http://www.workingwaterfront.com Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:55:36 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/images/ww_banner_bg.png http://www.workingwaterfront.com http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/A-tour-behind-the-shipyard-gates/14022/ A group of twenty people of varying ages climb aboard a trolley parked at the entrance of the Maine Maritime Museum. We're headed down Washington Street to the naval shipyard at Bath Iron Works, which occupies 50 acres along the Kennebec River. For security purposes, we showed identification at the reception desk, signed our names, and noted our countries of origin. Cell phones, cameras, and large bags were left behind. We reserved our spots well in advance. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Nancy Heiser) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/A-tour-behind-the-shipyard-gates/14022/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Where-are-the-herring/14023/ Landings of herring from inshore waters known as Area 1A are dramatically less than in years past, causing scientists, seine fishermen and lobstermen to shake their heads in confusion. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Statistics Division, herring landed from Area 1A comprised just 1,394 metric tons by July 31. Last year at the same time the cumulative landings were 12,270 metric tons. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Melissa Waterman) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Where-are-the-herring/14023/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Changing-Times/14010/ Like most changes on Portland's historic waterfront, this change won't happen without a fight-or at least protracted negotiations and a certain amount of politics. The change, if it happens, would be a liberalization of the working-waterfront zoning that has controlled the ways the piers along Commercial Street are used. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by David D. Platt) Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Changing-Times/14010/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/From-the-Town-Landing-A-close-call-for-the-Gulf-of-Maine/13936/ Back in 1978, a couple of lawyers in a tiny organization called the Conservation Law Foundation-in common cause with a few courageous New England fishing organizations-swallowed hard and sued the United States government to halt the leasing of offshore oil drilling rights on Georges Bank. They argued that the potential of a small supply of oil from Georges in comparison to its value as a fishing ground posed unacceptable risks. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Anne Hayden and Philip Conkling) Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/From-the-Town-Landing-A-close-call-for-the-Gulf-of-Maine/13936/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Long-View-The-end-of-the-beginning/13998/ When seemingly unrelated news stories from around the country and the globe about the state of the natural world converge on each other, it is important to sit up and take notice. Island Earth is trying to tell us something. One story is global, one is regional and one is local, but their interconnected meaning is inescapable. Let's begin with the big picture. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Philip Conkling) Wed, 11 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Long-View-The-end-of-the-beginning/13998/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Fathoming-Oil-in-the-Gulf-of-Mexico-Not-as-far-away-as-you-think/13980/ Hundreds of sea turtles, more than sixty porpoises and a sperm whale have been found dead in the Gulf of Mexico region since the BP oil disaster began. As of mid-July, an area of almost 84,000 square miles, over one-third of the Gulf of Mexico, was closed to fishing. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Dr. Heather Deese and Catherine Schmitt) Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Fathoming-Oil-in-the-Gulf-of-Mexico-Not-as-far-away-as-you-think/13980/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Maine-to-solicit-bids-for-offshore-energy-development/13970/ In response to recommendations made by the Governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force, Maine’s Public Utilities Commission will release a solicitation by September 1 for an offshore commercial wind farm. In April, the legislature passed a law implementing the recommendations of the task force (public law 2010, chapter 615), which directs the utilities commission to solicit proposals for a power purchase agreement from an offshore energy developer. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Gillian Garratt-Reed ) Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Maine-to-solicit-bids-for-offshore-energy-development/13970/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/From-the-Town-Landing-Revise-the-quotas-not-the-rules/13971/ Congressional delegations, especially in New England, have a long history of intervening in the fisheries management process. The results almost always sacrifice the long-term economic health of the nation's fisheries for short-term political gains. Then NMFS gets blamed for failing to rebuild fish stocks. In February, East Coast fishermen rallied in Washington, calling for an extension of rolling back the Magnuson Act's rebuilding timelines that drive harvest restrictions. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Anne Hayden and Philip Conkling) Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/From-the-Town-Landing-Revise-the-quotas-not-the-rules/13971/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Tradition-and-innovation-define-Brooklin-Boat-Yard/13962/ In the 1970s Steve White left his studies at Cornell University and made his way to Aspen, Colorado, where he was offered a position as a ski instructor. After writing home to tell of his intent to take the new-found position, White received some words of advice from his grandfather, renowned author and essayist E.B. White. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by William J. Welte) Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Tradition-and-innovation-define-Brooklin-Boat-Yard/13962/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Portlands-Ocean-Approved-Seaweed-Products-begins-further-expansion/13942/ Like so many entrepreneurial ventures with food products, Ocean Approved frozen seaweed started with a pot simmering on a kitchen stove. Now, with a $95,000 NOAA Small Business Innovation Research Program Phase I Grant and an experimental lease to raise seaweed near Little Chebeague Island, the first lease of its kind in the U.S., the company, which has grown steadily since its inception, is poised to move towards large-scale commercial production of seaweed. