Working Waterfront

A summer of uncertainty for the lobster industry

Lobstering is a dangerous, difficult business, and not just for the harvesters who risk their lives to bring their catch to shore. Many factors influence how lucrative the lobster industry will be in any year. Ultimately, these factors influence the profits throughout the supply chain, from dock to dinner plate.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Six young environmental change-makers honored

Six young Maine change-makers have been honored as the inaugural group of Brookie Award winners for their leadership and effectiveness working on environmental issues. The Brookie Awards is a new statewide recognition program organized by NRCM Rising, the young member arm of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, to elevate and amplify… SEE MORE

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