Articles
Buyer Beware
The Fish List (www.thefishlist.org) is a website provided by Environmental Defense, Blue Ocean and the Monterrey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. The website claims to offer consumers “a fast, easy-to-use tool that helps you make the best possible seafood choices.” Each participating organization has its own online version of consumer seafood information. Since shoppers don’t
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
Freeport’s small harbor juggles clams, recreation
Freeport’s clammers are at a crossroads. The Harraseeket River clam flats — the most productive in town — are in jeopardy of being permanently closed to harvesting because of pollution concerns from marinas and the Free-port Sewer District plant, which discharges into the harbor. A final draft report issued by the Maine Department of Marine
Cleaning Casco Bay – Yes, boat discharges are part of the solution
Public reaction to December’s announcement of a No Discharge Zone for Casco Bay showed that people are fond of their bay and care about its health, but retain a healthy skepticism about efforts to restore or maintain the bay’s environmental quality. About boat waste in particular, people wondered aloud how flushing a few boat heads
The “Live Anywhere” Boat
Probably the majority of people who go cruising like it for the escape. Their time at sea is free from the obligations and commitments of everyday life. For Michael and Barbara Porter of Chebeague Island, work and everyday life are intertwined, so a sea passage means less of an escape than a journey with a
“Bucket and Chuckit” No Longer – Casco Bay could become no-discharge zone
Casco Bay may soon become Maine’s first federally designated “No Discharge Zone.” In the interest of the environment and human health, federal, state, and local governments and the nonprofit Friends of Casco Bay have formed a partnership to declare the practice of discharging boat sewage into the Bay obsolete. The federal “No Discharge Zone” designation
Reclaiming the Waterfront – Wiscasset ponders re-developing two former industrial sites
Figuring out what to do with an abandoned power plant and 450 acres adjacent to a former nuclear reactor site can challenge the best of visionaries. Wiscasset’s unusual challenge is opening the door do unusual creativity. With active community input, professional vision and the leadership and backing of a new corporate partner named National RE/sources,
Managing Nature: On seabird nesting islands, “wild” is a slippery term
They are out there, swooping and dodging like swallows over a summer pasture. Only their prey isn’t flying insects, it is two- to three-inch juvenile herring. Occasionally one of them halts abruptly in midair, hovers for a heartbeat, then plunges into the sea for its prey. Federally endangered Roseate Terns are making a comeback, thanks
Tax Cap Proposal Clouds Islands’ Financial Future
Waterfront property owners may not like it, but they’re accustomed to paying higher taxes than their inland counterparts. But when waterfront residents in Portland received revaluation notices from the city last month, their collective gasp was audible throughout Casco Bay. Many saw their valuations double and in some cases triple. Increases like that are adding
Guilt-Free Seafood
You’ve decided to meet a few friends for dinner at your favorite seafood restaurant. As the conversation focuses on the menu, someone brandishes a wallet card and says, “Wait. Before you order the baked scallops, are you sure it’s ok? Guilt-free, that is. George’s Bank scallop is rebuilding, but is it sustainable? They’re in the