Working Waterfront

When communes sprouted in Maine

Politically motivated violence. Defiance of the legal order. Rejection of long-held moral values. A widespread move toward a new social order. I’m not talking about the state of our nation today, but about the late 1960s and early 1970s, an era that impacted coastal Maine and in many ways still… SEE MORE

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Fishing for trash

A recent radio program on Maine’s lobster industry reminded me of island cleanups, the efforts to clean the stacks and tangles of lobster fishing debris. In the radio program, answering a question about fishing trash, Patricia McCarron of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association noted that most cleanup effort was “under the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A vision for Maine’s marine economy

Five years ago, a group of people committed to the future of Maine’s marine economy embarked on an ambitious journey to develop an economic development roadmap for Maine’s marine living resources, or MLR. I was part of this group, and MLR was our shorthand for an extensive set of activities,… SEE MORE

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New life for the last sardine cannery

Editor’s note: Jacqueline Weaver serves on Gouldsboro’s select board. When the auctioneer announced the new owners of the former Stinson sardine cannery in the Gouldsboro village of Prospect Harbor, the business partners had a deer-in-the-headlights look. They had just spent more than $1 million (price, plus outstanding liens) for the… SEE MORE

The Fox Island Wind turbines, located on Vinalhaven, appear closer to the shore than they actually are in this image, shot with a telephoto lens. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Island wind power succeeded on cost

Fifteen years after its spinning blades began generating electricity, the Fox Islands Wind project succeeded in saving islanders money. In fact, customers on the islands it serves—Vinalhaven and North Haven—have paid less for electricity than their mainland counterparts in the first decade of operation. But challenges loom, including the aging… SEE MORE

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The great storms brought great reckoning

Lots of us, I learned conversing a day later with friends, woke up around 4:30 on the morning of the great storm, hearing the wind slam around our houses, feeling our sound old homes vibrate with its ferocity. Wind-whipped electrical wires attached to the house adjacent to my bedroom added… SEE MORE

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Human loss and devastating damage

On Jan. 5, five days before a storm would wreak havoc along the Maine coast, the town of Cranberry Isles suffered the unexpected death of one of its citizens. Cory Alley collapsed in his skiff on the way out to his mooring. As his wife, Cari, and their youngest son… SEE MORE

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Vinalhaven’s watery dilemma is not new

On Feb. 9, 1895, 130 years before this January's devastating storm, the Secretary of War submitted to Congress a plan for constructing a breakwater from Lane’s Island—connected to Vinalhaven by a bridge—to Green Ledge to the west, a distance of more than a quarter mile. The plan was submitted in… SEE MORE

A Maine State Ferry Service boat near the Rockland terminal. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Ferry service proposes higher fares

The Maine State Ferry Service is proposing a 18.3% hike in ferry passenger and vehicle fares, citing inflation’s impact on wages, fuel, and vessel repairs. A fare hike was adopted in 2019, finalized only after significant opposition from residents of some the islands that faced especially high fare adjustments. The… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

What will we do with the water?

The ocean is knocking at our door. Since the torrential, monsoon-like rain in October, the island has been battered by four additional significant storms. In January, a devastating combination of wind and tide laid waste to Brown’s Boatyard, and took out boathouses, fish houses, docks, and piers. The next storm… SEE MORE