To the editor: I have read with great interest the articles in Working Waterfront decrying the invasion of tourists, people from away, whatever category we are lumped into, and I would like to add a few comments. I live 10 blocks from the former World Trade towers; saw the people jumping from the 103rd floor,
State revenues drop, license fees go up
Commercial fishermen will see their license fees increase by 25 percent in 2004 as a direct result in the $1.1 billion revenue shortfall in the state’s General Fund. The increase will go into the General Fund to help erase that deficit. The state Department of Marine Resources (DMR) was required to cut its budget by
Early-morning omelets
At 4 AM, despite dark skies and the look of midnight, Becky’s neon pink sign beckons “Open” to the passerby on Commercial Street in Portland. The only diner open at this hour in Portland, Becky’s caters to local fishermen, construction workers, postal workers and hungry Maine College of Art Students who have been up all
SCOTIA PRINCE offers luxury cruises – and a little gambling
The SCOTIA PRINCE sails in perpetual roundtrips from Portland to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia this summer. And after a recent $2 million renovation this 23-hour, up-and-back experience is now being billed as a cruise sensation: two new hot tubs, a Tiki bar (minus the Polynesian torches) and a spanking new sunning area. People eat and drink
Speakers: future of fishing and farming is local
Traditional resource-based industries in Maine such as fishing are in trouble today because of global factors beyond their control, but also because technology has allowed them to deplete their resources. “We were too good,” Craig Pendleton of the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance told a Kennebunkport conference on sustainability on June 13, describing the depletion of
A Gulf of Maine round trip
After a weeklong, very successful visit to the Portland waterfront, the schooner AMISTAD departed May 16 for Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and I had the opportunity to make the passage on the boat across the Gulf of Maine. This trip proved to be not only a pleasant passage on a traditional sailing vessel, but also a
Island middle schoolers to go to sea
On July 31, a group of island middle school students will board the schooner HARVEY GAMAGE at Islesboro for a nine-day sailing voyage under the auspices of The Maine Island Youth Program offered by the Ocean Classroom Foundation, Inc. In 10 years, over 200 students from Maine island communities have participated in this sailing adventure.
Portland firm transforms retired sails into tote bags
All tote bags are not created equal. Just ask anyone who’s ever purchased a handcrafted, sturdy carryall from Hannah Kubiac. Kubiac owns Sea Bags, a one-of-a-kind shop in Portland’s Custom House Wharf area. Sea Bags produces tote bags made from old, retired sails. The bags can be trusted to lug around a hundred pounds of
Fried clams don’t have to cost $1.27 each
You can smell fried clams at the summertime ferry line in Lincolnville if the breeze isn’t out of the southwest. Or if it is, but someone upwind in a car with open windows is happily devouring a pint of them. I suppose it is all those lobster pounds and small seafood take-outs along the coast
Eric Hopkins: A unique contribution to a venerable tradition
What better place to be refreshed by energizing landscapes of water, sky, mountains, and islands than at the current Eric Hopkins exhibit at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland? Leave behind the midsummer doldrums of Route 1 traffic, crowded sidewalks, and the relentless heat and glare of sun. Upon entering the Morehouse Wing, you’ll find