Working Waterfront

Former Google employee launches seaweed tea business

By Stephanie Bouchard If you were Josh Rogers’ childhood friend, you probably were offered dried dulse instead of Doritos chips for a snack. The red seaweed is today a trendy health food, but in the 1980s in Auburn, his friends thought it was “totally bizarre.” Rogers hasn’t given up trying… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

MDI lab sees break-through in regenerative medicine

PHOTO: COURTESY MDI BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY Kevin Strange, Ph.D., CEO of Novo Biosciences in Bar Harbor. By Tom Groening Two scientists walk into a bar. It’s not the start of a joke, but someday, it may be marked as the start of a break-through in regenerative medicine. Work that began at… SEE MORE

Ocean Approved's kelp lease site off Chebeague Island.

Working Waterfront

When kelp met mussel…

By Susie Arnold Without a doubt, aquaculture is a major growth industry in the state. And it is not just about finfish. Shellfish and seaweed farming are on the rise. A recent market study, commissioned by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, found that Maine has the potential to become… SEE MORE

Summer haze over Roque Bluffs State Park.

Working Waterfront

Gulf of Maine sees ‘marine heatwave’

The Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest-warming ocean ecosystems on the planet, according to scientists at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Over the last 30 years, it has warmed at a rate of 0.06 degrees Celsius per year (0.11 degrees Fahrenheit per year)—more than three times the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Drought and our estuaries

By Catherine Schmitt According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, about half of Maine is in abnormally dry conditions, with moderate to severe drought along the entire coastline, affecting approximately 1,089,000 people or about 82 percent of the state's population. This is consistent with the pattern of recent years, when drought emerged… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Our oceans are worth a deeper dive

By Tom Groening The rock musician Frank Zappa often chose bizarre, sometimes off-color, but usually witty titles for his instrumental songs. One from the late 1970s, “The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution,” remains in my memory, even though I can’t summon to mind a single lick of the tune. The… SEE MORE

Bajupa at Journey's End boatyard in Rockland.

Working Waterfront

The story of Bajupa is the story of lobstering and Matinicus

This story first appeared in Landings,the monthly publication of the Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance, and appears here with permission. By Melissa Waterman It’s rare to find a boat that nearly every fisherman would term “pretty,” but in the case of Bajupa, that phrase rings true. Built in 1946 by Robert Rich,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Energy policy question draws contrast in gubernatorial forum

By Tom Groening Pundits have characterized Maine’s four-way gubernatorial campaign as low-key, and the nature of an Oct. 4 candidate forum in Rockland bore out that observation. Independents Alan Caron and Terry Hayes were joined by Democrat Janet Mills and Republican Shawn Moody on the stage of The Strand… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Swan’s Island looks to diversified ocean economy

DALE JOYCE/HARBORVIEW STUDIO Jason and Jamie Matthews. By Jennifer Helman Ask a financial expert for the key to a successful portfolio and the response will be “diversification.” Having a wide range of products in your portfolio helps hedge against downturns in specific markets. The same is true for the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘High seas’ threatened by lack of regulation, ocean researcher says

During introductions at the Aug. 28 installment of “Coffee and Conversation,” a summer series at Bar Harbor’s College of the Atlantic, a joke was made about the school’s opening session tradition of having students and staff jump into the cold Atlantic Ocean off Bar Island to swim to the campus… SEE MORE