Working Waterfront

Our ocean’s troubling plastic problem

As I stood on the Rockland breakwater, trying to pry a piece of Styrofoam from between two boulders, my Island Institute co-workers scoured the beach, picking up trash as part of the Maine Coastal Cleanup Program. With teamwork, we finally freed that stubborn piece of plastic and I felt a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Why deadly storms aren’t so super

Category Five: Superstorms and the Warming Oceans That Feed Them By Porter Fox (Little, Brown 2024) I found Porter Fox’s Category Five: Superstorms and the Warming Oceans That Feed Them a riveting read. So much so, I think I lost focus, experiencing the book more as a series of edge-of-the-seat… SEE MORE

Sara Rademaker, left, and Anne Langston Noll, winners of the Phyllis Wyeth Visionary Award.

Working Waterfront

Herring Gut center honors Rademaker, Langston Noll

In August, Herring Gut Coastal Science Center honored two women active on the coast with an award named in honor of Phyllis Wyeth, founder of the educational center based in Port Clyde. The Phyllis Wyeth Visionary Award was given to Anne Langston Noll and Sara Rademaker. Langston Noll, as associate… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Matinicus visit highlights coastal challenges

If you’ve had the opportunity to fly in a four-seater Cessna from Owls Head to the island of Matinicus on Penobscot Island Air, like I did last month, you’ll know why it’s a trip worth taking. On a clear day, Penobscot Bay stretches out in front of you with its… SEE MORE

An undated photograph by LaRue Spiker shows snow and ice-encrusted rocks strewn over the Seawall Road.

Working Waterfront

MDI’s Seawall illustrates dynamic ocean interface

A sea wall’s mobility is easier to visualize in areas where there is no road to impede it, such as West Pond on the west side of Schoodic Point, or between Ship Harbor and Wonderland on MDI, where waves during the January 2024 storms carried rocks... SEE MORE

Fishing off Stonington. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

‘Blue economy’ expert makes bold predictions

Speaking at the state’s top lobster-landing port, Charlie Colgan had a harsh prognosis for the fishery. But he also offered hope for a future for the community in which it might still rely on a thriving blue economy. Colgan, a former state economist and director of research for the Center… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

How to say goodbye to an island

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. At some point during my final summer of living on Islesboro, the thought of how to say goodbye trickled in.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Ocean, land, and temperature change

To grasp how the ocean affects these patterns, we need to explore its key processes: heat distribution, ocean currents, and ocean-atmosphere interactions. SEE MORE

Students at work in courses on electric outboard maintenance and repair. PHOTO: YVONNE THOMAS

Working Waterfront

Going electric—Training technicians to work on electric outboards

The topic was electric outboards and the course was created with boat yard technicians in mind, but designed for a wide range of levels of familiarity with the content. It was offered in Rockland at Mid-Coast School of Technology in July and in Farmington at Foster Career and Technical Education Center in August. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island Institute funded for lobster work

Island Institute has landed a $1.4 million grant from the Small Business Administration to support Maine’s lobster industry and enhance the economic resilience of the coastal communities dependent on this vital fishery. This congressionally directed spending request championed by Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King will launch the Future of… SEE MORE