The Wrack

A new path at Harbor Park in Wells provides the first fully accessible trail for the Wells Reserve.

With the practiced eye of a marine scientist, a post-career volunteer finds an uncommon copepod in a Wells Harbor plankton sample.

Researchers in the Coastal Ecology Center recently received a call from the Harbor Master at Wells Harbor asking if someone would come down and look at a "strange" fish that came up in one of the local lobsterman's trap. Upon arrival at the harbor we were greeted by this "visitor" to our waters. It is a …

Tin and I had been trying to find time for a paddle for months. Despite the threat of thunderstorms all day, yesterday was the day. We both showed up to work here at the Reserve, our cars each donning kayaks on racks. The weather threatened all day but the storms never materialized. Four o'clock came and off we went.  Within a few short minutes we pulled into Wells Harbor, unloaded our boats and were afloat…

Spanning over the subtidal zone, harbor docks make convenient places to see fish in their natural setting. And fussing with fishing gear isn’t even necessary.

Wells Harbor is a fantastic place to see local species of fish. Its wooden piers and docks provide human access above a subtidal zone (a place that never fully drains during low tide) and often 'harbors' schools of juvenile and adult fishes. The pilings and docks provide structure for many species of plants and animals that attach themselves to the substrate and provide habitat for many invertebrate species, amphipods and copepods in particular, which find shelter within this "fouling" community