A view of the Bagaduce River over Castine rooftops.

Working Waterfront

Updates from the Maine Sustainability & Water Conference

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Navy, University of New England, and Maine Department of Marine Resources have documented that both Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon use the Piscataqua River, making short forays into the estuary between April and November. Some of the sturgeon go on to spend the summer… SEE MORE

A view to the Camden Hills from the Islesboro ferry.

Working Waterfront

Lots of lobster news, and a win for public access

Tugboats are the work horses of the maritime world, and seem, by design, to be steady, sure-footed, and safe. But the April Commercial Fisheries News reports on an odd, and probably unusual, tugboat mishap. Two tugs, the 40-foot Helen Louise and the 80-foot Capt. Mackintire, collided on Feb. 22 off… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Harbor visitors will get ‘tides, weather, local knowledge’ in app

USHarbors.com, a website created and run by Rockland based Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine, is taking a step toward putting insider harbor information in the palm of its 4 million users’ hands. The spin-off business has received a seed grant from the Maine Technology Institute to develop a mobile… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Clean energy from a meeting of Iceland and Maine

By Cameron G. Brien What is the single largest commodity the nation of Iceland produces in a single year? Is it fish? Banking? The attractive, blonde descendants of Viking shield-maidens? It is, in fact, something much more abstract than any of those things. What Iceland produces more of than anything… SEE MORE

A right whale that has recovered from wounds linked to fishing gear.

Working Waterfront

Right whale story misled readers

By Patrice McCarron I was disheartened by the article on the plight of North Atlantic right whales on the front page of April’s The Working Waterfront. The story and accompanying photo misleads the public about interactions between the Maine lobster fishery and right whales and runs counter to the Island… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

New master of MMA’s Bowdoin has global experience

Capt. Will McLean recalls sailing the 134-foot steel brigantine Corwith Cramer in 15-foot seas. He was working as senior chief mate and relief captain for Sea Education Association, an undergraduate ocean education school in Woods Hole, Mass., which takes students on research expeditions to places as far apart as the North… SEE MORE

Karen E. Smith is the new executive director of the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport.

Working Waterfront

New director at Penobscot Marine Museum hails from Iowa

The Penobscot Marine Museum, a history and arts museum with nationally-recognized collections, has named Karen E. Smith, as executive director, effective April 19. Smith joins the museum from the Cedar Falls Historical Society, where she served as executive director for six years. “After a thorough and deliberate national search process,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

DMR wins grant to study right whale protection

The Maine Department of Marine Resources has been awarded a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve the data used to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. The $714,245 grant will support a three-year project beginning this summer to improve and add data on fishing gear that… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

South Portland ponders fishing pier upgrades

By Jacqueline Weaver Proposals for South Portland’s Portland Street Pier, a long time overnight station for local fishermen, range from the modest—adding parking spaces and giving the place a facelift—to the ambitious, with a rebuilt and enlarged pier that could lead to an active fish farming program. A rough estimate… SEE MORE

A right whale bearing the wounds of an entanglement with fishing gear.

Working Waterfront

DMR wins grant to gather more data on right whales, fishing gear

The Maine Department of Marine Resources has been awarded a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve the data used to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. The $714,245 grant is administered by NOAA. The three-year project, which begins this summer, will support work on fishing gear that… SEE MORE