Working Waterfront

The late Ted Hoskins understood fishermen

The following is an edited version of remarks by Robin Alden about Rev. Ted Hoskins’ work in fisheries in Maine and across the globe, spoken at his memorial service on Sept. 10 in Blue Hill. After years leading churches and social justice efforts in Connecticut, Hoskins was minister on the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘Hub of marine research excellence’ planned in Harpswell

This story first appeared in The Anchor, a nonprofit newspaper and website covering the Harpswell community. It is reprinted with permission and gratitude. The Quahog Bay Conservancy plans to transform the former Quahog Bay Inn in Harpswell into a “hub of marine research excellence” and revitalize the property’s working waterfront.… SEE MORE

Passengers board a Casco Bay Lines ferry in Portland. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

From here to there: why transportation matters

The people who live on Maine’s 15 unbridged, year-round islands are inspiring and a model of resilience. Despite the many logistical and resource-based challenges they experience from living separated from the mainland, they find solutions through cooperation and pure genius. Perhaps no other topic highlights this better than island transportation.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

When Vinalhaven had (lots of) fish

When the Island Had Fish: The Remarkable Story of a Maine Fishing Community By Janna Malamud Smith (DownEast Books, 2023) I’ve been talking about When the Island Had Fish: The Remarkable Story of a Maine Fishing Community on Vinalhaven with everyone I know. Even at a recent funeral. The story… SEE MORE

A pavilion at one of the parks that is part of Cobscook Shores. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

More land conserved Downeast

Cobscook Shores, a nonprofit organization run by a millionaire philanthropist from New York, has purchased another piece of coastal property in Washington County, the latest in a series of parcels in the area bought by the group over the past eight years. Cobscook Shores purchased the former Leighton farm, consisting… SEE MORE

Caitlin and Ethan Spaulding and their son Forrest pose on the shore of their Islesboro farm. PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Crab to bird—invasive species becomes chicken feed

Two years ago, Ethan Spaulding, 30, his wife Caitlin, 26, and their son Forrest, 6, left the rich soils of Indiana to start a farm on a rocky island off the Maine coast. They knew logic wasn’t on their side, but they believe their God is. “We knew nobody out… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Collaborative marine science researcher retires

When Bob Steneck came to the University of Maine in 1982, there were few marine ecologists in the state, and none interacted with fishermen. He was among the first in Maine to work with lobstermen on research, traveling with them on their boats, diving to the seafloor to study lobsters,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Port Clyde’s loss is seared in pain

We can watch live satellite images of a typhoon on the other side of the planet. We can record thousands of photographs in a device not much bigger than a deck of playing cards. We can inject a genetic replica of a virus to boost immunity. But something as elemental… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine islands are the frontier

For those of you who track island life, you’ll likely know there are 15 year-round, unbridged islands along the Maine coast. Distinguished by their differences more than their commonalities, these islands span the coast from Cliff Island, the smallest of the Casco Bay islands, to Matinicus, the most distant island… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Power play: To Pine Tree or not

QUESTION 3: An Act to Create the Pine Tree Power Company, a Nonprofit, Customer-owned Utility. Do you want to create a new power company governed by an elected board to acquire and operate existing for-profit electricity transmission and distribution facilities in Maine? There wasn’t much the proponents and opponents agreed… SEE MORE