Ranquist draws his water from coastal upwelling currents between Mount Desert Rock and Swan’s Island, and then evaporates his catch in solar salt sheds on the island’s glacial ledges. After six years, he has finally acquired the financial backing from Machias Savings Bank to expand a project that has gained interest from consumers, locally and
GMRI brands seafood
“People want to buy responsibly harvested products,” says Jen Levin, Project Manager for GMRI. GMRI hopes to spread that message to all parts of the seafood supply chain, from harvesters to processors to retailers by developing a regional branding program. GMRI is in a unique position to develop a certification process, since they are a
Kennebunk’s sea shanty man
Then up steps Rich Gaito with what appear to be a miniature guitar and accordion. (The guitar, yes, but the other instrument is a concertina, a predecessor to the accordion.) After a brief introduction, he begins to play sea shanties, tunes that sailors have sung for centuries. The first song is catchy: a tale of
Food, Friendship and Art on Monhegan
Marlene Loznicka from Midcoast Maine and Joyce Greenfield from Connecticut first met 18 years ago at an art workshop. They developed a friendship and, over the years, would paint together on Monhegan. They would invite various other friends to join them. About nine years ago, they invited a group that bonded so well that they
Nova Scotia considers restoration of ferry service
“We put out a call for proposals,” said Yarmouth Area Industrial Commission’s CEO Dave Whiting in September, adding that five companies responded to the call by requesting proposal paperwork, which is due back in Nova Scotia by October 15. Whiting said that the proposals would include a business plan, an operations plan and details on
Object in Mirror: What does it take to sustain an island way of life?
This past weekend I was asked to speak at a “Creativity and Innovation Conference,” focused on “How We Started – From Idea to Impact,” organized and hosted by students at Middlebury College. It was a beautiful fall day down in the little valley beneath the Green Mountains that cradles the Vermont town and the college
National working waterfront coalition launched
Following two full days of dialogue addressing current trends in the nation’s working waterfront, the socio-economic changes faced by communities as a result of these trends, and models currently being used to preserve points of public waterfront access, the symposium concluded with a half day designated for the development of a national agenda for action
Low-cost, portable dentistry arrives on islands
Island dentistry is part of a project Oh and his wife, Audree Park, who has her own dental practice in Bar Harbor, started working on two winters ago. Oh, who has long had an interest in community dentistry, had seen a need for dental care for lower income families and MaineCare members. He said, “It’s
Field Notes: Traceable, locally-frozen fish: The future of sustainable seafood
Not so for the rest of the country. What kind of fish do most consumers want? They want fresh, flakey, mild, white-fish that can be breaded. Munk, haddock, hake, sole, cod-it’s all the same to the person who has never experienced a whole fish, let alone cleaned one. People want mystery fish and they want
Fathoming: Maine fish and birds in hot water?
Fishermen have been saying since early spring that the water this year has been warm. Mark Lazarri, an environmental monitoring scientist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), confirmed that daily temperature measurements in Boothbay Harbor indicated warmer-than-normal water in 2010, especially during March, April and July. Unfortunately, it is harder to pin down