Melting snow is revealing a winter's worth of dog poop and trash. The litter removal crews are picking up the big pieces, but where does all the rest of this waste go? Sadly, spring rains wash it to sea.

When I was in my 20s and 30s, free time was a rare commodity. When it was available and the weather cooperated, my wife and I loaded the kids in the van and explored the Maine coast.

The first significant storm occurred Nov. 2 and left the Midcoast and north buried in around a foot or more of snow. The next storm occurred on Thanksgiving with people waking up to 6-14 inches of heavy wet snow.

For mainland fishermen, the slow turnover is a nuisance. But for a small island community, it could mean the end of a way of life.

Lucas Lemoine, the 33-year-old scallop fisherman from Swan's Island charged earlier this year with multiple violations of marine resources laws, has had all of his commercial fishing licenses permanently revoked as a result of a history of violations that goes back almost two decades.

Apparently Seattle is fining people who toss food waste instead of composting it. It's about darn time.

Sand and gravel extraction in the federally regulated waters three miles offshore is emerging as an issue that is both potentially threatening to the ecosystems on the ocean floor and potentially a boon for the urgent need to rebuild beaches.

Aquaculture, once seen as a viable alternative to chasing declining wild fish stocks, is rebounding. But fish farming is taking shape in locations and using technology far different from the floating pens seen just off the coast back in the early 1990s.

A few years ago, Rhode Island used an ocean planning process to identify potential sites for an offshore wind farm. The process pulled together a variety of information about the ocean environment and the people who use it.