Working Waterfront

Portland: Why ‘no one goes there any more’

Editor’s note: This is another response to the Rock Bound column in the April issue, “Will Portland choke on its success?” “No one goes there anymore—it’s too crowded.” As someone who has lived on the coast of Maine most of my life, including living on Peaks Island as a child,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Highlights of my glorious career

On July 28, Hillary Clinton is scheduled to speak as part of a series at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. We expect to have a report on her talk in our September issue, but seeing her name in connection with a Maine appearance gives me an excuse to… SEE MORE

Opinion

Working Waterfront

Outer island schools celebrate decade of connection

What do a two-day old baby boy in Hope, a family in the Bahamas, an Island Fellow on Frenchboro, and a Maine Islands Coalition representative on Cliff Island have in common? They were all among the 50-plus people who attended a virtual party in May to celebrate the 10th anniversary… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Finding yeast on sourdough island

In kitchens across the country, and certainly here on Islesboro, little containers of flour, water, and yeasts bubble away, giving rise to loaves of homemade bread and lots of conversations between experienced sourdough users and newcomers to the craft. A yeast shortage caused this. The world, of course, has lots… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Now, everyone’s an islander

Well, it’s May as I’m writing this, and we’re still staying at home. I’ve got deer fences up around the vegetable gardens for the first time and a greenhouse on the way, and classes are ending a little early for students. Nebo and Calderwood are doing takeout occasionally. So it’s… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Small business survival means building lifeboats

As a small business owner, particularly one whose business resides on an island overlooking the great Atlantic Ocean, thoughts about sinking ships are probably unavoidable just now. I find myself often comparing my efforts to keep New Era Gallery here on Vinalhaven open to those of the musicians on the Titanic—doing… SEE MORE

The view over Lunt Harbor on Frenchboro.

Working Waterfront

Let’s take a break (so we can get back to work)

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. By Natalie Hyde-Petersen There are a lot of big and important things going on right now, and at least for me,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘What’s goin’ on?’ is how ‘we’ solve problems

By Tom Groening We’ve seen, and maybe experienced first-hand, the conflict that comes when people have different ideas about safe public conduct in light of COVID-19. Recently, the issue was put before Judith Martin, aka columnist “Miss Manners,” on NPR, and I thought her response was enlightening well beyond the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

They name their boats after their daughters

By Tom Valleau No one can doubt that our commercial fishing industry is now suffering from a variety of problems, some long in the making and others quite recent. With each new development, Maine’s fishing prospects have grown smaller, going back to the establishment in 1984 of the Hague Line,… SEE MORE

This image from the National Fisherman photo collection at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport shows men harvesting herring

Working Waterfront

The last sardine run—a childhood foretelling

Excerpted from Fighting Pollution and Climate Change: An EPA Veteran’s Guide, How to Join in Saving our Life on Planet Earth,by Richard W. Emory Jr.; www.fightingpollutionbook.com;BookLocker Publishing, December 2019 By Richard Emory Jr. At the sounding of the horn, some women—permanent residents of our little town—grabbed their sharpest knives and rushed out… SEE MORE