“There are places that have better lobsters, to begin with,” said William Atwood, a major Maine dealer, discussing the handling of lobster. Singling out Swan’s Island and the Cranberry Isles, he said, “People took care of them.” He spoke of how Swan’s Island’s Joyces “carred” lobster and said he’d asked them, “How come you guys
Huge Thanks
To the editor: A huge thanks goes out to everyone who supported the second annual Midcoast Fishermen’s Association (MFA) benefit haddock dinner at the Martinsville Grange on Sept. 1! The MFA was formed just over a year ago by a group of local fishermen from the Port Clyde area as an advocacy organization to support
An Unexpected Forest
Camden, Maine: Down East Books, 2007. A fairy tale where dreams come true This novel, by Peaks Island resident Eleanor Morse, reads as a kind of fairy tale for adults, catching four people in the crux of personal crises. Horace Woodruff, a middle-aged but not yet ready to retire lawyer in Connecticut, has been fired
The Long View: Working Waterfronts, Potemkin Villages: What works in one port won’t work in another
The western flank of Maine’s largest bay, Penobscot, stretches from Port Clyde at the southern end to Searsport near the mouth of the Penobscot River. Along this 30-mile stretch of coastline are ten major ports and harbors and a dozen smaller anchorages where fishing vessels and recreational yachts share mooring and wharf space, sometimes comfortably,
The Island Communities of the Eastern High Sierra
I recently spent a week’s vacation fishing, hunting and hiking at around 10,000 feet in the eastern High Sierra. Over beers, beef tongue stew and pecan punch (“punch” as in between-the-eyes, due to some seriously strong liquor in this popular drink of the region’s Basque sheep herders) I learned that Maine’s 15 remaining year round
Interesting Articles
To the editor: Your Oct. issue was just full of interesting articles on such a wide range of topics! Cruise ships, the lobster world, the sculpture symposium, the Cranberry Report, editorials, etc. You all do a great job! Louise McShane Vero Beach, FL
A Handmade Potholder
Sometimes the humblest of possessions are the most satisfying, a perfect fit for our needs–valuable beyond economic measure for their design, usefulness, and the meaningful place they hold in our lives. Perhaps there is even a note of creativity, of provenance. Such is the case with my homemade potholders. First, the provenance: The man who
By the Bootstraps
Those of us who depend on access – public or private – to Maine’s waterfront have a big job ahead of us. For reasons extending back to colonial times, our access to most intertidal beaches and rocky shores is protected by a 17th century law known as the Colonial Ordinance, which keeps the intertidal zone
Foxes in the Salty Henhouse
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, tasked with, among other things, managing the nation’s fisheries resources, has recently announced plans to shift control of the at-sea fishery observer program over to the very fishing industry that is being observed. If this plan goes through, it could seriously degrade the truth and validity of these important
False Dichotomy
To the editor: Bob Moore’s recent story on the proposed industrial coal and diesel plant in Wiscasset [WWF Oct. 2007] was very well done. It is unfortunate that the people of Wiscasset are being presented with what is truly a false dichotomy — tax relief or protection of their environment, livelihoods (lobstering) and slogans (prettiest