When Jerry Knecht started his seafood processing business, North Atlantic Inc., on the Portland waterfront in 1986, the seafood business in New England hadn’t changed much in hundreds of years. North Atlantic then cut and sold local fresh groundfish like most other local processors, but Knecht decided to do business a little differently by focusing
“Earl on the River” – S. Orrington shipwright models 19th century vessels
He calls himself “Earl on the River” and when you hear his story, you’ll know why. Earl Morrill is a 58-year-old resident of South Orrington who specializes in building scale models of 19th-century Maine sailing vessels. I first met him in the summer of 2003 while I was doing research for an article on the
Parties remain mum on two Portland bridge incidents
In two separate incidents since mid-December, vessels passing under the Casco Bay Bridge “allided” with a bridge fender and an anchored tug and barge. One of the incidents resulted in substantial property loss. Neither event made headlines. On Dec. 16, 2004, the tug PENN 4 was pushing the barge PENN 90 out of Portland’s inner
Ocean Cuisine
Ocean Cuisine is a new name for the U.S. division of Fishery Products International, Ltd., headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Along with the new name, Ocean Cuisine has a new approach to its expansive line of value-added seafood products called “culinology.” It’s a three-stage process for creating a new product: culinary development, technical research and
Cod tagging continues; fishermen urged to return tags for rewards
Once the mainstay of New England fisheries, Atlantic cod has struggled to come back from record low levels. Recently, collaborative research programs have brought together fishermen and scientists to answer key questions The Northeast Regional Cod Tagging Program is one such effort. In March 2003, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) launched the program
Trap Wars
When Maine set out to limit lobster traps in the mid-1990s, it imposed a cap on the number of traps an individual fisherman could set. But it didn’t freeze overall effort at a particular level, and as local zone councils set limits the result was more, not fewer, traps in the water. As we report
Taxes and Conservation
The tax-writers are at it again in Washington, and one of the many oxen up for goring this season is the land trust community. A recent “alert” from Maine Coast Heritage Trust informs us of a proposal to “drastically cut back tax benefits for donations of conservation land and easements.” Just how the cuts would
Ship “:Allisions”
When a tug towing a barge grazed a bumper and a large salt ship crunched into another tug and barge near the Casco Bay Bridge this winter, no one seemed to take much notice. The Coast Guard dutifully interviewed everyone involved in both incidents and filed reports, but little more was said publicly. And as
The New England Clam Shack Cookbook
North Adams, Massachussets: Storey Publishing, 2003 A particular culture and cuisine, out of season Here’s a prescription for sufferers of Seasonal Affective Disorder, that problem during dark days of the year when depression creeps up on people. Read a book that seems steeped in sunlight, where every page makes you picture summer: long hot bright
Off-Season: Discovering America on Winter’s Shore
Three Rivers Press, 2004 When people tend to their daily lives The term is all wrong, the author says. Off-season is when what makes a community is most visible. When those who inhabit the Atlantic coast, either lured by the sea or there as a birthright, go on making a living, attending church, raising families,