A Maine State Ferry Service boat near the Rockland terminal. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Ferry service proposes higher fares

The Maine State Ferry Service is proposing a 18.3% hike in ferry passenger and vehicle fares, citing inflation’s impact on wages, fuel, and vessel repairs. A fare hike was adopted in 2019, finalized only after significant opposition from residents of some the islands that faced especially high fare adjustments. The final rates were amended and… Read more » SEE MORE

Islesboro's Grindle Point Lighthouse was underwater during the Jan. 10 storm.

Working Waterfront

Maine’s lighthouses face troubling recovery

Back-to-back storms slammed into the coast of Maine on Jan. 10 and Jan. 13, breaking state records for the highest tides since 1978 and delivering extensive damage along the entire coastline. Though final tallies are not in, statewide damages to public infrastructure —things like piers, roads, and bridges—are estimated at more than $70 million. The… Read more » SEE MORE

News

$250,000 to Jumpstart Rebuilding of Maine’s Working Waterfront

4/1/2024 - Rockland, ME – Island Institute, a community development nonprofit serving Maine’s island and coastal communities, announced today that it has completed Business Resilience Storm Response Grants, totaling $250,000, delivered to 52 waterfront businesses in the wake of the back-to-back January storms. SEE MORE

Press Release

News

Island Journeys after the Storm

1/30/2024 - Three days after back-to-back storms that pummeled Maine’s coast in January, Maine Seacoast Mission welcomed Island Institute to join them aboard the Sunbeam to get a firsthand look at storm damage, connect with island residents and businesses, and lend a hand with clean-up efforts. SEE MORE

Blog

Sean and Andi Creeley. PHOTO: COURTESY SEAN CREELEY

Working Waterfront

New owners for Penobscot Island Air

A business providing a vital link to Maine’s offshore islands has new owners. Sean and Andi Creeley, who are based in Portsmouth, N.H., purchased Penobscot Island Air in November from Terry Waters. In a telephone interview, Sean Creeley said he expects little to change in the operation of the business, which was founded by Kevin… Read more » SEE MORE

News

Island Institute at 40 — Community Authenticity Remains Our Focus

11/29/2023 - This year marks the Institute’s 40th year. Maine’s islands and coast were very different places in 1983, yet as we reflect on those four decades, it’s satisfying to see consistent themes threading through the years. These days, we often describe ourselves as a community development organization. What does that mean? It means we recognize how essential those units of human congregation are; community coalesces around shared economic and cultural activity, and over time, it grows its own values and learns to identify threats. SEE MORE

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Passengers board a Casco Bay Lines ferry in Portland. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

From here to there: why transportation matters

The people who live on Maine’s 15 unbridged, year-round islands are inspiring and a model of resilience. Despite the many logistical and resource-based challenges they experience from living separated from the mainland, they find solutions through cooperation and pure genius. Perhaps no other topic highlights this better than island transportation. At Island Institute, it’s impossible… Read more » SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine islands are the frontier

For those of you who track island life, you’ll likely know there are 15 year-round, unbridged islands along the Maine coast. Distinguished by their differences more than their commonalities, these islands span the coast from Cliff Island, the smallest of the Casco Bay islands, to Matinicus, the most distant island located 20 miles off the… Read more » SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island Reader’s offerings reflect passion for place

Every year since 2006 the Maine Seacoast Mission has published The Island Reader, a wide-ranging anthology of poetry, prose, and artwork by residents of Maine’s unbridged islands. And every year the literary/artistic smorgasbord reminds us that islands are special places that people call home. The 2023 edition, no. 17, gets right to the point with… Read more » SEE MORE

Island Journal

Island Institute at 40 — Community Authenticity Remains Our Focus

You’ve probably heard the term “elevator pitch,” right? It’s mostly used in business circles, capturing the idea that an entrepreneur needs to be able to explain a business concept in a timeframe equal to the average elevator ride. That journey provides the ultimate captive audience, and so a clever pitch in that short time might land an investor. Well, here at Island Institute, we sometimes crave an elevator trip up Burj Khalifa in Dubai, with its 163 floors, to give us time to explain where the organization has been and where it is going. SEE MORE