Without sentimentality, David Wade’s clear eye takes in the fishing community that works on Widgery Wharf. His photographs could easily do otherwise: Widgery Wharf with its rough, weatherbeaten planks seems a quaint anachronism in the middle of Portland’s busy waterfront. The fishermen who own the wharf and their tenants look the part of old salts
“Positive public relations”
The fishing situation may be tough right now, but New Englanders believe they are tougher. A group of 30 New England processors and other seafood- related industries have banded together to combat the negative images they see plaguing their industry now and replace them with a picture more to their liking. “The landscape has changed
Calculating together: inter-island math league teaches valuable lessons
Getting groups of students from different schools together for inter-school events can be difficult even on the mainland. Add in unpredictable ferry schedules and other island issues, and you’ve got a potential nightmare of complications. But two determined island math teachers — Tom Tutor from Islesboro and Pete Pedersen from Vinalhaven — have surmounted these
“Drifters” document Islesboro’s tidal currents
Islesboro high school students performed a “drift study” through Gilkey Harbor to study how tidal currents run through the islands west of the southern part of Islesboro. This study was based on the Cobscook Bay Resource Center and Shead High School (Eastport) collaboration for the Cobscook Drift Study. After consulting some local fishermen and tide
Maine fishing groups propose a revolutionary management plan
In response to the groundfish crisis, a number of Maine fishing and coastal community groups have collaboratively developed an alternative management plan, based on principles of decentralizing the quotas and establishing fishing areas for different groups, and will present that plan to local fisheries managers. This new plan hopes to provide a solution to the
The paradox of mobility
For fishermen there is one single lesson that Federal groundfish management has brought home loud and clear: If you want to survive in the groundfishery you have to be mobile. You have to go to where the fish are abundant (and get there before everyone else) and you have to run away from the areas
More-than-you-can-eat restaurant survives and thrives
Many coastwise sailors have discovered Rockland is worth visiting after all, with its museums, shops, marinas, sailmakers and marine hardware. It’s a far cry from the old days, when earlier editions of Roger Duncan’s Cruising Guide to the New England Coast recommended skipping Rockland unless you were desperate. The place was pretty industrial — as
Mosquitoes and browntail caterpillars: lobstermen monitor aerial spraying
State response to browntail moth and to mosquitoes that are potential vectors for West Nile Virus has residents polarized in coastal communities, especially in areas where browntail moth is thriving this year and where WNV- positive dead birds were discovered last fall. Any talk of spraying for either creates concern about unintended effects sprays might
A pinch of salt
Take some sea water, wood, plastic, a lot of ingenuity and hard work. Add a pinch of salt — well, slightly more, say about 6,700 pounds — and you’re owner of a thriving business that is creating more demand than it can satisfy. After almost four years, that’s the story with Maine Sea Salt, the
Despite terrorist alert, Islesboro seniors take their class trip
The class of 2002 spent more than a year raising over $17,000 for this trip through a variety of fundraising events including a dance, an auction and several dinners and bottle drives. Class advisor Vicki Conover was impressed with how hard each member of the class — which consisted, after all, of only four students