http://www.workingwaterfront.com Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:19:25 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/images/ww_banner_bg.png http://www.workingwaterfront.com http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Plover-numbers-plummet-19-pairs-remain/12538/ When it comes to their continued survival in Maine, piping plovers have two things going for them. First, they have cute offspring; their chicks are often described as balls of fluff with legs. Waterfront landowners like to keep the birds around. Second, they have a handful of dedicated wildlife officials working for their survival. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Craig Idlebrook) Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Plover-numbers-plummet-19-pairs-remain/12538/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/reviews/Harpoon-Into-the-Heart-of-Whaling/12558/ Heart of DarknessPhiladelphia: Da Capo Press, 2008300 pp, $25.00Fin, Right, Blue, Sperm, Minke, Humpback: one by one, chapter by chapter in this remarkable book, each species of whale reaches commercial or outright extinction, all the while "managed" by governments and the International Whaling Commission. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by David D. Platt) Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/reviews/Harpoon-Into-the-Heart-of-Whaling/12558/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/About-Lyme-Disease/12469/ People and animals usually contract Lyme disease between April and November when deer ticks are active. May through July is the highest risk period because tick nymphs are abundant and active. Most people contract Lyme disease from nymphs because they are about the size of a pin head and easily overlooked. Wear light clothing in the woods. Tuck pant legs into your socks. Use insect repellent. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Bob Moore) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/About-Lyme-Disease/12469/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/editorials/Time-to-think-differently/12480/ The announcement in mid-June that the Bush administration would ask Congress to lift the current restrictions on offshore oil drilling was yet another reminder of how out-of-touch this country's leaders continue to be on energy policy. Forget the fact that drilling wells on the Outer Continental Shelf won't do a thing to lower gasoline prices this summer. Forget that drilling off this country's coasts was largely shut down in the early 1980s because of the risks to the fishing industry. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by David D. Platt) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/editorials/Time-to-think-differently/12480/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Firm-tests-new-tidal-power-equipment-in-the-Eastport-area/12461/ Could electric power generated from tidal currents in Passamaquoddy and Cobscook Bays be sufficient to take Eastport and, possibly, Washington County off the power grid? Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) and Eastport officials are betting it can. To that end ORPC plans to begin commercial power production by October 2009, according to company president and CEO Chris Sauer. His forecast was part of a one-year progress report to Eastport residents on May 22. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Bob Gustafson) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Firm-tests-new-tidal-power-equipment-in-the-Eastport-area/12461/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/reviews/The-Wildest-Country-Exploring-Thoreaus-Maine/12455/ In the mini-woods where my small house sits, with a glimmering dawn diminishing the dark in early a.m. hours these days, I wonder where David Henry - or Henry David, as he preferred to be called - was when he jotted in his journal, "the sun is but a morning star... ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Hannah Merker) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/reviews/The-Wildest-Country-Exploring-Thoreaus-Maine/12455/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Lyme-disease-continues-its-spread-in-Maine/12468/  Summer is a great time to be roaming the fields and woods of Maine. Before venturing out though, it's wise to take extra precaution against tick bites by tucking pant legs into socks or applying repellent. Deer ticks, correctly known to entomologists as black-legged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Lyme disease has apparently come to the coast of Maine to stay, and it is spreading steadily into central and eastern Maine. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Bob Moore) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Lyme-disease-continues-its-spread-in-Maine/12468/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/reviews/Seascapes-Getting-to-Know-the-Sea-Around-Us-and-Muscongus-Bay-Atlas-2008/12464/ Two new publications, appearing first online, detail every aspect of the coastal, marine areas of Muscongus Bay. Besides the specific information about one bay area, the two guides offer an outline for people in other estuaries, communities and organizations to do the same.Both guides were produced under the auspices of the Quebec-Labrador Foundation/Atlantic Center for the Environment (QLF), based in Ipswich, Mass., with a marine program in Maine directed by Jennifer Atkinson of Friendship. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Nancy Griffin) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/reviews/Seascapes-Getting-to-Know-the-Sea-Around-Us-and-Muscongus-Bay-Atlas-2008/12464/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Electric-co-op-finalizes-its-wind-power-proposal/12477/ As its annual meeting approaches, the board of the Fox Islands Electric Cooperative (FEIC) is looking for input from ratepayers about a proposal to build two wind turbines that could generate all the electricity needed annually to power North Haven and Vinalhaven.If the co-op decides to proceed, it would be the second largest commercial wind project located on the east coast, according to Dr. George Baker, a professor at Harvard Business School who is helping the islands with the project. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by David Tyler) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Electric-co-op-finalizes-its-wind-power-proposal/12477/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Islands-are-the-Canaries-in-the-Oil-Patch/12498/ While the rest of the United States is feeling the pain of rapidly increased fuel prices, rural Maine is in far more desperate shape and island Maine is in the most vulnerable predicament of all American communities outside perhaps of Alaska. On Maine islands, fuel prices have already exceeded $5 a gallon for heating and transportation. Electricity this year, based on fossil fuel generation, costs between two and three times the rate on the mainland. