Tarah Waters working with children in Eastport.

Working Waterfront

Eastport asks the question, ‘What’s your art?’

Editor's note: Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. Tarah Waters is working to support the growing arts community in Eastport. Being an… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering a lost fishery, and grandparents

My grandmother Edith Johnson Searles packed sardines in Lubec at a time when that prosperous town hosted 23 sardine (herring) packing plants. My grandfather, Henry Searles, was a native of Canada’s nearby Campobello Island, who moved across the sound to marry my grandmother and live with her in South Lubec.… SEE MORE

A memorial service was held in Rockland for two of the area's victims in the El Faro sinking.

Working Waterfront

What doomed the El Faro?

Battered by Hurricane Joaquin as it traveled from Jacksonville, Florida to Puerto Rico, the 790-foot cargo ship El Faro sank east of the Bahamas on Oct. 1. Thirty-three mariners perished, including five graduates of Maine Maritime Academy and two from Massachusetts Maritime Academy. As is the nature of sea disasters,… SEE MORE

The young Arthur Rothstein sets up his camera.

Working Waterfront

History spills from frame of film

The photo that prompted contact from Arthur Rothstein's family. In each issue of The Working Waterfront, we feature a vintage photo from along the coast that reminds us of how our corner of the world has changed, or not changed, as the case may be. In the November issue, we… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lobster promotion reaches chefs, White House, China

When lobster fisherman Steve Train traveled to New York City on a two-day marketing junket last summer, he found the experience was an effective way to introduce Maine’s “new shell” lobster to high-end chefs and national food media outlets. Train, traveling from his home on Long Island, off Portland, joined… SEE MORE

The shore at Roque Bluffs in Washington County.

Working Waterfront

Washington County’s population challenges point to immigration

Washington County is going to be a very different place in 20 years. Over half of our population is older than 45. Almost a fifth is 65 or older. Only a small percentage of the people who are now middle-aged or elderly will be working in 2036, and there just… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine Seacoast Mission stays modern, reaches eastern coast

Think of it as a floating community center. Hot coffee and a hearty breakfast are still served aboard Sunbeam V, the Maine Seacoast Mission's 75-foot long vessel which provides hospitality and fellowship to those living on Maine's Midcoast and Downeast islands. That part of the mission's story has been told… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Vinalhaven’s maritime work remembered in photo

If books about Vinalhaven’s history were acorns, then readers could squirrel away some volumes now to enjoy over winter hibernation. One of those acorns could be a recently published book of photographs, Vinalhaven Island’s Maritime Industries, part of the “Images of America” series from Arcadia Publishing. Cynthia Burns Martin, a… SEE MORE

One of the tubs Steve and Miranda Batiste craft at their Swan's Island business.

Working Waterfront

The lap of luxury is water in a wooden tub

In Steve and Miranda Batiste’s home in Vermont was an old claw-foot, cast iron bathtub. It was something to look at but when in use left much to be desired. The heat radiated right out of the cast iron. Tired of chilly baths, the couple decided to resurrect an idea… SEE MORE

A drone hovers near a simulation of a whale exhaling.

Working Waterfront

Drones well-suited for whale research, says Ocean Alliance

Take a funny Patrick Stewart video, a fundraiser for a new robotic application and the words “whale snot” and mix them together and you should have a perfect viral Kickstarter campaign. That’s what the Ocean Alliance thought when it released a small video of the famous actor being harassed by… SEE MORE