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Fishermen record close encounter with great white shark off Boothbay

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Fishermen record close encounter with great white shark off Boothbay


Ashley McLennan and her husband, Shaun, of South Thomaston were fishing off Boothbay this week when their sternman, Ryan Feener, saw a dorsal fin poke above the water that he at first assumed was a porpoise.

It was not a porpoise.

It was something far more dramatic: A great white shark devouring a seal, within feet of their boat. The shark lingered for several moments near the boat, seemingly unbothered by the human presence. At one point, a chunk of seal floated to the surface. The shark’s loitering allowing the crew to capture stunning video of the Wednesday, June 25, encounter which they shared with the Midcoast Villager.

“We were pretty surprised,” said McLennan. “It was terrifying and thrilling.”

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Fortunately, they were already in a bigger boat. All three of the crew were in their main boat, leaving no one in the dinghy that towed the other end of their seine.

McLennan, it turns out, is something of a sharkophile and even has an app on her phone that tracks tagged sharks. She’s seen occasional shark pings in the waters off Midcoast Maine over the years, including one shark named Penny that she tracked for a while, but she never expected to see one so close.

“That was the first time we have ever seen one. It’s something I always hoped we would get to encounter, but never thought it would actually happen,” she said.

Two New England scientists who are authorities on white sharks — Matt Davis with the Maine Department of Marine Resources and Greg Skomal with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries — confirmed to the Villager that the animal in the video is indeed a great white shark.

Walter Golet, a professor at the University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences, who has participated in shark research with both, brought the video to their attention after he was contacted by the Villager.

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The fact that the shark swims right up to McLennans’ boat shows how “curious” white sharks can be, said Davis, who has tagged white sharks and studies highly migratory species for the state. The shark’s sex can’t be determined from the video, but its size indicates it’s probably a juvenile, he said.

White sharks have not been studied in depth in Maine since they have historically been more common in the waters off Southern New England, especially around Cape Cod. That could be changing, however, as Maine’s booming seal population may be drawing more sharks further north.

“We know white sharks which move through and use Cape Cod waters are also using Maine coastal habitat to some extent, with a substantial number of white sharks which were tagged there (thanks to Greg and his collaborators) detected on Maine DMR receivers,” Davis said.

Maine’s first-ever fatal shark attack on record occurred in 2020, when a 63-year-old woman was attacked while swimming with her daughter off Mackerel Cove on Bailey Island in Harpswell. A tooth recovered from the victim confirmed it belonged to a great white. The unprecedented attack prompted the state to step up its research efforts into white sharks, whose behavior in the Maine had previously been poorly understood.

Davis and his colleagues just published early findings from that effort in a peer-reviewed academic journal in March.

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“While significant progress has been made to characterize life history patterns, movement ecology, and regional estimates of abundance of white sharks,” they wrote in the introduction to their paper, “patterns of spatial distribution remain relatively unknown in the northern Gulf of Maine.”

The study tried to change that, using acoustic sensors that could detect sharks previously tagged off Cape Cod and Hilton Head, South Carolina. It tracked 107 tagged white sharks, with their numbers peaking between July and September, including multiple detected in “close proximity to several of Maine’s western beaches” and islands.

Still, the researchers caution, they’re playing catch up, and their data is incomplete. Notably for Midcoast and Down East residents, their sensors were mostly concentrated in the western Gulf of Maine, off Southern Maine, so “future research should include expanded receiver coverage in eastern Maine and the use of additional tagging technologies.”

Seals populations, after being devastated in Maine and other parts of New England, have been booming since coming under federal protection in the 1970s. And sharks, which are also now federally protected, follow their prey. Younger sharks prey mainly on fish, squid and smaller sharks, but they transition to larger prey, like seals, as they reach maturity.

Globally, white sharks are deemed “vulnerable to extinction risk,” but in the western North Atlantic, which includes Maine, research suggests “a slow state of recovery,” according to Maine DMR.

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Still, experts say swimmers and paddlers in Maine should not be overly concerned.

