Fishermen work on the waterfront on Islesford as November settles in.

Working Waterfront

Considering the elements that sustain community vitality

One of the best metaphors depicting the fragility of island communities I’ve encountered is the idea of the three-legged stool. I attend the quarterly meetings of the Maine Islands Coalition, a group the Institute helped create, which convenes representatives of the 15 unbridged, year-round islands. Occasionally, members refer to the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Estuary Beat: Fish on the York River, saving Morse River watershed, and Portand’s Presumpscot

Finding fish in the York River The Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve conducted a survey of fishes in the York River last spring as part of a National Park Service study to determine if the river could be designated a federal Wild and Scenic River. The study, the first in more… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Letters to the editor: Nantucket thoughts

Nantucket native remains islander To the editor: What a delightful surprise to open November’s issue of The Working Waterfront to see a story and pictures of my native Nantucket Island. It was a fine article and so vividly portrays what has happened to it in the past half century. Unfortunately,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The road trip and the VW camper that made it possible

In 1966 I was stationed in Florida for a while after my squadron returned from Vietnam. I bought a Volkswagen camper, a new one I think, and, to the consternation of my superiors and a few comrades, joined the hippies I was so attracted to who were protesting the war.… SEE MORE

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

The columnist leads a workshop on ukulele playing at the Island Teachers Conference.

Working Waterfront

Teachers conference bridges isolation gap

Being an island teacher has some unique challenges and benefits. On the one hand, as the only music teacher in North Haven’s one-building district, I have total control over the scope and sequence of our K-12 music classes. I’ve been able to build a program that ensures most students are… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Considering the birds is a balm for troubled mind

One of the things I love about October and November in the Cranberry Isles is the increase in bird stories. It is migrating season and most people out here keep an eye on the birds with many a good story to tell. This fall, especially, my mind has craved the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Thinking conservatively about kitchen energy

It boils down to this: whose energy are you going to use, your own or the energy you buy from the power or gas company? A few weeks ago, we had a half-day conference on Islesboro devoted to energy issues—how to conserve it, how to find alternative sources. While I… SEE MORE

Oyster restoration on Mobile Bay in Alabama.

Working Waterfront

Restoring wild oyster beds, one acre at a time

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. New York City has its Billion Oyster Project, and now New Hampshire's Great Bay has its own 25-acre project, with help from fishermen in Phippsburg. Like many estuaries along the U.S. Atlantic coast, Great Bay was once a maze of… SEE MORE

Students disembark from the ferry on Islesboro.

Working Waterfront

Wishing for life-changing memories for our youth

A good friend recently introduced me to the work of writer Annie Dillard. She is now an even better friend. In one of Dillard’s short stories, she writes some of the most beautiful reflections on memory I’ve encountered. One passage in particular stuck with me. Writing as a woman in… SEE MORE