In The News

A Maine congresswoman is calling on the federal government to establish a grant program to preserve waterfront access for those who make a living on it. U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree testified at a House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans hearing Thursday, 2 November, in support of her bill, dubbed the Keep America’s Waterfronts Working Act. The Democrat said that commercial fishermen and others whose jobs are based on waterfronts are losing access to them because housing and other development opportunities.

The changing seasons bring new artists and a new selection of paintings and local works of art to Archipelago. The Island Institute’s store and gallery will host an opening reception for its fall gallery show Friday, Nov. 3, from 5-8 p.m. The public is invited to stop into the gallery’s 386 Main St. location during Rockland's First Friday Art Walk to enjoy light refreshments, see the new pieces and meet some of the artists. The show, which highlights the work of printmaker Kathleen Buchanan; painters Claudia Diller and Hélène Farrar; and fiber artist Anne Walker, will be on display through the winter.

Contemplating a future as a marine scientist working in the Gulf of Maine, Emma Christman is spending her senior year of high school helping kids at Peaks Island Elementary School grow kelp. Christman is a student at Baxter Academy for Technology and Science in downtown Portland, and is teaching the younger students about aquaculture, marine science, water quality, climate change and more through a special program offered in conjunction with the Island Institute.

Students in Maine who have been learning about marine science will conclude their project by dropping kelp-growing lines in the water at the start of the winter growing season. The Peaks Island Elementary students have been participating in a program called "KELP4KIDS." KELP4KIDS is a 12-week curriculum for second- through fifth-graders at the island school. Kelp is grown as a crop in Maine for use in food and other products.

Briana Warner is the economic development director at the Island Institute. The nonprofit, which has a mission of sustaining Maine’s island and coastal communities, recently released a report on consumer preferences for edible seaweeds. We called her up to talk about the report, which she co-authored. Our conversation ranged from why growing kelp is such an easy aquaculture sell for fishermen and ways to build demand for Maine seaweed to what the “low tide test” is and how to pass it. And yes, we did ask her about the much-loved pie company she used to run.

Maine mussels are losing their muscle. The state’s blue mussels are beloved by seafood fans near and far, but the size of the annual harvest has dipped in recent years, bottoming out at a 40-year low in 2016. Harvesters collected less than 1.8 million pounds of mussel meat in 2016, the lowest total since 1976. That year also marked the first time the state’s mussel harvesters topped a million pounds. They have exceeded 6 million pounds three times in the 1980s and 1990s, and routinely topped 3 million pounds until 10 years ago.

State and federal representatives, island leaders and community partners joined the Monhegan community at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 21 to celebrate the completion of a comprehensive upgrade to the island’s energy systems. The culmination of countless hours of hard work, the project enables the community-owned Monhegan Plantation Power District to power the island with cleaner burning diesel-fired microturbines and a solar array. The new system is designed to improve reliability and safety of service and reduce generator emissions on the island.

Edible seaweed is nothing new. Along Ireland's rocky coast, seaweed has been harvested for food for centuries, even, legend has it, brought along as a provision by St. Brendan on his fifth-century voyage to find paradise. It's a staple of Asian food and no sushi bar is without it. But Maine edible seaweed? Definitely not the stuff of legends, or even of most dinner tables.

On Friday, September 1st, from 5:00-8:00 p.m., Bill Laurita, president of Swans Island Company, will join Archipelago and some of the gallery's featured artists for a special reception during Rockland's First Friday Art Walk.The public is invited to stop into the gallery's 386 Main Street location to hear about the history of Swans Island Company on the Maine coast over the past 25 years as well as the story behind many of its handcrafted textiles.

Monhegan Island, which has some of the highest electricity costs in the nation, completed a comprehensive upgrade of its power-generating system that includes the addition of a solar array and installation of a new, cleaner-burning diesel generator. At roughly 70 cents per kilowatt hour, the island's electricity costs are approximately five times higher than the average residential cost in Maine, according to an analysis conducted by the Maine Public Utilities Commission based on rates that were current on Dec. 31, 2015.