Tenants Harbor lobsterman Hale Miller harvests seaweed in Muscle Ridge Channel in Penobscot Bay.

Working Waterfront

Landmark ruling blocks access to seaweed harvesters

A March 16 Washington County Superior Court ruling will allow private landowners to block harvester access to rockweed in the intertidal zone. The ruling is likely to be appealed to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. The plaintiffs, Washington County landowners Kenneth and Carl Ross and the Roque Island Gardner Homestead Corporation,… SEE MORE

Jim Harkins among his store of nautical gear.

Working Waterfront

Captain Jim’s in Portland is maritime world’s back storeroom

It’s hard to get a fix on just what Jim Harkins has going in his Portland warehouse. Is it a nautical-themed flea market? A maritime museum? A high-end nautical antique store? A kind of Goodwill store for boat owners? Well, it’s all of the above. Harkins, 57, is a character… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Ferry service considers higher summer, lower winter rates

To meet a state mandate to raise half its operating funds from customers, the Maine State Ferry Service has proposed raising rates during the busy summer months and lowering them in the off season. Rick Dubois, the state Department of Transportation's director of multimodal operations, explained the proposal to the citizen… SEE MORE

Students hold a “blade” of kelp they’ve grown.

Working Waterfront

This teacher treats his students like research assistants

In his classroom at the Edna Drinkwater School in Northport, John Van Dis asks questions before he knows their answers. It’s an unusual approach for a teacher to take, but for a science teacher, it makes sense. Van Dis believes his grade 6 and 7 students should learn the way… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

An international trade deal that matters to Maine

The past four years have been rife with good news for the Maine lobster industry, as we’ve seen both the volume of the catch and prices paid to fishermen increase. In 2016, Maine lobstermen caught a record 130 million pounds for which they earned a record $533 million. Key to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Pingree reintroduces bill to protect working waterfronts

In late February, Chellie Pingree (D-North Haven), Maine’s 1st District representative, reintroduced legislation with Republican Rob Wittman of Virginia to protect the kind of waterfront access and infrastructure that many businesses—and thousands of jobs—depend on in Maine. The objectives of Pingree’s bill, the Keep America’s Waterfronts Working Act (H.R. 1176),… SEE MORE

Marine

Working Waterfront

Periwinkles an under-heralded seafood product

Life is rough in the intertidal zone. Barnacles with their heads cemented to rock and pilings wait for the tide to rise so they can resume combing for plankton with their legs. Rockweed collapses on boulders and ledges at low tide and wafts upright at high. Crabs root around in… SEE MORE

Students sit on the shore during a lesson.

Working Waterfront

Girls embrace science in coastal setting

Who would want to wake up, layer up and sit outside in a circle with other students in the frigid cold air for 30 minutes, in silence, five days a week? What about writing your college essay about the importance of your rubber boots? And, by the way, leave your… SEE MORE

The shop at Maine Maritime Museum in Bath.

Working Waterfront

Our shop, plus your wood and labor equals…

Elia Nichols had a huge maple tree stump in his yard. It was crying out to be used for some purpose, but he didn’t know what to do with it. Then he heard about the Maine Maritime Museum’s open shop. Since March of last year, the museum has opened its… SEE MORE

An Atlantic sturgeon that measured 7 feet was caught in Merrymeeting Bay.

Working Waterfront

Holy leapin’ sturgeon!

Almost 20 years after a coast-wide fishing moratorium on Atlantic sturgeon was instituted, the giant, monstrous creatures of the deep are growing in numbers. Atlantic sturgeon live most of their lives in salt water, but hatch and spawn in fresh water. The species was once abundant, especially during colonial times. From the late… SEE MORE