Working Waterfront

An island field of dreams

This summer, my ten-year-old grandson and ten other kids about his own age, encouraged by a large group of conspiratorial island adults, poured a pitcher of ice water over the head of an older island man who certainly had it coming. In 1998, after too many years during which Vinalhaven… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islands celebrate the Fourth with picnics

Both Little and Great Cranberry Islands will be celebrating the 4th of July this year with community picnics. On the big island the picnic starts at high noon. Everyone is invited to bring their own lunch and utensils to the ball field. The Ladies Aid will provide lemonade, iced tea,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Memoir traces abuse, addiction, and revival

Walking With Ghosts By Gabriel Byrne (Grove Press, 2021) Since reading Gabriel Byrne’s recently published memoir Walking With Ghosts, I’ve delayed watching the newest HBO season of In Treatment in favor of first re-watching the previous three, which aired 2008-2010. Those star Byrne, who won a Golden Globe for his… SEE MORE

A view of the Abbe Museum exhibition space.

Working Waterfront

‘Stitching Ourselves Together’ tells Native art story

The first part of the title of the gem of a show, “Stitching Ourselves Together: Mi’kmaq Porcupine Quillwork” at Bar Harbor’s Abbe Museum resonates with multiple meanings. Yes, it refers to the 30 or so quillwork objects on display and their intricate stitchwork, but we also learn the cultural implications… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Finding the origins of the nation’s origin story

Six months to the day after supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, Colin Woodard stood on the grass of Camden Public Library’s amphitheater, looking over the harbor where the late afternoon sun bathed boats in a golden glow. The idyllic scene was a long way from the chaos… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islesboro grad immersed in Polynesian culture

In September 2020, I left Islesboro for a gap year on the island where I grew up, Oʻahu, in Hawaii. Having a whole year to be back home was incredible, and most wonderful of all our adventures was my time volunteering with the Polynesian Voyaging Society, or PVS. PVS was… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Homegrown eels

Story and photos by Leslie Bowman Maine’s most lucrative fishery by the pound is its spring elver run, and as such, it seemed an obvious candidate for aquaculture. In Asia and Europe there is a long tradition of eel farming. But it took a woman from Indiana with a degree… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Making sense of Maine ‘talking circles’

The Gatherings: Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations By Shirley N. Hager and Mawopiyane, University of Toronto Press I confess to being skeptical when I opened The Gatherings: Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations, a book of reflections on a series of “gatherings” of white and Native people in Maine and Maritime Canada in the 1980s… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Progress through personal connection

Reflections is written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. When my fellowship began a year ago, I’ll admit I was a bit lost. My host organization, the Downeast Institute… SEE MORE

Ethan DeBery, owner of Fish 'n Trips, in Phippsburg aboard his AJ-28-foot lobster boat.

Working Waterfront

Lobster tour operators say demand is strong

PHOTOS BY KELLI PARK How well is Ethan DeBery doing with lobster boat charters? So well, that he has advice for his colleagues. “People have asked me, ‘Why don’t half of the lobstermen do this?’ I tell my buddies to get their captain licenses and I could send them fishing… SEE MORE