While Homeland Security officials monitor the Maine coast for unwanted terrorists, another threat is also under surveillance — the intrusion of aquatic invasive species. The National Sea Grant Office reports that aquatic invasive species (AIS) are “the largest single threat to our coastal ecosystem, our coastal economy, and human health in the coastal region.” They
Atlantic Herring: At the Center of the Food and Fishery Web
Due to another setback the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) was not able to make their recommendation for Amendment 1 to the Atlantic Herring Management Plan to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) earlier this month. Following the November 2005 meeting the council came up with a draft of Amendment 1 to the Herring
The Reading Season
This is Working Waterfront’s annual two-month issue, and as in past years we’ve filled the back with book reviews. This time we’ve looked at books about communities, preserving land, wild creatures, historic naval engagements, rivers, cooking and – not to neglect any group of readers – a murder mystery. Fine reading all around, just in
Extreme Nature: Images from the World’s Edge
When Disaster is Only a Wetsuit Away This book’s title says it all: for 30 years, Bill Curtsinger has been ranging the world with his underwater photographic equipment, making pictures of creatures that live in extreme environments. Shooting for the U.S. Navy and then for National Geographic, he has worked in close proximity with sharks,
Rivers of Memory: A Journey on Maine’s Historic Midcoast Waterways
Down East Books, Camden, Maine 2005 $14.95. Local Landscapes from a Different Perspective For eight fine days one August, John Gibson launched his 15-foot-long kayak into the rivers near his home in Hallowell. He boned up on the human history of rivers such as the Kennebec, the Damariscotta and the Sheepscot before heading out. In
Temple Stream: A Rural Odyssey
Words Like the Rings of a Tree Mix together a bit of Annie Dillard, Thoreau and Mark Twain and you might get a concoction like Bill Roorbach’s writing in Temple Stream. In addition to being a rich narrative of a stream running through the Farmington and Temple, Maine, it’s also about the characters that wander
Nail Biter
Skullduggery’s afoot as Eastport’s sleuth is on the case Probably the best way to describe Sarah Graves’s latest mystery is simply to say that the book is aptly titled. As was the case with Graves’s previous eight novels, the reader is not far into this one before there is skullduggery afoot, including, of course, a
Investing in Nature
Marrying Conservation and Business William Ginn’s new book, Investing in Nature, treats the reader to a collection of case studies that illustrate how business and conservation interests can collaboratively and creatively achieve profitable results and ecological gains simultaneously. Ginn hops around the globe providing a dizzying accounting of complex legal, business and conservation transactions on
Recipes From A Very Small Island
A New Side of Linda Greenlaw My first reaction to the idea of this particular cookbook was somewhat cynical. Is Linda Greenlaw going Martha Stewart on us? Was someone thinking that Linda Greenlaw’s readership would expand exponentially if more readers of “traditional” female-oriented genres could identify with her? What has marked Greenlaw as “untraditional” is
Groundswell: Stories of Saving Places, Finding Community
Locals saving themselves A great many of us wish there were a way to save Maine’s land, sea and culture from the forces that are dismantling it, to revitalize our hometowns without completely replacing their inhabitants, to grow without destroying every last landscape and collective memory. But what can a small community do to protect