Cruise ship seen from West Street in Bar Harbor.

Working Waterfront

Lost at sea: Cruise ships faces uncertain future

On paper, Bar Harbor was expecting more than 150 cruise ship visits this year. In reality—fat chance. The COVID-19 tsunami finds the global cruise ship industry in shambles and has left traditional ports of call, including a handful in Maine, with many more questions than answers. “We need to figure… SEE MORE

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Basking shark washes ashore in Bremen

A dead basking shark washed ashore in Bremen in early January. The Department of Marine Resources responded to calls from local residents, and marine biologists took tissue samples. According to the website Oceana, the basking shark is the second largest fish in the world, and like the largest fish (the whale… SEE MORE

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Massachusetts proposes February to May lobstering ‘pause’

A dire decline of North Atlantic right whales and a pair of court rulings are pushing regulators to propose new restrictions on lobstering in New England waters. The proposed regulations aim to reduce the risk of the endangered whales becoming entangled with lobster trap gear. While much of the new… SEE MORE

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Sea sickness of another kind

People often ask me if I am a sailor. I demur, admitting only to owning a boat. I have too much awareness of and respect for real sailors to compare my level of skill. Like many mariners, I get seasick, unless the seas are calm or I am sufficiently infused… SEE MORE

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South Portland’s history is in good hands

Like many of its counterparts around the country, the South Portland Historical Society’s museum has been closed since the onset of the pandemic. The small size of the building in Bug Light Park, combined with the older age of the society’s volunteers, make keeping the museum’s doors open a risk.… SEE MORE

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Minke whale skeleton finds second life

Photos by William Trevaskis Students, staff, and visitors to North Haven Community School are greeted by a new, impressive sight when they enter the school grounds: a 26-foot minke whale skeleton, mounted in a spruce timber frame. The display is the culmination of a years-long project, begun in 2016 when… SEE MORE

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Maine Climate Council action plan is opportunity, say members

The Maine Climate Council released its four-year plan for climate action on Tuesday, Dec. 1 the same day 60-mph wind gusts were battering the state. As council member Ivan Fernandez remarked during the public release of the report that the five hottest years in Earth’s recorded history were the last… SEE MORE

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Port of Halifax expands to handle bigger container ships

This fall, the Port of Halifax welcomed the largest two containerized cargo vessels to ever make a call on the Canadian eastern seaboard—the CMA CGM Brazil and the CMA CGM Panama. Each ship is roughly 1,200 feet long and 48 feet in height above the waterline. Nova Scotians living on… SEE MORE

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A well-lived life in Maine boat design

Of Watercraft and Function: A Biography of Naval Architect Geerd N. Hendel By Roger Allen Moody A documented, remembered career is a form of immortality. A career as long and distinguished as that of Geerd Hendel, the German-American naval architect who worked in New York, Boston, Bath, and Camden deserves… SEE MORE

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Phippsburg oyster project is a triple win

PHOTOS by KELLI PARK Maine has the power to draw people with its rugged beauty. But Maine is more than a pretty face, and it casts its spell over entrepreneurs who find possibility in its vast coastline. On the shores of the New Meadows River in Phippsburg is one example.… SEE MORE