Working Waterfront

Why not restore stripers to Gulf of Maine?

Michael J. LittleI read with interest the Fathoming column in the June issue of The Working Waterfront (“Signs of spring in our rivers and bays”) about the resurgence of fish migrations in the rivers and bays of the coast of Maine. I think it is very exciting that these populations… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Cliff Island land conservation is no gift

By Doug Rideout Jr. Cliff Island, one of only 15 year-round Maine island communities where people are still able to make a living from the sea, produces a unique character that has continued through generations. It is worthwhile, then, to maintain this island heritage. In recent decades, the Cliff Island… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Global warming, climate change are two issues

Rob Snyder’s “Field Notes,” entry No. 41 in the July issue of The Working Waterfront, “Climate decisions reflect on who we are as a nation,” concerned me. Rob is a respected friend of mine. Being a scientist/engineer, there is little doubt in my mind that CO2 emissions have warmed the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering that first day on Frenchboro

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. I can’t believe two years have already passed since beginning my fellowship on Frenchboro. I remember leaving… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Good job news, not-so-good work force news

The Great Recession still casts a shadow over us, perhaps tamping down confidence in the economy in some quarters. But the truth about Maine’s employment situation is quite bright. The state’s unemployment rate as of May, the last month for which numbers were available, is about 3.2 percent. It’s even… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

We’re not that much like Baffin Island

We were attending the safety seminar and enjoying the company at a small Midcoast fly-in a few months ago, largely because good cooking had been promised. Before the chili and such was served up, though, Jeremy, the Penobscot Island Air pilot with whom I flew to the event, approached me… SEE MORE

A boat shed on the eastern shore of Islesboro.

Working Waterfront

It’s a pretty good life

Maine is where many people, famously Scott and Helen Nearing, found the good life. I’m old enough to understand that the “good life” is a pretty subjective term, and can apply to widely divergent ways of living. I’ve been blessed with food, clothing, shelter, and decent health all my life,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Waiting for the warmth prompts grateful thoughts

As people start to reappear in the Cranberry Isles, looking forward to a fresh summer season, no one seems to be asking, “How was your spring?” Most everyone in the Northeast has experienced a colder, wetter month of May than usual. When people arrive to see tulips barely starting to… SEE MORE

A sailboat approaches Portland's waterfront.

Working Waterfront

Island students learn by serving other Mainers

For some island kids, overnight trips to the mainland are no big deal. For others, a night or two in a strange place, especially with teacher chaperones and not parents, is a truly daunting prospect. For that reason, we try to regularly build overnight off-island experiences into the North Haven… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islander teamwork rescues feathered family

As near as anyone has been able to tell so far, there were ever only two water-powered granite polishing mills in the world (one may have been in Springfield, Mass.), and only one powered by tidal water. The latter was on Vinalhaven and it was powered by big iron turbines… SEE MORE