ELLSWORTH — The U.S. Senate last week moved a step closer to providing substantial financial assistance to efforts aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales. Scientists warn that, with a population of only about 400 animals, the giant mammals face a real threat of extinction. The whales have experienced a high rate of mortality …
ELLSWORTH — Three of the four members of Maine’s congressional delegation joined last week to encourage U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to prioritize a trade deal with the European Union (EU) that would reduce or eliminate EU tariffs on Maine lobster. In a letter last Friday, U.S. Sens. Angus King (I-Maine) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) …
BLUE HILL — Early this month, the Department of Marine Resources approved the request of Tightrope Seafarms LLC for a 20-year renewal of its lease to grow oysters and other shellfish on 17.45 acres off the southern shore of Salt Pond. A 10-year lease was originally granted to Brooklin resident Paul Brayton in 1999, acquired …
SOUTHWEST HARBOR — Sparked by an Appeals Board decision to allow a charter fishing boat operator to continue disembarking passengers at one of the town docks, the town Harbor Committee will review the language in the town’s Coastal Waters and Harbor Ordinance over the winter. John Dittmar owns Acadia Fishing Tours. Passengers board his boat, …
ELLSWORTH — Efforts to find consensus over how to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from entanglement in fishing gear without decimating the Maine lobster industry took a blow last week. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) announced that it would not support a plan developed by the Department of Marine Resources “because it seeks reductions …
PORTLAND — When Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher presented a DMR proposal to reduce the risk that lobster gear may pose to endangered North Atlantic right whales he warned unhappy lobstermen that things could be worse. Speaking at a meeting at The Grand last Monday, Keliher said some proponents of better protecting whales …
BROOKLIN — For lovers of the writer Ernest Hemingway, there are few images more iconic than photographs of the mustachioed “Papa” aboard his beloved 38-foot Wheeler Yacht fishing boat Pilar. Hemingway frequently fished off the boat in the waters of Key West and the Gulf Stream off the Cuban coast. His time aboard reportedly influenced …
ELLSWORTH — Harvesters hoping for a shot at a new license to fish for scallops this winter have only two more days to enter their names into the Department of Marine Resources’ scallop license lotteries. The online license lotteries will be open until Friday, Nov. 8 at 4:30 p.m. DMR established separate lotteries for scallop …
ELLSWORTH — Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher met with a group of roughly 75 lobstermen and lobster industry representatives at The Grand Monday evening to discuss proposed measures to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. Keliher was on hand to explain a plan that the state will file with the National Marine Fisheries …
STONINGTON— If at first you succeed, come on back for a second bite of the apple. That seems to be the mantra for the Lifejackets for Lobstermen project which, since the beginning of April, has brought educational materials and personal flotation devices to harbors along the Maine and Massachusetts coasts. The goal is to persuade …
CASTINE — Maine Maritime Academy is one step closer to replacing its aging training ship State of Maine with a modern vessel that will better serve the needs of the school’s students. Last week, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, announced that the Senate, by a vote of 84-9, advanced a …
FRENCHBORO — Just weeks after Cooke Aquaculture agreed to pay the state more than $150,000 to settle numerous violations at several of its salmon net pen sites in eastern Maine, the Department of Marine Resources is asking for public comment on the company’s application for a 20-year lease renewal. The renewal is of a lease …
