The Working Waterfront newspaper reports on the people and forces that shape Maine’s coastal and island communities. As publisher, Island Institute’s premise is that the cultural, environmental, and community assets here are rare and valuable, and are worth fighting for.
Please join us to support this important nonprofit journalism.
- Community
- People
- Opinion
- Environment
- Marine
- Inter-island News
- Business
- Columns
- Arts
- Education
- Climate Change
- Book Review
- Cranberry Report
- Journal of an Island Kitchen
- Salt Water Cure
- Op Ed
- Reflections
- Observer
- Fathoming
- Field Notes
- Rockbound
- Essay
- Energy
- Editorial
- Letters to the Editor
- In Plain Sight
- Wrack Line
- From The Helm
- Dispatches from World Ocean Observatory
October 30
From weir to can
Kosti Ruohamaa’s work for the sardine council saved
In 1951, the Maine Sardine Council hired Finnish American Kosti Ruohomaa to document the sardine industry. The Maine Legislature created the council that year to promote high standards for the sardine industry and made it responsible for grading and inspections as well. The sardine industry was complex; one photo could not show it. Ruohomaa was a master of the photo…
October 27
When settling in, home comes in small moments
Blue Hill, Brooklin rich in community components
Reflections is written by Island Institute Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working…
October 25
From here to there: why transportation matters
Island ferries face heightened cost pressures
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…
October 25
When Vinalhaven had (lots of) fish
Warning about the future is couched in resilient history
When the Island Had Fish: The Remarkable Story of a Maine Fishing Community By Janna Malamud Smith (DownEast Books, 2023) I’ve been talking about When the Island Had Fish: The…
October 25
More land conserved Downeast
Pembroke property purchased by Cobscook Shores
Cobscook Shores, a nonprofit organization run by a millionaire philanthropist from New York, has purchased another piece of coastal property in Washington County, the latest in a series of parcels…
October 25
Crab to bird—invasive species becomes chicken feed
Indiana family establishes saltwater farm on Islesboro
Two years ago, Ethan Spaulding, 30, his wife Caitlin, 26, and their son Forrest, 6, left the rich soils of Indiana to start a farm on a rocky island off…
October 25
Collaborative marine science researcher retires
Bob Steneck worked with fishermen to get answers
When Bob Steneck came to the University of Maine in 1982, there were few marine ecologists in the state, and none interacted with fishermen. He was among the first in…
October 25
A ‘Great’ island portrait project
Great Cranberry elders captured in print, image
While artists-in-residence at the Heliker-LaHotan Foundation on Great Cranberry Island in 2009, photojournalist Rebecca Buyers and artist Janet Best Badger teamed up to chronicle the lives and visages of a…
October 25
Creativity thrives in salty, island environments
Does island life inspire or draw those who are inspired to an artsy life?
The sun is sinking and fills the kitchen with an orange glow, signaling the end of a long week. Lobster traps hauled and stacked, gear shifted from one spot in…
October 24
Evidence of insanity: Black swans and B-O-A-T
Restoring a sailboat brings no surprises about surprises
I’ve been a boat owner for well over 50 years. So I should know something about the rocks and shoals that lie in wait for someone like me, right? The…
Island Postcards
EPISODE 10: Keep the Light Shining
Two ambitious young women swam around the entire Island of Isle au Haut during the summer of 2019 to raise money for crucial renovations to the lighthouse.
SIGN UP FOR OUR
E-WEEKLY
Get the latest articles from the Working Waterfront delivered to your inbox every week.
SIGN UP NOWTHE WORKING WATERFRONT
LATEST ISSUE
A nonprofit publication of the Island Institute which has been published for over 20 years.
LEARN MORE