EAST ORLAND — It’s not surprising that a Beatle would figure in a radio show. But on this day at WERU-FM, coastal Maine’s community radio station, the Beatle makes an appearance not in song but in a seafaring yarn. And it’s quite a yarn, one that reveals a pivotable moment in this Beatle’s life. It’s
Eastport as island
The Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront, spends much of its time working to network Maine’s 15 year-round island communities. Institute staff help islanders share education resources, replicate home weatherization projects from island to island, and create opportunities for island entrepreneurs to sharpen their business plans by working together. Such togetherness isn’t always appropriate,
Flyer recalls 1970s island air service
STONINGTON — Maine island airstrips are still notoriously rudimentary—think cow pasture or gravel road—but transportation by airplane today is at least considered routine. Islanders owe some gratitude for that improvement to Herb Jones, a World War II veteran, who was one of the earliest providers of air service to Maine islands. Jones expanded a service
Searsport high school charts hands-on education in new center
SEARSPORT — The high school’s four-year-old boatbuilding program is navigating through a sea of educational change, but fair winds seem to lie ahead. The program is moving downtown and other upgrades are in the works. Searsport District High School’s shellback dinghy course is now based at the old seine loft building where its long-time owner
True north: Wanderbird explores Labrador, Greenland
BELFAST — It was their curiosity about polar bears that first led Rick and Karen Miles to explore the coast of Labrador and Greenland. But it’s been the friendships they’ve established in the small remote villages there that drive them to return there each year. The Miles are owners of Wanderbird Expeditions, a Belfast-based tour
A love affair with a coastal town brings out its best
BELFAST — A Waldo County weekly newspaper columnist once described Mike Hurley as a cross between the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia and boxing promoter Don King. That’s about right. Hurley’s got the hippie resumé—attended the Woodstock festival, part of the back-to-the-land movement—and the flamboyant impresario skills that today are called guerrila marketing. He’s run several
Catamaran fishing boats ready for trials
ROCKPORT — When catamaran boats first came on the scene in the early 1960s, they must have looked as strange as recumbent bicycles did a decade ago. But now, few people look twice at the vessels that have become commonly used as high-speed ferries, sailboats and even whale-watching boats. So if the design, in which
Beach access issues remain unsettled following high court action
Court watching may become a statewide pastime this spring as coastal communities await a decision from the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on beachfront access. On April 9, oral arguments are scheduled to be heard on whether the court should reconsider its recent ruling barring public access to parts of Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport. In
Uneven development: lobster landings giveth, taketh
The annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum was packed this year. For the first time in a long time, the Samoset Resort’s 178 guest rooms were sold out. It was as if fishermen, state agency folks and non-profit staff staged a reenactment of the green crab plague facing the lobster industry. The Rockport Conference Room was similarly
Green crabs as lobster bait working in Nova Scotia
It’s a fishing version of the old “If life gives you lemons…” adage. Instead of passively watching invasive green crabs devour native species, fishermen and scientists in Nova Scotia have acted, turning the invader into an asset. At the Maine Green Crab Summit in Orono in December, Chris McCarthy, ecologist with the province’s Kejimkujik National