Working Waterfront

Southern Maine harbors to get their own dredge

A dredge is a critical tool for moving sand on a regular basis to reinforce the shoreline at Camp Ellis and other communities, much like places do in Cape Cod and Florida SEE MORE

A rock cliff and sandy shore on the east side of Sears Island. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Offshore wind blows across Searsport

Have you heard there’s another plan to develop Sears Island in Searsport? The state is considering using 100 acres or so on the western shore as a site where enormous floating wind turbines will be built and then deployed to the Gulf of Maine as part of Maine’s renewable energy… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Mouth-watering recipes for a cause

Whole meals can be constructed, appetizers to dessert, with mixed drinks thrown in. SEE MORE

The Deer Isle causeway, linking Deer Isle with Little Deer Isle and the bridge that leads to the mainland.PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Deer Isle causeway worries officials

A windshield view of the causeway during a storm, with waves lapping over the pavement. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

On the record with… Alexa Dayton of the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries

Alexa Dayton took the reins as executive director for the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries in Stonington on Oct. 3. She has over 25 years of leadership experience with L.L. Bean, Maine Huts & Trails, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and, most recently, the University of Maine System. That… SEE MORE

Gregory Dunham’s Eaton’s Boatyard, 2015; watercolor, 15 inches by 22½ inches (now in a private collection).

Working Waterfront

Gregory Dunham paints Eaton’s Boatyard

In 1980, inspired by friend and mentor, the famed lithographer Stow Wengenroth (1906-1978), painter Gregory Dunham and his wife-to-be Pat McGrath decided to go on a “pilgrimage” to some of the Maine towns the artist had frequented in his lifetime. From their home in Rockport, Mass., they drove straight to… SEE MORE

And aerial view of South Portland’s Cushing’s Point Shipyard which was in full production during World War II. PHOTO: MAINE MARITIME MUSEUM

Working Waterfront

A working waterfront transformed by war

Maine can claim a lot of superlatives in terms of national shipbuilding. With about 20,000 vessels under its belt, Maine surpassed the output of states with major industrialized metropolitan areas for most of its history. Many of the shipyards and boatyards today have been the site of active shipbuilding for decades, if not a century or more, with their own claims to fame in innovation, size, or speed. In contrast there are also builders of significance that lasted a surprisingly limited amount of time and had a huge impact, like the yard pictured here. SEE MORE

A boat underway powered by an electric outboard in Bristol, R.I. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Fast-forward: Electric outboards are here

Aboard a rigid inflatable boat traveling upwards of 40 knots, experiencing acceleration I’d previously associated with drag racing, it was clear the electric motors at Flux Marine in Bristol, R.I. pack a punch. The goal of my visit was to shoot photos and videos of the outboard motors in action,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Hosting a lobster party for a cause

On July 8 I received an e-mail from the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) asking if Bruce and I knew someone who would be interested in hosting an informative fundraising cocktail party on Islesford in August. The federal government is threatening the Maine lobster fishing industry with escalating regulations that will… SEE MORE

Lobster landing in Vinalhaven. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Pay attention to women-owned businesses

I daydream about becoming a farmer. My vegetable garden last year would warn against it, and this year I didn’t even try to grow a tomato plant in a pot. Instead, I daydream of working on the water, farming scallops. I want to be an aquaculturist in my next life… SEE MORE