Category: In the news

Less than a week after the first of the back-to-back January storms that destroyed much infrastructure along Maine’s working waterfronts, the Island Institute launched a storm response grant program, received applications and began sending out funds to coastal businesses. 

Maine Seacoast Mission President John Zavodny has announced the two recipients of the Sunbeam Award for 2024: Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, in Bethesda, Md., and the Island Institute. This year’s awardees were chosen for their commitment to the communities the Mission serves.

January’s back-to-back coastal storms eroded our coastlines, destroyed family homes and wharves, and swept years of hopes and dreams out to sea.

Even for those of us who work on the impact of climate change on Maine’s coastal communities, these scenes were shocking. There remains no doubt that we need to imagine a different future coast, one where our infrastructure, businesses and homes can withstand storms like these and the forces of climate change.

State and municipal leaders say they’re scrambling to learn as much as they can about the three winter storms that flooded riverfront communities and set high tide records along the coast within the span of one month.
Those storms are what prompted an emergency meeting of the Maine Climate Council Tuesday in Augusta. The group gathered to discuss the impacts from the recent storms and share ideas on how Maine communities could better prepare…

BRISTOL, Maine — On the waterfront in New Harbor, one of Maine’s most visited fishing communities, the damage is clear to see. Remnants of wharves that were torn apart by the back-to-back storms of Jan. 10 and 13 are still standing in places, while others have simply vanished, the wreckage pulled out and hauled away… 

Story published in Ellsworth American on November 10, 2023. Island Institute, a Rockland-based community development organization focused on island and coastal communities, has been awarded a $201,000 Rural Community Development Initiative grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support the Island Institute Fellows program. The award was announced at the Brooklin Town Office… Read more »

Story by Alyssa Thurlow, published in WABI on August 18, 2023. Maine’s wild scallop harvest is still a few months away, but a group of fishermen in Penobscot Bay can fish scallops year-round thanks to Maine’s growing aquaculture industry. “This just puts another tool in the toolbox to allow them to adapt. We’re not looking… Read more »

Article by Peter Van Allen, published in Mainebiz on July 28, 2023. An Islesboro boatyard has unveiled a fully electric boat that it says could have implications for Maine’s working waterfront. Pendleton Yacht Yard teamed up with the Rockland-based Island Institute to show the features of the e-boat, appropriately named Take Charge. The owner of… Read more »

Article by Laurie Schreiber, published in Mainebiz on May 15, 2023. Anew law is expected to greatly expand opportunities for protecting Maine’s remaining working waterfronts. “This new law will allow Maine’s coastal land trusts the opportunity to conserve these properties, and land trusts have the resources and skills to help us accomplish this important goal,” said… Read more »

Article by Alyssa Thurlow, published by WABI5 on May 18, 2023. Did you know Maine is currently the largest producer of kelp in the United States? There are farms located across our entire coastline, including a few off Sprucehead Island. Kelp has quickly become Maine’s new cash crop. Island Institute is partnering with Atlantic Sea Farms and… Read more »