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Muriel L. Hendrix) Wed, 07 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Portlands-Ocean-Approved-Seaweed-Products-begins-further-expansion/13942/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/St-Croix-Alewife-plan-angers-many/13945/ A proposal released in June to restore alewife habitat slowly in the St. Croix River has drawn criticism from all sides. Under the plan put forth by the St. Croix board of the International Joint Commission, alewife blockades would be removed at two new locations along the river, specifically chosen to avoid impacting West Grand Lake and Spednic Lake, prime fishing ground for smallmouth bass. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Craig Idlebrook) Wed, 07 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/St-Croix-Alewife-plan-angers-many/13945/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/From-the-Town-Landing-Permit-banks-justify-investment/13937/ "Catch shares," the catch-all phrase for quota-based management, has become the law of the land in fisheries management, even in New England, which has vigorously opposed this concept ever since Magnuson-Stevens went into effect in 1978. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Anne Hayden and Philip Conkling) Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/From-the-Town-Landing-Permit-banks-justify-investment/13937/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Fathoming-One-fish-two-fish-The-virtual-reality-of-counting-lobsters/13930/ In many ways, the ocean is still a mystery. We take things out of it, things like food and fuel, that we call "resources." We almost never directly observe what is going on beneath the surface of 70 percent of the planet, and yet US fishing rules and regulations demand that scientists predict how many fish are in a given sea.So scientists and fishermen and everyone else rely on computer models that mimic what is known about fish. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Dr. Heather Deese and Catherine Schmitt) Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Fathoming-One-fish-two-fish-The-virtual-reality-of-counting-lobsters/13930/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Long-View-Cheap-energy-is-our-birthright/13900/ As the sickening tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico plays out inexorably day after day, shutting down working waterfronts, encircling and choking island communities and poisoning fish, shellfish and wildlife across four states sharing that Gulf; it is worth taking a moment to reflect on what this national disaster means for the Gulf of Maine and the three states-and two Canadian provinces-that share our Gulf. The first lesson is a reflection on a course not taken. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Philip Conkling) Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Long-View-Cheap-energy-is-our-birthright/13900/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Returning-alewives-to-North-Haven/13903/ Years ago, when Adam Campbell first moved to North Haven, he heard stories about folks like John Emerson and Foy Brown, who went down to the Damariscotta River to get alewives and brought them back across Penobscot Bay to try to jump-start a population of the anadromous or “sea-run” fish on the island. While those efforts were unsuccessful, Campbell didn’t forget about the alewives. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Catherine Schmitt) Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Returning-alewives-to-North-Haven/13903/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Nobodys-happy-with-Atlantic-crab-season/13905/ In the book Cod, published in 1997, author Mark Kurlansky wrote that with the collapse of the Atlantic Canada cod fishery, other species moved in. One was arctic cod that eat Atlantic cod eggs and larvae. “The other two,” Kurlansky wrote, “snow crab and shrimp, have been very profitable.” What a difference 13 years make. In April the Newfoundland/Labrador snow crab season was nearly canceled because of a dispute over the price being offered to fishermen. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Bob Gustafson) Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Nobodys-happy-with-Atlantic-crab-season/13905/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Fathoming-One-fish-two-fish-The-virtual-reality-of-counting-lobsters/13907/ In many ways, the ocean is still a mystery. We take things out of it, things like food and fuel, that we call "resources." We almost never directly observe what is going on beneath the surface of 70 percent of the planet, and yet US fishing rules and regulations demand that scientists predict how many fish are in a given sea. So scientists and fishermen and everyone else rely on computer models that mimic what is known about fish. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Dr. Heather Deese and Catherine Schmitt) Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Fathoming-One-fish-two-fish-The-virtual-reality-of-counting-lobsters/13907/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Watch-out-for-lines/13908/ With the summer boating season underway, lobstermen are dealing with the age-old problem of recreational boaters running over trap lines. Recreational boaters inadvertently sail or motor over trap lines and in so doing, wrap the line around the propeller or rudder. When that happens, despite sincere effort to free it, sometimes cutting the rope becomes necessary. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Sandra Dinsmore) Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Watch-out-for-lines/13908/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Essay-Summer-of-tears-A-fishermans-reaction-to-the-Gulf-oil-spill/13909/ The boat ride out, from Lafitte, Louisiana on Sunday, May 23 2010 to our fishing grounds was not unlike any other I have taken in my life as a commercial fisherman from this area. I have made the trip thousands of times in my 35-plus years shrimping and crabbing. A warm breeze in my face, it is a typical Louisiana summer day. Three people were with me, my wife Tracy, Ian Wren, and our grandson, Scottie. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Michael Roberts) Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Essay-Summer-of-tears-A-fishermans-reaction-to-the-Gulf-oil-spill/13909/ http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Opinion-Community-impacts-of-the-Gulf-Coast-BP-oil-spill/13910/ I've just returned from a week long tour of the small towns and fishing communities of the Gulf of Mexico with the Gulf Coast Fund, an organization that has been working since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to support and interconnect the underserved of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas and to encourage community self-sufficiency. During my stay, oil from the BP spill was just beginning to come ashore in Louisiana and Mississippi. ... info@workingwaterfront.org (by Michael Herz) Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.workingwaterfront.com/columns/Opinion-Community-impacts-of-the-Gulf-Coast-BP-oil-spill/13910/