There's one more day of summer showing on the calendar as this column is being written, but the signs of autumn are everywhere on the coast of Maine.

The results of the assessment were no surprise. It comes down to location. The southern New England (SNE) stock remained in very poor condition, while the Gulf of Maine (GOM) and Georges Bank (GBK) stocks are thriving.

To call this an industry would be a stretch, but they are certainly a group of businesses with the potential to become an industry. What would the industrial scale look like? Well, there will be choices.

Paul Greenberg is the author of American Catch: The Fight for Our Local Seafood and Four Fish: The Future of Our Last Wild Food. A lifelong fisherman, Greenberg has written for The New York Times, National Geographic and GQ, among other publications.

It has been a good summer on the coast of Maine, and for those who like to learn, it can be a place where community members are happy to become teachers, and in the process they lend depth to our understanding of the debates about who we are becoming.

The full-sized, birchbark canoe on display at the Peabody Museum in Cambridge, Mass. is both rare and old. Purchased from Penobscot Indian Francis Sebattis in 1912, it was most likely used to guide sportsmen along Maine’s waterways. These canoes once were ubiquitous in Maine, and they were an integral part of the culture of the Penobscot Nation.

“Blue carbon” is a term you might be hearing more often. It refers to marine vegetation that has an inherent ability to sequester carbon and mitigate the consequences of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Ninety-five percent of climatologists agree that carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere is wreaking havoc with weather systems and driving up temperatures. (A point of reference: if your child were sick, and 95 out of a hundred doctors recommended the same cure, would you seek more opinions?)

Early in 2014, Maine Coast Heritage Trust facilitated a discussion with possible stakeholders—including academics, boating interests, local historical societies, and artisans—for individual or shared uses. Welles also contacted the National Park Service, several philanthropists, and others who might be interested in investing in waterfront access.