“Unwanted shark encounters are exceptionally rare for your average ocean recreator,” said Davis, before advising general safety protocols: Stay close to shore, swim and paddle in groups and avoid swimming near seals or schooling fish.

The Florida Museum of Natural History, which administers a major database of shark bites, notes that wasps, snakes, bees and lightning strikes, not to mention car crashes and drowning, are responsible for far more fatalities every year than sharks. There was only one fatal shark attack in the U.S. in 2024 and some years see zero.

Notably, perhaps, June 20 was the 50th anniversary of the release of “Jaws.”

This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.

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This Classic New England-Style Cottage in Maine Has 200 Feet of Atlantic Ocean Frontage

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This Classic New England-Style Cottage in Maine Has 200 Feet of Atlantic Ocean Frontage


A waterfront home with open ocean views on the coast of Maine came to market Tuesday asking $4 million. 

Built in 1978, the three-bedroom cottage is at the southern point of Cape Elizabeth, less than 10 miles from downtown Portland. The 1.1-acre property on Sunny Bank Road features 200 feet of south-facing water frontage on the wide open Atlantic. 

It is bordered by a rocky sea wall that’s about 28 feet high, according to listing agent Sam Michaud Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty

“The views are like a Monet painting,” he said via email. “The water sparkles and the waves are endless.”

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MORE: Laid-Back Costa Rica Is Getting a $7 Million Mega-Penthouse

The 3,364-square-foot home was built in classic New England style, with shingle siding, a single sloped roofline and large windows—complemented by white-washed walls, exposed-beam ceilings and wide-plank flooring on the interiors. 

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The main common area features cathedral ceilings with a step-down between the living and dining room, and a partial wall divides the dining room from the kitchen. There is also a wood-paneled family room off the kitchen, a gym and a covered porch. 

The sellers purchased the property in 2010 for $1.562 million, according to property records accessed through PropertyShark. They could not immediately be reached for comment. 

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“I have received quite a few inquiries since hitting the market two days ago,” Michaud said. “Buyers understand that this is a golden opportunity to own over an acre with 200 feet of bold oceanfront in Cape Elizabeth.”

MORE: Iranian Strikes on Dubai Put the City’s Roaring Real Estate Market to the Test

There are currently just seven three-bedroom homes available for sale in Cape Elizabeth and fewer than five waterfront properties, according to Sotheby’s and Zillow data. It is also the most expensive listing in the town, with another waterfront property on a tiny lot just south of Portland coming in a close second, according to Zillow. 

Michaud sold the former Cape Elizabeth home of Bette Davis this past summer for $13.4 million, the priciest sale on the cape in at least a decade—and even those views can’t compare. They’re “just magical,” he said. 



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NECEC conservation plan will not protect Maine’s mature forests | Opinion

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NECEC conservation plan will not protect Maine’s mature forests | Opinion


Robert Bryan is a licensed forester from Harpswell and author or co-author of numerous publications on managing forests for wildlife. Paul Larrivee is a licensed forester from New Gloucester who manages both private and public lands, and a former Maine Forest Service forester.

In November 2025, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a conservation plan and forest management plan as mitigation for impacts from the NECEC transmission corridor that runs from the Quebec border 53 miles to central Maine.

As professional foresters, we were astonished by the lack of scientific credibility in the definition of “mature forest habitat” that was approved by DEP, and the business-as-usual commercial forestry proposed for over 80% of the conservation area.

The DEP’s approval requires NECEC to establish and protect 50,000 acres to be managed for mature-forest wildlife species and wildlife travel corridors along riparian areas and between mature forest habitats. The conservation plan will establish an area adjacent to the new transmission corridor to be protected under a conservation easement held by the state. Under this plan, 50% of the area will be managed as mature forest habitat.

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Under the forest management plan, a typical even-aged stand will qualify as “mature forest habitat” once 50 feet tall, which is only about 50 years old. These stands will lack large trees that provide wildlife denning and nesting sites, multiple vegetation layers that mature-forest birds use for nesting and feeding habitats and large decaying trees and downed logs that provide habitat for insects, fungi and small mammals, which in turn benefit larger predators.

