Working Waterfront

The story of the forgotten sea mink

A group scientists and community members supported by the National Science Foundation are working to understand the role the sea mink played in Maine... SEE MORE

Peter Ralston was named American Lighthouse Foundation’s 2023 “Keeper of the Light.” From left, the foundation’s Nick Korstad, Alan Ells, Bob Trapani, Jr., Ralston, and Jeremy D’Entremont.

Working Waterfront

Peter Ralston honored by Lighthouse Foundation

The American Lighthouse Foundation recently presented Peter Ralston with its Keeper of the Light award during the organization’s year-end gala at the Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport. Ralston was recognized for his efforts in helping create and guide the Maine Lights Program on the 25th anniversary of its successful completion in… SEE MORE

Rockweed ready for shipping on a ramp in Hancock. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Rockweed study not accurately explained

Rockweed is a slow-growing, wild seaweed on the rocky coast of Maine. It is highly valued as a commercial fertilizer and debates about how rockweed harvesting should be managed are contentious. To address questions about over-harvesting, academic researchers collaborated with commercial companies to test for effects of a single harvest… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Working on the railroad

Back in my weekly newspaper days, I worked with an old-timer who, in those years, was responsible for settling up with the stores that carried our paper. Now that I think about it, he was probably the age I am now, so strike the “old-timer” crack. Bob grew up in… SEE MORE

The dam on the St. Croix River. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Indigenous, U.S., Canadian efforts restoring fish run

Ten years ago, the run of alewives in the Skutik (St. Croix) River hovered around 16,000. Though that’s more than the 900 fish from a decade earlier, it was not a great total for a river that once held millions of fish. It was, however, the beginning of what many… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The year of the working waterfront

When Island Institute began publishing this newspaper, The Working Waterfront, 30 years ago, we picked our name with intention. We wanted to cover local, critical, and the sometimes hidden yet prescient stories that spoke to the economy, politics, and culture on Maine’s islands and coasts. No other mental image quite… SEE MORE

Judi Sandrock of MaxIQ Space, left, with Terry Shehata, executive director of the Maine Space Grant Consortium during November's Maine Space Conference. MaxIQ creates Space STEM education materials used in K-12 classrooms. PHOTO: COURTESY MAINE SPACE 2030

Working Waterfront

Maine coast could host ‘space economy’

[caption id="attachment_39553" align="alignleft" width="300"] Michael Kincaid of NASA, left, and MSGC director Terry Shehata. PHOTO: COURTESY MAINE SPACE 2030[/caption] Maine’s rocky coastline isn’t only beautiful, it’s the driving force behind some of the state’s most historic, lucrative industries, like shipbuilding, fishing, and tourism. Maine’s south-facing coastline could also become the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Incandescent yellows and shades of brown

At our October book group meeting, before our discussion of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, one of the members who attended from Pennsylvania via Zoom asked us, “What is the island like right now?” Several people mentioned the rain we’ve had every weekend, and we all compared temperatures from our… SEE MORE

Jody Bush leads participants after an instructional trek through John Bush’s adjacent forest. PHOTO: KATE HOTCHKISS TAYLOR

Working Waterfront

Seeing the forest and the trees

Chuck Gadzik of Vinalhaven led a community walk devoted to resilient and diverse forests on the islands earlier this year. SEE MORE

Rhiannon Hampson, left, state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, joins Kim Hamilton, Island Institute president at an event announcing the nonprofit being awarded two key grants. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Island Institute awarded USDA funding

Island Institute, a Rockland-based community development organization focused on island and coastal communities, has been awarded two key grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The nonprofit landed a Rural Community Development Initiative grant of $201,000 to support the Island Institute Fellows program. Island Institute Fellows in Brooklin, Tremont, and… SEE MORE