best known for the work he spent much of his career doing: restoring and managing breeding populations… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Towns fear, fight aquaculture expansion

There’s a new war brewing along the Maine coast, and the enemy is what some perceive as the uncontrolled spread of aquaculture. According to the Department of Marine Resources, between 2017 and 2021, aquaculture leases in Maine waters increased from about 110 to approximately 185. The total acreage encompassed by… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Climate is the real culprit in whale saga

In following the rollercoaster of how new regulations designed to protect the North Atlantic right whale will impact Maine’s lobster fishery and the communities the industry supports, two recent announcements stuck out to me. One is the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) five-year review of the species. The whales are… SEE MORE

Babb’s The Iron Works (1977, oil on panel, 36 x 48 in. collection of Janet Starr).

Working Waterfront

Joel Babb’s BIW

Over its nearly 130-year existence, Bath Iron Works has also attracted artists. SEE MORE