Working Waterfront

Portland Fish Exchange manager reflects on strategies, struggles

When Bert Jongerden took a job as operations manager at the Portland Fish Exchange in 1991, the quasi-municipal nonprofit auction house handled 30 million pounds of fish that year. Jongerden stayed five years, then moved on to other endeavors. In 2007, when he returned to the exchange as general manager,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Climate change threatens Wabanaki livelihood, culture

Climate change is having a serious impact on the Wabanaki Tribal Nations, threatening livelihoods, cultures, and self-determination. That was the message from Darren Ranco, a University of Maine professor who gave a July 10 webinar presentation called “Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and the Wabanaki Tribal Nations,” hosted by Augusta-based Maine… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Let us be thankful for lettuce

‘Tis lettuce season for certain on-island. We are devouring the first planting of lettuce, which has turned into heads of glorious size, while the second planting is sizing up nicely, and the third has just been planted out to the garden from their nursery flats in the hoop house. The… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Dealing with those not-so-new pests

A side effect of working from home from March through the end of May was that I became an even more obsessive gardener. We’ve been in our home, purchased through North Haven Sustainable Housing, since 2008, and I have three pretty well-established vegetable gardens around the house. I’ve managed to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Gardening is a balm for worldly worries

Like many of my friends, this spring, I have found great solace in my garden. Whenever I feel pandemic depression take hold, I try to get outside. The minute I connect my hands with the earth I feel better. I’ve weeded grass from places I’d ignored for years and my… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine’s climate work must aim for equitable impact

When it comes to confronting climate change, how can we design responses to meet the needs of Maine’s rural and natural resource–based communities? How can we expand these considerations to ensure that climate action will serve all Maine people equitably—particularly those who have been excluded in the past, and who… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

COA students hear Native view of challenging times

Time moves not in a line, but in a circle of beginnings and endings that can be celebrated with gratitude and compassion. That was the heartening message, in hard times, that came from Robin Wall Kimmerer, a Citizen Potawatomi Nation member and award-winning author who delivered the keynote address during an… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lobster industry is in ‘the fight of its life’

The outlook for Maine’s lobster industry for 2020, and likely beyond, is murky at best. That was the assessment by industry leaders during a panel discussion hosted June 24 by the Island Institute. See video of discussion here. Called “Let's Talk Lobster: Challenges and Opportunities of a Core Maine Industry,” the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Casco Bay Lines board votes on new diesel/electric Peaks boat

It’s bit more complicated than putting pontoons on a Prius, but hybrid diesel/electric ferries are on the horizon for both the Maine State Ferry Service and the Casco Bay Island Transit Authority, which operates Casco Bay Lines. The board of directors of the Casco Bay Island Transit District voted June… SEE MORE

A hybrid diesel-electric ferry prepared for launch to serve isalnds in British Columbia.

Working Waterfront

Casco Bay Lines board votes on new diesel/electric Peaks boat

By Tom Walsh The board of the Casco Bay Island Transit Authority, which operates Casco Bay Lines, voted 7-5 on June 25 to proceed with detail design for a new car ferry to service Peaks Island for the next 30 years. That new vessel will be equipped with a diesel/electric hybrid propulsion… SEE MORE