Sengekontacket Pond will be closed to shellfishing for four months each year in the peak summer season on a permanent basis, as a result of intract

Lost and Found: World War II Shipmates Reconnect in Chance Internet Encounter

After 62 years of being out of each other's lives, World War II shipmates and old friends Ray Ellis and Bill Sprague reconnected to find that despite the many years gone by, their friendship was still intact.

Interviews by Kate Brannen

Ray Ellis: "The name of the ship was the USS Corpus Christie. It was a frigate. They built 55 frigates and had them all manned by the U.S. Coast Guard. I was the chief quartermaster on board.

Not Too Many Fish in the Sea to Count

By KATE BRANNEN

The Vineyard Conservation Society met Thursday for its annual meeting and to hear about the Marine Life Census, an ambitious and inspiring global project that is attempting to catalogue and identify every life form in the planet's oceans.

The census puts Vineyard conservation efforts into a global context where scientists around the world are racing to protect marine life.

In the two years before Vineyard House opened, there were two dozen alcohol and drug-related deaths on the Island. The founders of the nonprofit sober house never did a formal needs survey - the need seemed clear enough. There was a cavernous gap in health services between the hospital's three-day detox and the return to everyday life.

Barbara Dacey is relieved.

Boatline Labor Contract Collapses Unexpectedly; Union Infighting Is Cited

By MIKE SECCOMBE

Just as it appeared that four years of difficult negotiations had finally produced a new workplace agreement between the Steamship Authority and one of its major unions, the deal fell apart this week, apparently as a result of a leadership contest within the union.