Garbage Patch Kid
You’ve probably read about the giant patch of floating trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Well, we have our own plastic trash poisoning the Gulf of Maine. Let me show you where it comes from. Saturday was a warm, sunny afternoon, and a lovely day to be...
Ocean Is Our Muse
I grew up on the beach. My mom had summer rental cottages at the shore, where we worked and lived. Accommodations were spare but from the front door step the vista was limitless. The sound of surf was always in the background. My dad was a scuba diver at a time when...
Where the Wild Things Are
As the turtle said, “Dude, you’ve got serious thrill issues.” There aren’t many places in the world where bluefin tuna venture so close to shore that a person can paddle out to cast for them from a kayak. But Race Point off the tip of Cape Cod is one of those...
Urban Sprawl in the Ocean
John on Press Herald Post Have you ever attended a planning board meeting? There has been considerable discussion of “urban sprawl” in southern Maine. Town planning departments and planning boards are where citizens confront these questions of sprawl and manage the...
I Hate Balloons
John on Press Herald Post You have to love those clear hot July days on the water. The boat leaves harbor at sun-up and runs straight out to sea for two hours to a favorite offshore fishing ground. As the morning wears on the sun beats down, the air becomes...
Butts on the Beach
John on Press Herald Post The International Coastal Cleanup has become a big event worldwide (http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=press_icc). Volunteers not only collect tons and tons and tons of trash from beaches and shore lands; they...
The Big Sink
John on Press Herald Post All life on Earth depends on the ocean. Even yours. I’m often struck that when policy makers worry about Climate Change they don’t also talk about Ocean Change. Ocean IS climate – the two are in an inseparable dance that creates the...
Message from a Lapel Pin
John on Press Herald Post Barak Obama seemed a bit bewildered. I’m sure he hadn’t given it much thought. But suddenly people were asking him “Why don’t you wear a flag on your lapel? Don’t you love your Country?” Of course he loves his Country – it’s a given...
Recreational Fishermen Revolt!
John on Press Herald Post Recreational fishermen are up in arms! Soon they’ll be protesting in the streets of Augusta, pounding on the doors of the Legislature. Liberté! Equalité! Fraternité! Unite against bureaucracy! So what’s the fuss? Because a recent federal...
Fountainhead of Life in the Gulf of Maine
John on Press Herald Post From the deck of a boat it all just looks like water. But from a fish eye view, this is a wonderful place. Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is at the ecological heart of the Gulf of Maine. This is where cold nutrient-rich water,...
Amateur Hour in Fishery Management
John on Press Herald Post Marine fisheries are a multi-billion dollar industry. The New England Fishery Management Council serves, in effect, as the board of trustees for the production line and operations of this industry. Individually, Council appointees are...
Who Owns the Fish
John on Press Herald Post Who owns the fish in the sea? Who owns the whales? Who owns the habitat they live in? You do. We all do. Fisheries and the marine environment are a public resource trust. The United States has jurisdiction over 3.4 million square...
Blood in the Water
John on Press Herald Post Hey! Breaking news bulletin! “16 out of the 21 oceanic shark and ray species that are caught in high seas fisheries are at heightened risk of extinction due primarily to targeted fishing.” ...
Breaking the Rule
John on Press Herald Post My wife has a rule in our house – no talking about fish or boats after 6pm. Good luck, honey. Most evenings that prohibition lasts until about 6:20 and then, somehow, the conversation wanders back onto the latest boat project, or fishing,...