Articles
Sudden Sea – The Great Hurricane of 1938
When New England Looked Like New Orleans The death toll alone made the hurricane that struck New England without warning in 1938 a shocker: 682 people died and another 1,754 were seriously injured. “Maine was the only New England state without a fatality,” R.A. Scotti writes. “Eighty-eight died in Massachusetts, ninety in Connecticut, twelve in
Global Connection
If anyone still believes Maine somehow functions in isolation, this issue of Working Waterfront should enlighten them. While the low price of Gulf of Maine shrimp is largely a reflection of supply — stocks are up after being down for several years — a contributing factor is a lack of processing capacity, brought on by
Gutenberg and Fish
It’s heartening to learn that two organizations, Penobscot Bay Watch in Rockland and Project Gutenberg, a national effort to make significant books available free on-line to the public, are taking an interest in historic fisheries data. Portions of the reports of the U.S. Fisheries Commission are already available and there’s more to come. These reports,
Think About It!
Maine once had a governor who campaigned on the slogan “Think About It.” A lot of us wondered, given how Jim Longley’s administration turned out, how much thinking actually went on in the governor’s office during that era, but the slogan itself wasn’t bad. In some places on the Maine coast, community residents are stopping
Island Voting: Most islands oppose anti-discrimination repeal, favor waterfront bond issue, constitutional ammendment
Island and mainland residents alike voted down the proposed repeal of Maine’s anti-discrimination law. By large margins they also favored a bond issue that would help preserve working waterfronts and a constitutional amendment to allow “current use” taxation of properties used in connection with the fishing industry. Statewide, the anti-discrimination law repeal failed 45 to
Extreme Nature: Images from the World’s Edge
When Disaster is Only a Wetsuit Away This book’s title says it all: for 30 years, Bill Curtsinger has been ranging the world with his underwater photographic equipment, making pictures of creatures that live in extreme environments. Shooting for the U.S. Navy and then for National Geographic, he has worked in close proximity with sharks,
Save the Coast!
Over the past 50 years or so we’ve done a pretty good job of saving eagles and ospreys from DDT, coastal forests from developers, clam flats from sewage and sand dunes from inappropriate construction projects. Not that we’ve done all we could do — far from it — but in these areas and others, Maine
Four Guys and a Book
Sometimes, the planets just line up. The spare, front-page announcement in Maine’s newspapers on Sept. 19 that Ted Ames, Stonington fisherman and researcher, had been named a MacArthur Fellow for 2005 brought back memories of just such a lineup. The experience — and the result — were both extraordinary. Sometime in 1995, Ted Ames came
Maine fisherman-researcher wins “genius” grant
Ted Ames, a Stonington-based fisherman and scientist, has won “genius” grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in recognition of his innovative fisheries research in the Gulf of Maine. The $500,000 award has no strings attached. Ames said he hoped it would allow him to complete several research projects he has in
A Moment in the Sun
In mid-August we had a phone call from a polite fact-checker at The New Yorker magazine, wondering if we could respond to a few questions about our late columnist Edward Myers of Damariscotta. Would it be accurate to call him a “seafood tycoon”? Not exactly, we replied — “pioneer” or “entrepreneur” would be better, given