Working Waterfront

Safety systems worked when ship lost power off Eastport

By Tom Walsh Moving 600-foot ships through a narrow passage known for its raging tides seems like dangerous work. Especially when things go wrong. But Capt. Gerry Morrison of Perry doesn’t think so. Morrison, a port pilot for Eastport, was commended at a recent meeting of the Eastport Port Authority… SEE MORE

A glass creation that suggests algae and phytoplankton by Krisanne Baker

Working Waterfront

How art can make science understandable

By Stephanie Bouchard Ecological artist Krisanne Baker of Waldoboro focuses much of her art work on water, so she spends a lot of time in and around it, but one night a couple of years ago really blew her away. She’d been working in a hot glassblowing studio. When she… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lobstering women: Heroic haulers of traps

By Carl Little The first painting in Susan Tobey White’s exhibition “Lobstering Women of Maine” at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport is a tour-de-force: a woman wearing an orange Grundéns bib dumps a crate of herring into holding bins. The fish form a kind of wriggling waterfall as the red-haired… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Making my political values official

By Phil CrossmanIn 1958, my grandfather, Ted Maddox, then our representative to the Maine Legislature, brought Sen. Edmund Muskie to Vinalhaven to attend the Fourth of July celebrations. Grampa escorted the senator up onto the speaker’s platform. I was loitering in the alley across the street because a mischievous uncle… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Oysters—from delicacy to staple?

By Kelli Park Emily Selinger has made it her mission to change the way we look at oysters, one farm-share at a time. Selinger spent her childhood on the Harraseeket River in Freeport, where she fell in love with working on the water. She taught sailing classes at a young… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

It’s pie season in Maine

By Sandy Oliver It’s pie season on the island. The succession of pie-filling ingredients growing in our gardens and ready for gathering in fields, one after another from rhubarb to strawberries, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, peaches, and then apples and at last pumpkins, makes a huge plenty for a range… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Moments behind the scenes

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. By Dan DeBord When editor Tom Groening asked me to write this column, he suggested I might write about the photography… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Frenchboro deli gets caffeinated

Story by Jennifer Helman Photos by Dale Joyce Classically trained gourmet chef. Coffee connoisseur. World traveler. Entrepreneur. These words could describe any number of people in Boston or even Portland, but you might be surprised to find one on the tiny island of Frenchboro. Like many people who move to a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island communities are fragile, but Great Cranberry remains strong

By Laurie Schreiber Twenty years ago, Great Cranberry Island had a year-round population of just 37 people, mostly age 50 or older. There were no children living on the island and the school was closed. There was a whisper going around: How long would Great Cranberry remain viable as a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Fishing, college go hand-in-work-glove for this teen

By Tom Groening Danielle Weaver blows up stereotypes about slacker teens. The young woman has been lobstering since she was 13, works several shifts weekly at the busy Rock City coffee shop in Rockland, and, at 19, has already completed enough courses at the University of Maine at Augusta’s Rockland… SEE MORE