To the editor:
I invariably find Working Waterfront an interesting read. However, although your writers are no doubt familiar with the variety of industrial/marine terms used in your stores and reasonably assume that their readers are as well informed as they, I’m afraid that is not necessarily the case. Of course you know your market better than I and perhaps I’m simply not an “insider,” but nevertheless, I assume that there are many like myself who, although interested in the contents of your publication, are not as knowledgeable as you may believe. A case in point is Bob Moore’s article “Sustainable Seafood” in the current issue (WWF April 05). After asking the three basic questions, “What is sustainable seafood, and who gets to decide, how is it different from organic, if a seafood product is deemed sustainable, will that add value?” Mr. Moore proceeds to use the term in a collection of opinions and conjectures that, to the informed, perhaps add some perspective to the problem, (I have to assume there is one although I’m uncertain as to its exact nature), but never does he clearly answer the questions that he poses. Having read the article, I would be hard put to define “sustainable seafood.”
Another article, Colin Woodard’s “Who Owns Maine’s Media?” does a fine job listing the corporate owners of media in Maine, but his survey totally ignores the independent stations, one of which, WERU in Blue Hill, is outstanding for its presentation of views and values that are totally ignored by the corporate syndicates. The article mentions briefly the dangers of media deregulation, unfortunately doesn’t discuss its impact on public information, and lists only some of the players, a rather simplistic and superficial treatment of a serious situation considering that the programming differences between the independents and the syndicates lie at the very heart of the problem inherent in deregulation and broad scale ownership of media by large corporate media syndicates.
I enjoy your publication, read it regularly, and am slowly gaining a considerable knowledge about local marine affairs and concerns, but sometimes the information and/or continuity chasms are too deep and the ground too uneven for me to navigate. I suggest a bit more sympathetic concern for the unwashed; at worst it could broaden your readership.
Norbert Nathanson
Northport