The Tree Growth Tax, Maine’s premier current-use tax law, goes back to the early 1970s when the Legislature, at the urging of paper companies and other big forest landowners, crafted it as a way to tax land on its ability to grow trees, rather than as conventional real estate. At the time, the backers of
SCARCE WHARFAGE – Historic schooners seek a permanent home in Rockland
Once Camden held the title, but now Rockland is the windjammer capital of the world. But Rockland could lose the title along with the historic sailing vessels that bestow it, if a group of historic schooners fails to find a permanent home in the harbor, soon. The owners of four of the city’s eight schooners
New ship joins Maine’s summer cruise fleet
On June 15, Maine Gov. John Baldacci will smash a bottle of champagne to officially christen a new 100-passenger ship, American Star (a sister ship is pictured here) – after which the cruise ship will sail from its home port in Bangor and begin a 20-week season of seven-night cruises along Maine’s coast. Ports of
The Man Behind Maine Compass Services
Navigating a boat in all sorts of unpredictable conditions means depending on the equipment you’ve installed onboard. Whether you’re operating an hourly, year-round ferry service or a family boat on summer weekends, your investment might include GPS, autopilot, radar, depth finders, speed indicators and plotting and computer systems. One item that will definitely be on
Newfoundland processor’s sale is imminent
Newfoundland’s largest seafood processor is inching closer to having new owners. If the deals go through, the U.S. division in Danvers, Mass., may be sold to a longtime competitor, and its Canadian holdings will go to another Newfoundland seafood company. One monkey wrench in the works has been a stalemate between the federal and provincial
YMCA boat auction plans annual event, passes torch
Ned Kyle of Camden, the mastermind of the Penobscot Bay YMCA’s annual boat auction since its founding 10 years ago, plans to make this year’s June 9 event his last as skipper. He’s turning the top job over to Mike Devine, a professional boat hauler based in Lincolnville who has volunteered his services to the
Why U.S. lobster prices are of interest on Prince Edward Island . . .
Sensationalism, myth, price fixing, a devastatingly high exchange rate and windfall prices are some of the characterizations being bandied about in the first weeks of the spring lobster fishery in Prince Edward Island. When early spring stories in a PEI newspaper spoke of exorbitant prices and a shortage in supply of lobster in the US,
BLUENOSE – what’s in a name?
An organization called Queen of the North Atlantic Enterprises (QNAE) has commissioned the Snyder Shipyard of Dayspring, Nova Scotia, to build a replica of the famed Grand Banks schooner Bluenose. Whether or not the vessel will carry the Bluenose name is currently a matter of dispute — between QNAE and the Government of Nova Scotia.
Basic Question
To the editor: How can Ellsworth allow big box stores to be built [WWF Feb. 2007] when the sewage treatment plant can’t handle what it receives now? John Leary Staten Island, New York
“Nor’easter” vs. “No’theaster”
To the editor: I find the discussion of northeaster versus nor’easter (WWF May 2007) bordering on the fatuous. To charge those who use the contraction as ignorant of compass points and thus landlubbers is sea going snobbery. The contraction has nothing to do with directions to a helmsman. “Put her on north by east a