Articles
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
Student works on school whale project
Kelsey Jones, a senior at North Haven Community School, and other students have been working on the school’s whale re-articulation project as reported in the Dec 04-Jan 05 Working Waterfront.
Moving
There is a sense of movement out there. The legislature is debating tax fixes; the planes are flying to small islands again; Eastport’s boat school plans to re-open; the shrimp season is underway with good prospects for the export market; Vinalhaven is exploring energy alternatives and the SCOTIA PRINCE, despite uncertainty and looming competition, is
Lobster Therapy
Working Waterfront Task force Meets with Govenor Baldacci
Maine’s working waterfront task force met recently with Gov. John Baldacci (center). The task force is exploring ways to protect the state’s limited number of working waterfronts, which are threatened by development, competing uses, fishery decline, high taxes and other factors.
Islands Coalition
Given the difficulties island residents face when they have to get to an off-island meeting, it’s remarkable that the new Islands Coalition has been able to hold four meetings since it came into existence last spring. It’s also a testament to the tough issues these small communities face: the lack of affordable housing, unfair property
Imagining and Adapting
Maine boatbuilders are nothing if not adaptable. In fact many of them wouldn’t exist today had they not been able to change their methods from plank-on-frame to fiberglass to cold-molding to various other systems combining wood, metal and more exotic materials. So it’s not surprising to encounter one shop setting up aluminum frames designed on
Cod
The signs are there, along the western Maine coast at least: growing numbers of small cod in lobster traps, increasing trawl and gillnet catches in inshore waters, a steady number coming through the Portland Fish Exchange. To the east things aren’t as good, but even in Stonington, once the base of a large gillnet fishery,
Field Trip To Merryspring Nature Park
Islesboro Central School students in grades K-5 visited Merryspring Nature Park in Camden Oct. 13 for a day of cider making, nature photography, and a tree/shrub identification exploration.