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.

March 25

Startup wants to help lobstermen raise scallops

Approach will require new state policies
A Midcoast aquaculture startup wants to spawn a new way to cultivate Atlantic sea scallops and, in the process, create a lucrative source of supplemental income for Maine fishermen. Seascale is the brainchild of aquaculture veteran Charlie Walsh of Thomaston and lobster boat sternman Jon Steuber of Tenants Harbor. Today, nearly all locally caught sea scallops are scooped up by…
BY PAUL KAROFF
March 25

Boats along Maine’s coast inspired painter Janice Moore

Light, perspective, and scale
One day, painter Janice Moore recalls, she was out driving with her son Joseph Coleman who was scouting locations for his short film Vacationland (2022). Moore relishes these opportunities to…
BY CARL LITTLE
March 25

The continuing search for sturgeon

Giants in our midst
Right now, somewhere between the waterfronts of Bangor and Brewer, hundreds of shortnose sturgeon lie on the bottom of the Penobscot River, settled on the rocks like sardines, or the…
BY CATHERINE SCHMITT
March 25

A rich tale of bird migration

Heron and osprey team up in story for young readers
Fly For Your Life: A Hawk and Heron Risk Everything for Each Other By Eugene Pool (Ghost Car Press, 2025) From the windswept shores of Maine to warm skies over…
REVIEW BY KATE HOTCHKISS
March 25

A small-scale farming pioneer reassesses ‘organic’

Eliot Coleman argues the term doesn’t always apply now
The Self-Fed Farm and Garden: A Return to the Roots of the Organic Method By Eliot Coleman (2025, Chelsea Green Publishing) Eliot Coleman may be familiar to you because you’ve…
REVIEW BY TINA COHEN
March 23

Isle au Haut gets new power cable

Installation took place in February
The Isle au Haut Electric Power Co. is most of the way through a years-long project to install a new undersea electric cable to the unbridged island. Over several days…
STAFF
March 23

Longtime Waterman’s Community Center director retiring

Hallowell has served 21 years
The board of Waterman’s Community Center has announced that Christie Hallowell will retire from her role of executive director in October 2026, after 21 years of service. A search is…
STAFF
March 23

Old-time cussidness in Ruth Moore’s The Walk Down Main Street

A contraction of “cursed” took on its own meaning
My mother, who was born, grew up, lived, and died in Portland and environs, was not much of a talker. She had that taciturnity sometimes associated with old-time Mainers. Mainers…
BY DANA WILDE
March 23

Scallops and me

What it takes to get them fresh and local
I have a short and complicated history with scallops. Growing up in Maryland, my fondness for seafood mostly extended to the basics: canned tuna; flaky white fish; some crab, shrimp,…
BY CHARLES EICHACKER
March 23

A path to electrifying Maine’s working waterfronts

Island Institute report examines shoreside charging resources
Maine's coast is beautiful, with mountains to mudflats, pine trees to pebbles. It is more than a scenic backdrop; it is an economic hub for the marine economy. The working…

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.

WATCH ALL ISLAND POSTCARDS

 

SIGN UP FOR OUR
E-WEEKLY

Get the latest articles from the Working Waterfront delivered to your inbox every week.

SIGN UP NOW

THE WORKING WATERFRONT
LATEST ISSUE

A nonprofit publication of the Island Institute which has been published for over 20 years.

LEARN MORE