MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 21, 2024
As the state’s top lobster port, Stonington is keen to protect its fishing fleet’s ability to trap, sell and ship its catch from this bridged island in Down East Maine to far-flung destinations for as long as the Gulf of Maine is cold enough to sustain them. Warming waters are nudging lobster populations ever northward, but the Jan. 10 and 13 storms served up a harsh reminder that climate change poses more immediate threats to the island: the powerful one-two punch of sea level rise and storm surge. The causeway linking Stonington to the mainland was under 18 inches of water shortly after Jan. 10’s high tide. People cut off from local emergency services during monthly high tides now.