Reflections is written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. When my fellowship began a year ago, I’ll admit I was a bit lost. My host organization, the Downeast Institute (DEI), had applied for a fellow before the pandemic. At…

PHOTOS BY KELLI PARK How well is Ethan DeBery doing with lobster boat charters? So well, that he has advice for his colleagues. “People have asked me, ‘Why don’t half…

Priceless Phil To the editor: Being a long-time admirer of Phil Crossman’s, I almost croaked with surprise and, ultimately, uproarious laughter at reading his Observer column in the July issue…

Until last winter, the transition from good-old gasoline cars to cutting-edge electric vehicles (EVs) felt like a distant, probably leisurely affair. To many in Maine, it still does. And why…

Journalists spend a good deal of time in public gatherings at which officials solicit—or at least accept—comment on issues of the day. We also inwardly groan and surreptitiously roll our…

PHOTOS BY MICHELE STAPLETON Near the end of our conversation, Genevieve McDonald drops a bit of a bombshell by saying she is applying for law school and hopes to begin…

Despite today’s fraught political discourse at the national level, local communities are finding ways to connect and find common solutions and work toward renewed innovation, compromise, and optimism. That was…

The sea has inspired countless artists, but few have seen as much of it as Alan Fishman and Marcie Jan Bronstein, a Belfast couple who have cruised the world. Though…

When Friends of Casco Bay formed in 1989, the water was some of the most polluted in the nation. Today, the bay is far cleaner and healthier, with strong protections…

A proposal by a Norwegian firm to install a large salmon farm in Frenchman Bay is drawing fire from a range of local stakeholders. American Aquafarms was launched in Portland…