A right whale that has recovered from wounds linked to fishing gear.

Working Waterfront

What is driving right whales to extinction?

When I was a child, I listened to Smoky Bear tell us, “Only YOU can prevent forest fires!” That was a clear and direct message but it was wrong. This summer, vast regions of North America were on fire and most of those fires started from lightning strikes, but the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Ban ocean-based finfish farms

Eric Jors, the CEO of American Aquafarms, the company that proposed a large sea-based fish farm in Frenchman Bay, recently said he saw continued opportunity to provide sustainable aquaculture in Maine that met global food demands while mitigating climate change and benefiting the local community and economy. Let’s explore those… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The weather and dinner next year

A friend observed this week, midst soggy, foggy, drizzle, and downpours, that, “I’m glad I don’t have to depend on the garden for food this year.” People have planted beans twice, perhaps at last seeing some showing above ground. Radishes and greens, which sprouted to flea beetles’ delight, were left… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Smell-o-vision in an island meadow

During my first spring on North Haven, I often had occasion to walk to work. I lived on the island’s North Shore, much closer to the school than I live now, and walking was a more attractive method of transportation than driving the dilapidated Saab I had managed to buy… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Conflict and chiffon at an island restaurant

I opened a restaurant a while back right across the street from my Tidewater Motel. It was quite an experience; I had the most fun I’d ever had during the three summer months we were open and lost more money than I’d ever managed as well. Crow being my nickname,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Sharing a summer house

In September I will have lived on Islesford, as a year round resident, for 47 years, but I have spent part of the summer here for every year of my life. My connection to Little Cranberry Island goes back to two sets of great-grandparents who happened to build summer homes… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Rewriting the storyline of island schools

My father had the honor of cutting the celebratory ribbon for the 150th anniversary of the Chebeague Island District 9 School House last month. At 93, and as the oldest living graduate, he can still remember specifically where he sat in the school room, “middle row, at the very end,”… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island Reader’s offerings reflect passion for place

Every year since 2006 the Maine Seacoast Mission has published The Island Reader, a wide-ranging anthology of poetry, prose, and artwork by residents of Maine’s unbridged islands. And every year the literary/artistic smorgasbord reminds us that islands are special places that people call home. The 2023 edition, no. 17, gets… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Orr’s Island’s forgotten attraction

Harriet Beecher Stowe is renowned for her influential 1852 novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, which played a pivotal role in shaping national perspectives on slavery. During her husband's tenure as a professor at Bowdoin College, Stowe penned this significant work while residing in Brunswick. Her impact on the historical fabric of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Home to Downeast for compass reset

Just East of Nowhere By Scot Lehigh (Islandport Press, 2023) Anyone passingly familiar with Eastport will recognize it immediately in Scot Lehigh’s new novel, Just East of Nowhere. We get a tour of the place in the first pages when young Dan Winters gets off a bus at Perry Corner… SEE MORE