ELLSWORTH — Maquoit Bay in Brunswick and Puget Sound in Washington state are separated by thousands of miles, but shellfish farmers in both places are feeling some heat. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Seattle ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit that authorizes virtually all shellfish aquaculture in Washington state was …
CASTINE — It was still warm in the middle of the month as 10 collegiate teams, including one from Maine Maritime Academy, met in Annapolis to contest the McMillan Cup aboard the U.S. Naval Academy’s fleet of Navy 44 sloops on the weekend of Oct. 19 and 20. The two-day event offered significant strategic and …
AUGUSTA — The Marine Patrol has announced the promotion of 18-year veteran Matthew Talbot to the newly created rank of captain. He is the son of Alan Talbot, who retired with the rank of major as deputy chief in 2013 after a 25-year career in the Marine Patrol. Before transferring to Augusta, the elder Talbot …
BUCKSPORT — Whole Oceans has taken another step forward in its efforts to build a state-of-the-art recirculating aquaculture system to grow Atlantic salmon on the site of the former Verso mill. On Monday, the company announced that it had received needed submerged lands leases that will allow it to use its property along the Penobscot …
ELLSWORTH — The Mount Desert Island High School fall sailing season came to an end last weekend with a strong performance at the Ranger Rally in Portland. Hosted by Greely High School in Cumberland, the promotional regatta — the results don’t count in the New England Schools Sailing Association standings — drew 17 teams from …
ELLSWORTH — As the battle over how best to protect endangered northern right whales continues to escalate, the Department of Marine Resources is proposing a new set of requirements for lobster gear that the department believes will help reduce injury to the whales without imposing severe, and some say dangerous, restrictions on fishermen. Last week, …
ELLSWORTH — The Department of Marine Resources announced last Friday that it was opening two lotteries for scallop fishing licenses for the upcoming 2019-20 fishing season. One of the lotteries will be for scallop drag licenses, while the other will be for scallop dive licenses. Based on the number of licenses retired in 2018, DMR …
BLUE HILL — Noon came off raw and windy last Thursday, but the dank weather couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of nine George Stevens Academy students and the handful of faculty, administrators and friends gathered at the Blue Hill town dock for the long anticipated launching of Eagle 1. Several years ago, GSA was one of …
By Mark Messer Special to The Ellsworth American BLUE HILL — It wasn’t all that long ago that Courtney Koos was demolishing the competition sailing 420 dinghies as captain of the George Stevens Academy sailing team and, later on, sailing FJ dinghies as a member, and eventual co-captain of the nationally ranked Bowdoin College team. …
CASTINE — The Maine Maritime Academy offshore sailing team traveled to Larchmont, N.Y., last weekend for the Storm Trysail Club’s annual Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta. This year, the event drew 48 teams with three from Canadian universities and one coming all the way from France. With the fleet divided into six classes, light airs limited the …
SOUTHWEST HARBOR — Five years of work rebuilding a venerable old boat were finally capped off recently when Kathe and Dan Walton celebrated the launch of the 1972 Bunker and Ellis lobster boat Susan Margaret. The boat is named for Kathe Walton’s mother, Susan Bunker Newman. The late Raymond Bunker was Newman’s father and Walton’s …
STONINGTON — A $65,000 Small Harbor Improvement Program (SHIP) grant from the Maine Department of Transportation will help Stonington fund a project aimed at improving parking and access to the municipal fish pier. The grant will cover 50 percent of the $130,000 project cost. The town’s selectmen have already allocated funds from the Fish Pier …
