Working Waterfront

Mixing it up with the generations

Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. The first night I moved to Islesboro, I woke up in the middle of the night and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

On The Water In Maine offers more than lists

When Justin and Tiffany Ford launched their vacation rental management business in 2006, there were about 8,000 residential units available in the state. That number included houses whose owners rented them by the week or month in summer, as well as cabins, cottages, and condominiums near ski resorts like Sugarloaf… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Pingree’s working waterfront bill would provide grants

A proposal by Maine’s Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, to protect working waterfronts and the jobs and economic activity they support, was aired at a congressional subcommittee hearing on Nov. 2. The bill, HR 1176, is co-sponsored by Rep. Rob Wittman, a Republican from Virginia. The bill… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Estuary Beat: Red tide, Downeast river quality, and alewives

Red tide of a different shade At the end of September, an unprecendented bloom of the phytoplankton karenia mikimotoi extended from Cape Elizabeth to the New Meadows River. Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) staff and local observers noted brownish water and the odor of suffocating sea life, which by… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Harbor Gawker says goodbye

PHOTO ESSAY BY COURTNEY MOONEY The Harbor Gawker has been a fixture in Vinalhaven’s village center, just a stone’s throw from the harbor, since 1975. That was the year owners Lonnie and Kathy Morton were married. Later, the couple later bought the business from Lonnie's parents, John and Barbara Morton, who… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Nantucket as symbol of undesirable island fate

By Tom Groening A year ago, my wife and I returned to Nantucket to celebrate our 35th anniversary. It was our first time back since I began working at the Island Institute, and so it was with different eyes that I took in the beauty, the history, the wealth, and… SEE MORE

Eastport's rebuild breakwater shelters fishing boats.

Working Waterfront

New Eastport breakwater ready to welcome marine activity

By Jacqueline Weaver Finishing touches on the new $15 million breakwater in Eastport were due to be completed Nov. 1 with the installation of floats alongside a new pier that provides access to everything from cruise ships to fishing boats. Construction of the 100-foot-by-400-foot pier began following a catastrophic collapse of… SEE MORE

Rockweed landed at a boat yard in Hancock.

Working Waterfront

Compromise possible in rockweed harvesting lawsuit

By Merritt Carey, Sean Mahoney, Tim Glidden, and Shep Erhart Lawsuits have a tendency to box parties in; they don’t allow for the nuances, complexities, and compromises that make up the realities of life, particularly life on Maine’s working waterfront. A lawsuit filed by three landowners in Washington County in… SEE MORE

The former sardine packing plant in Prospect Harbor is now a lobster processing facility.

Working Waterfront

Gouldsboro, South Portland look to redefine waterfronts

The 2010 closure of the Stinson sardine cannery in Prospect Harbor and the layoffs of scores of workers sparked fears about this small town’s economic well-being. But since 2012, the facility has been operating as Maine Fair Trade Lobster, a joint effort of East Coast Seafood and Garbo Lobster. In… SEE MORE

The 2017-2018 Island Fellow class; Ken Gross is at far left.

Working Waterfront

How to see Millinocket as an island

Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. Millinocket is not an island. Henry David Thoreau, who visited here three times in the 1840s and… SEE MORE