SOUTHWEST HARBOR — A couple of years ago, Shane Ellis launched a new arm of his family boat company, offering a few of the Ellis motor yachts for bareboat charters. Like hotels, bed and breakfasts and vacation rentals, he had a busy season already booked when state officials announced the requirement that anyone coming from …
STEUBEN — A Canadian man is in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s custody after allegedly stealing an offshore lobster boat from New Brunswick’s Grand Manan Island and running the vessel into U.S. waters, where it went aground in Pigeon Hill Bay before dawn on Monday. Based in Hodgdon, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s public …
BROOKLIN — It’s no secret that the novel coronavirus — besides killing some 100,000 victims in the United States so far — will touch almost every element of summer, including many of Maine’s iconic maritime activities. In Brooklin, the WoodenBoat School, for the first time since its founding in 1981, will not open for the …
SOUTHWEST HARBOR — While the coming Memorial Day weekend will look different in some ways than it does other years, such as no big parades or gatherings, local boatyards are as busy as ever. Service yards store boats for customers for the winter and use the time to perform maintenance including painting, waxing, varnish, oil …
ELLSWORTH — The conservation groups that filed a federal lawsuit two years ago to force the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to do more to protect endangered right whales from entanglement with fishing gear have asked U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg to ban lobster fishing gear with vertical buoy lines off the coast …
ELLSWORTH — Earning a living as a fisherman is tough in the best of times. Right now, times are bad and Maine fishermen have to hope they don’t get any worse. Last year, according to the Department of Marine Resources, Maine harvesters landed 9,620 pounds of elvers — juvenile eels — and dealers paid $20,119,194 …
ELLSWORTH — The first stage of Governor Janet Mills’ plans to gradually reopen Maine’s economy began Friday, May 1. Industries approved for re-opening include guided hunting, fishing, boating and outdoor activities, as well as marinas. Guided fishing businesses are permitted to have no more than 10 customers per trip, not including crew members. Also, the …
STONINGTON — When the coronavirus closed Maine schools, thousands of students who already qualified for free and reduced cost in-school meals faced the risk of hunger. With many parents suddenly out of work, many more students faced serious food insecurity. At the same time, most Maine lobstermen found that there was no market for their …
MEDDYBEMPS — Maine game wardens are investigating the death of a 62-year-old Calais man on Bearce Lake Sunday evening. At a little before 6 p.m. May 3, two kayakers on Bearce Lake in Meddybemps heard a man yelling for help. The man was in the water next to his capsized kayak. The kayakers paddled over …
ELLSWORTH — In March, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection denied a request by Black Bear Hydro Partners for a water quality certification (WQC) under the Clean Waters Act. The certification is critical to the company’s pending application for new licenses to maintain and operate the two Union River dams — one at the lower …
ELLSWORTH — Fred Rea knows his way around a boat shop. The longtime member of the crew at Mount Desert Yacht Yard retired a couple of years ago and moved with his wife, Rosamond, to a house on Lower Patten Pond. After 30-some years maintaining and repairing International One Designs and all manner of other …
ELLSWORTH – With a U.S. Senate-passed $484 billion COVID-19 economic relief package awaiting action in the House of Representatives and a promised signature by President Donald Trump, the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, Maine Lobstermen’s Association and the Maine Aquaculture Association will host a COVID Financial Relief Webinar aimed directly at fishermen on Thursday, April 23 …
