Island Journal

Fisheries From 1973 to 2023 — How We Got Here

Robin Alden displays several issues of Commercial Fisheries News from throughout the decades. Photos by Jack Sullivan I have been looking back at what fishing was like in 1973, the year I founded Commercial Fisheries News. The differences are stunning, even to someone like me who reported on those changes,… SEE MORE

Island Journal

The Working Waterfront Wars

Karen Sanford on the shore in South Portland, looking westerly at Portland’s waterfront. Sanford was a leader in the effort to preserve working waterfront access after condominiums were built on a pier. PHOTO: TOM GROENING Karen Sanford had a quiet life planned when she arrived in Portland in the mid-1980s.… SEE MORE

Island Journal

The Long Journey from Boat to Plate

Photos by Jack Sullivan It’s 2:30 in the morning and the wharf staff at Fifield Lobster Company in Stonington is preparing for the arrival of about 40 commercial fishing boats in the next few hours, with the vessels landing just long enough to load up on bait and fuel. The… SEE MORE

Island Journal

A Century Ago, Children Were Seafood Processors

Phoebe Thomas went running home down the busy Eastport street from the sardine cannery before the work shift was over. She was crying. It was an August day in 1911. Phoebe was eight, not quite as old as the century, and had sliced her thumb with a sharp knife while… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Island Gallery Owner is Buyer, Artist Matchmaker

Photos by William Trevaskis No one on Vinalhaven objects to thousands of pounds of lobster heading to the mainland each summer. After all, that export is the economic lifeblood of this island. But Elaine Crossman saw another export heading for the mainland and thought she should do something to interrupt… SEE MORE

Island Journal

The Island’s Star

PHOTOS BY SHERI ROMER In 1933 while he was in the first grade, Robert Clark created a painting for a beloved teacher. Forty years later, after his iconic LOVE image swept, un-copyrighted and thus less fulfillingly than might have otherwise been the case, through the graphic world of publishing, television,… SEE MORE

Island Journal

An Island Helmsman

While roaming from one end of the labyrinth-like yacht yard that bears his name to the other, Gabe Pendleton checks in with employees as they work. He’s soft spoken, but Pendleton’s voice carries over the power tools—even while wearing a mask. Whether it’s boat yard logistics or a simple hello,… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Building Boats in the Heart of Maine’s Boating Waters

Photos by Jack Sullivan “It’s a pretty small club, wooden boatbuilders. Maine is one of the hot spots,” said Steve White, a celebrated member of the club who presides over Brooklin Boat Yard, founded in 1960 by his father, the admired boat designer and builder Joel White, and known for… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Boosting our Small Businesses

When the pandemic shut down the state in March of last year, the impact on small businesses was immediate. The Island Institute knew it had to offer expanded support. For many years, the Institute has offered a professional development grant that helped small business owners get training—things like Quickbooks and… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Stonington Siblings Modernize Lobster Business

In the early 2000s, Travis Fifield left his hometown of Stonington for college and then a lucrative career with General Electric’s power plant construction division in Windsor, Conn. Funny thing: He chose to live and work within a day’s driving distance of Stonington because a little voice in his head… SEE MORE