Another major concern is that contrary to the earlier DEP order, the final approval allows standard sustainable forestry operations on the 84% of the forest located outside the stream buffers and special habitats. These stands may be harvested as soon as they achieve the “mature forest habitat” definition, as long as 50% of the conserved land is maintained as “mature.”

After the mature forest goal is reached, clearcutting or other heavy harvesting could occur on thousands of acres every 10 years. Because the landowner — Weyerhaeuser — owns several hundred thousand acres in the vicinity, any reductions in harvesting within the conservation area can simply be offset by cutting more heavily nearby. As a result, the net
mature-forest benefit of the conservation area will be close to zero.

Third, because some mature stands will be cut before the 50% mature forest goal is reached, it will take 40 years — longer than necessary — to reach the goal.

In the near future the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) will consider an appeal from environmental organizations of the plan approval. To ensure that ecologically mature forest develops in a manner that meets the intent of the DEP/BEP orders, several things need to change.

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First and most important, to ensure that characteristics of mature forest habitat have time to develop it is critical that the definition include clear requirements for the minimum number of large-diameter (hence more mature) trees, adjusted by forest type. At least half the stocking of an area of mature forest habitat should be in trees at least 10 inches in diameter, and at least 20% of stands beyond the riparian buffers should have half the stocking in trees greater than or equal to 16 inches in diameter.

Current research as well as guidelines for defining ecologically mature forests, such as those in Maine Audubon’s Forestry for Maine Birds, should be followed.

Second, limits should be placed on the size and distribution of clearcut or “shelterwood” harvest patches so that even-aged harvests are similar in size to those created by typical natural forest disturbance patterns. These changes will help ensure that the mature-forest block and connectivity requirements of the orders are met.

Third, because the forest impacts have already occurred, no cutting should be allowed in the few stands that meet or exceed the DEP-approved definition — which needs to be revised as described above — until the 50% or greater mature-forest goal is reached.

If allowed to stand, the definitions and management described in the forest management plan would set a terrible precedent for conserving mature forests in Maine. The BEP should uphold the appeal and establish standards for truly mature forest habitat.

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Rage Room in Portland, Maine, Developing ‘Scream Room’ Addition

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Rage Room in Portland, Maine, Developing ‘Scream Room’ Addition


For a lot of people throughout Maine, there’s some built up frustration that they’ve just been keeping inside.

That frustration can come in a lot of different forms. From finances to relationships to the world around you.

So it makes plenty of sense that a rage room opened in Portland, Maine, where people can let some of that frustration out.

It’s called Mayhem and people have been piling in to smash, crush and do dastardly things to inanimate objects that had no idea what was coming.

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But Mayhem has realized not everyone is down with swinging a sledgehammer. So they’ve decided to cook up something new.

Mayhem Creating ‘Scream Room’ at Their Space in Portland, Maine

Perhaps the thought of swinging a baseball bat and destroying a glass vase brings you joy. The thought of how sore your body will be after that moment makes you less excited.

Mayhem Portland has heard you loud and clear and is developing a new way to get the rage out. By just screaming.

Mayhem is working on opening their very first scream room. It’s exactly what you think it is, a safe place to spend some time just screaming all of the frustration out.

There isn’t an official opening date set yet but it’s coming soon along with pricing.

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Mayhem in Portland, Maine, Will Still Offer Rage Rooms and Paint Splatter

While a scream room is on the way, you can still experience a good time at Mayhem with one of their rage rooms or a paint splatter room.

Both can be experienced in either 20-minute or 30-minute sessions.

All the details including some age and attire requirements can be found here.

TripAdvisor’s Top 10 Things to do in Portland, Maine

Looking for fun things to do in Portland, ME? Here is what the reviewers on TripAdvisor say are the 10 best attractions.

This list was updated in March of 2026

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Gallery Credit: Chris Sedenka

Top 15 of The Most Powerful People in Maine

Ever wonder who the most powerful players are in Maine? I’ve got a list!

Gallery Credit: Getty Images





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