Working Waterfront

An honest look at idyllic island life

I'm always grateful for my email deliveries of The Working Waterfront. The edition with Island Institute Fellow Katie Liberman's column was especially poignant (Reflections, “A stark reminder of the need to support our children”). My husband and I live on Roosevelt Island in New York City and have summered on… SEE MORE

Skippers students participate in aquaculture research counting scallops in spat bags. The enthusiasm of the students for this hands-on research is obvious.

Working Waterfront

Skippers program keeps school part of marine careers

Typically, students participate for one year, learning hands-on skills that will help them with present and future maritime careers. Although each program creates its own curriculum, the emphasis is on creating exciting opportunities that meet the needs of the community and students. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Valuing education for the tourism economy

Collaboration, creative problem solving, and caring leadership—all are taught within the University of Southern Maine’s Tourism & Hospitality program as part of a student’s education in sustainable tourism management. And with good reason. The Bachelor of Arts in Tourism & Hospitality Management at USM is unique in that thinking about… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islanders pull off delightful ‘Mathilda’

Over the years I've reviewed books and plays and while I’ve certainly liked some more than others, I have always enjoyed the process. Last week I watched a rendition of Roahl Dahl’s Matilda at Waterman’s Community Center in North Haven. Dahl passed away 34 years before what would seem fair,… SEE MORE

Some of the 40 objects through which Castine’s story is told.

Working Waterfront

Castine Historical Society tells story through objects

Historical Societies exist to tell a community’s history through objects and archival records. The Castine Historical Society’s new exhibition, “A History of Castine in 40 Objects,” opens June 10 and will remain on view through Oct. 14. The exhibition highlights aspects of the town’s history through never-before-displayed objects from its… SEE MORE

Staff with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute prepare to launch a drifter buoy.

Working Waterfront

Maine Maritime crew will deploy ‘drifter’ devices

When the Maine Maritime Academy training ship State of Maine sailed from Castine May 8 for the start of the annual summer cruise, she carried 202 students, 25 faculty members, and a crew of 20 professional mariners. She also carried a unusual cargo: six high-tech drifter buoys to be launched… SEE MORE

Knasic Byer checks fluid on a truck in the automotive shop.

Working Waterfront

The next generation of workers is here

There is far more interest in the diverse programs the school offers than it can accommodate, Deetjen says, with, for example, 60 applying for the small engine program which can only include 16. SEE MORE

University of Maine doctoral candidate Phoebe Jekielk, right, works with students from Islesboro Central School in Stonington.

Working Waterfront

Students contribute to ‘archipelago of knowledge’

The crew of high school students and Hurricane Island educators joined Dr. Carla Guenther, chief scientist at the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries, who is the principal investigator. The focus of this project is to understand where to find juvenile scallops... SEE MORE

UMaine graduate students Grayson Hutson and Julia Sunnarborg collecting an eDNA sample through the ice at Walker Pond. Grayson and Julia and colleagues at the University of Maine and University of Southern Maine are using eDNA to study migration patterns of alewives as they move between saltwater and freshwater to understant their affects on lake and estuary ecosystems, especially in cases where dams are being removed to increase fish passage. They are even mining the lake sediments for ancient eDNA to understand what fish populations might have looked like in the past.

Working Waterfront

Sifting DNA from ocean holds promise

Researchers are finding many more species of fish associated with kelp forests using eDNA than are observed visually. This raises questions about whether these species are transient or using kelp as an important habitat. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Pathways to possibility

In the past ten years, we’ve invested over $1.2 million in education and career development. More than half of these funds have gone to our Mentoring, Access, and Persistence (MAP) scholarship. SEE MORE