Working Waterfront

U.N. report on ocean goes beyond warning

Earlier this year, the United Nations announced the publication of its second World Ocean Assessment, presented as “the only comprehensive global analysis that looks at social, environmental, demographic, and economic trends affecting the state of the ocean...” The announcement described the first World Ocean Assessment, released in 2015, as a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Capt. Spear joins ferry fleet

[caption id="attachment_26421" align="alignright" width="450"] The view from the catwalk.[/caption] PHOTOS BY MICHELE STAPLETON The Capt. Richard G. Spear, the Maine State Ferry Service’s newest vessel, was launched April 9 at the Washburn & Doughty yard in East Boothbay where it was built. The ferry, 154-feet-long and 38-foot-wide and able to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Eating as revenge on invasive crab

The Green Crab Cookbook By Mary Parks and Thanh Thái European green crabs are a scourge on the Maine coast, first introduced during the mid-1800s, likely by sailing vessels. They were first recorded in Casco Bay in 1900, and within 50 years had occupied the entire coast. These little crabs… SEE MORE

Students take turns standing watch aboard the State of Maine, Maine Maritime Academy's training vessel. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

‘Bridge resource management’ means a team approach

After the deadliest crash in airline history, the collision of KLM and Pan Am airplanes in 1977, killing 583 people, the airline industry made major changes, including the adoption of cockpit resource management. For the maritime industry it was after the Exxon Valdez accident in March 1989 that similar changes… SEE MORE

The former pilot boat before being refitted.

Working Waterfront

Island freight business finds its Northern Star

Even before the pandemic, online ordering made getting goods shipped to Swan’s Island and Frenchboro increasingly attractive—often more so than heading off for a trip to mainland stores. The past year of sheltering in place accelerated that trend. Who handles all that freight? Brian and Kathy Krafjack, who own The… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Yes, it is a pretty great bay

I just learned that our world’s oceans have their own day, and it’s June 8, the day I am writing this column. But I want to bring us closer to home. For our 2021 Island Journal publication, which prints soon after this newspaper begins circulating, I wrote about Penobscot Bay,… SEE MORE

Visitors line up to board Diver Ed's boat in Bar Harbor.

Working Waterfront

Starfish Enterprise will sail from new, more easterly port

Too many people ashore and not enough animals under the water have forced one of Mount Desert Island’s most popular tourist attractions to move its operations this summer from Bar Harbor to Eastport on Passamaquoddy Bay. [caption id="attachment_26187" align="alignleft" width="350"] Diver Ed kisses a crab.[/caption] Ed Monat, universally known as… SEE MORE

An aerial view of Southwest Harbor Boat Yard. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Saving a Southwest Harbor anchor

Jeff and Audrey Berzinis have no firm conclusions on how to do it. But they know one thing—they want to preserve the working waterfront nature of their Southwest Harbor property for future generations. The Berzinises are the long-time owners of Southwest Boat, a marine services yard with multiple buildings, wharf,… SEE MORE

CAPTION: Friends of Casco Bay staff scientist Mike Doan launches a new continuous monitoring station in Harpswell. See story inside. PHOTO: COURTESY FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY

Working Waterfront

Friends of Casco Bay expands water monitoring

The Friends of Casco Bay has added two continuous water quality monitoring stations in the east and west sides of the bay. On March 31, the nonprofit advocacy group’s staff scientist Mike Doan launched a new station in Cundy’s Harbor, Harpswell. The second new station was launched in Portland Harbor… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol begins new chapter

PHOTOS BY MICHELE STAPLETON This spring, the historic Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol began a new chapter under new ownership. The three new owners—Mike Tatro, John Vinal, and Carol Morrison—closed on the purchase from Rory Cowan in March. The three have been working at the yard—Tatro and Morrison for about… SEE MORE