“Saying ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t even begin to cover the damage,” said lobsterman Leroy Bridges, of Deer Isle. He was talking about recreational boaters who get their boats wrapped around lobster gear and cut the buoys from the rope attached to traps on the ocean bottom. “If I were to reach in your [back] pocket and
Raw faith builds RAWFAITH
The dream is huge, visionary – a mission: to build a ship sufficiently large and accessible that four or five families with disabled children confined to a wheelchair can enjoy a hands-on sailing experience aboard a tall ship. The dream is to allow the families to spend the day on board, with family members helping
Burgeoning seal population concerns fishermen, fish farmers
“The only good seal is a dead seal,” quips a fisherman when the subject of the recent seal population explosion comes up at the West Point Store in Phippsburg. The observation pretty well sums up how most fishermen feel about these mammals that tourists and recreational boaters find so entertaining. Seals eat just about any
Secret ingredient Carrageenan from Rockland thrives in “natural” foods marketplace
The familiar fish plants have gone out of business and the Fisher snowplow factory has left the Rockland waterfront for cheaper industrial park land – but FMC Biopolymer and its trademark smokestack and steaming industrial buildings will stay put, according to plant officials. The plant has been a fixture on the city waterfront since 1936.
Islesboro artist’s spirit lingers on
The artwork of Malcolm Zlotkowski, a lifelong Islesboro resident who passed away five years ago, was commemorated in a recent exhibit of his clown portraits at Islesboro’s Grindle Point lighthouse museum. Charlotte Mitchell, a tireless promoter of island artisans such as Zlotkowski, organized the event. Besides being an avid craftsperson, with pieces displayed in homes
Ted Hoskins lays down one role, takes up another
In his role as pastoral minister aboard the Sea Coast Missionary Society’s SUNBEAM, Ted Hoskins has visited Maine’s down east islands and came to know each community, each resident. Through his years of travel among them, Hoskins has connected communities together in an embrace of spiritual and civic vitality. Last month, when Hoskins retired as
Islesboro launches “heirloom” orchard project
The clearing of about an acre suggested that a small house was to be built in the thick woods that line the driveway to the Islesboro island school. Until Labor Day, when the stumps were hauled away, logs lay stacked at one end of the lot and a long pile of stumps and roots dominated
Birds of a feather
Cooper Island, August 7, 2002 – The motor vessel TURMOIL is at anchor 330 miles north of the Arctic Circle off the north coast of Alaska, eight miles east of Barrow. We are waiting to see if we might be able to press further on into the central Arctic Basin, a four- to five-day passage
Fun on the high seas
The Old Man and I decided, now that we’re getting old, but not yet to the crickety stage, that if we were ever going to take time out to have some fun, we better be about it. God knows it’s next to impossible to make ends meet in this economy – so throwing worry to
Burnt Church Natives, Canadian DFO sign lobster agreement
The Mi’kmaq of Burnt Church Reserve in New Brunswick and the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans have come to terms over management and regulation of the Miramichi lobster fishery – at least for the next two years. A hereditary chief of the Mk’kmaq Grand Council, however, declared the agreement “a sellout.” Representatives of both