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Philip W. Conkling) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Islands-are-the-Canaries-in-the-Oil-Patch/12498/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/Lyme-disease-continues-its-spread-in-Maine/12499/ Summer is a great time to be roaming the fields and woods of Maine. Before venturing out though, it's wise to take extra precaution against tick bites by tucking pant legs into socks or applying repellent. Deer ticks, correctly known to entomologists as black-legged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Lyme disease has apparently come to the coast of Maine to stay, and it is spreading steadily into central and eastern Maine. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Bob Moore) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/Lyme-disease-continues-its-spread-in-Maine/12499/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/FERC-grants-nine-tidal-energy-permits-in-Maine/12460/ In the eternal pursuit of energy, Americans have pumped the desert ground, drilled the Arctic tundra, and blasted the mountains of Appalachia. Now, a new frontier in alternative energy is being explored in coastal bays, harbors, and rivers, and Maine is at the very edge of that frontier. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Catherine Schmitt) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/FERC-grants-nine-tidal-energy-permits-in-Maine/12460/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/A-Veterinarians-Viewpoint/12448/ Why are more lobsters dying in tidal pounds? Why is mortality increasing? Harrington fisherman, poundkeeper and Maine Lobster Pound Association (MLPA) President Bruce Portrie reported shrinkage rates in his pound and others "increased over the last three pounding seasons." (The industry prefers the euphemism "shrinkage" to "death" or "mortality. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Sandra Dinsmore) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/A-Veterinarians-Viewpoint/12448/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Fresh-caught-fish-reaches-Midcoast-restaurants/12473/ Earlier this month, the Island Institute's Marine Programs Officer, Jennifer Litteral, and Port Clyde Marketing Cooperative Coordinator Laura Kramar climbed aboard the fishing boat SKIPPER for the first gear research trip of the Midcoast Fishermen's Association (MFA). Not only was the day productive for the gear research work, but it was a day that also resulted in the first restaurant sale for Port Clyde Fresh Catch. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Laura Kramar) Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Fresh-caught-fish-reaches-Midcoast-restaurants/12473/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/Electric-co-op-finalizes-its-wind-power-proposal/12496/ As its annual meeting approaches, the board of the Fox Islands Electric Cooperative (FEIC) is looking for input from ratepayers about a proposal to build two wind turbines that could generate all the electricity needed annually to power North Haven and Vinalhaven.If the co-op decides to proceed, it would be the second largest commercial wind project located on the east coast, according to Dr. George Baker, a professor at Harvard Business School who is helping the islands with the project. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by David Tyler) Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/Electric-co-op-finalizes-its-wind-power-proposal/12496/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/reviews/Twelve-Miles-from-the-Rest-of-the-World-A-Portrait-of-the-Damariscotta-River/12372/ Twelve Miles from the Rest of the World will delight people who live near or have visited the Damariscotta River; people who love history or are fascinated by rivers in general; those who appreciate and aspire to beautiful photography and a wide range of other readers who enjoy a ramble through natural and cultural history. The book grew out of Barnaby Porter's 40 years of meandering along the Damariscotta River, which is actually a 12-mile estuary. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Muriel L. Hendrix) Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/reviews/Twelve-Miles-from-the-Rest-of-the-World-A-Portrait-of-the-Damariscotta-River/12372/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/mail/Left-Out/12389/  To the editor:   Having dug at Fort St. George, Popham, for many years, I definitely agree with Colin Woodard (WWF May 2008) that [Nathaniel] Philbrick's Mayflower failed to write about important Maine history. Just because we are no longer part of Massachusetts doesn't mean we should be left out of Pilgrim history!   Kathy Bugbee Southport  info@workingwaterfront.org (Kathy Bugbee) Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/mail/Left-Out/12389/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/mail/Omission/12390/ To the editor:   While the May 5th article by Catherine Schmitt regarding Sears Island includes some accurate information, it omits any reflection by those who have been sitting at the table for so long. Our charge has been to construct a conservation easement that complies with the Sears Island Planning Initiative's Consensus Agreement. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (Becky Bartovics) Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/mail/Omission/12390/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/mail/Environmental-Quislings/12391/ To the editor,   Thank you for Catherine Schmitt's article on the process to develop Sears Island.        As Ms Schmitt mentioned, at Governor Baldacci's request, over 200 people presented their " visions" for the future of Sears Island. What makes this rather large number even more significant is the fact that out of the 200 "visions" presented, about 190 of them came from the public and called for a wild, undeveloped island. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (Harlan McLaughlin) Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/mail/Environmental-Quislings/12391/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Schoodic-eco-resort-stirs-controversy/12340/ plan to develop a resort community on the Schoodic Peninsula has met with skepticism among conservation groups and guarded enthusiasm among some Winter Harbor officials. The proposal by the Winter Harbor Holding Company calls for the creation of a resort community on some 3,300 acres in Winter Harbor and Gouldsboro, including an undeveloped island and land bordering Acadia National Park at Schoodic Point. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Craig Idlebrook) Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Schoodic-eco-resort-stirs-controversy/12340/