There is a sense of movement out there. The legislature is debating tax fixes; the planes are flying to small islands again; Eastport’s boat school plans to re-open; the shrimp season is underway with good prospects for the export market; Vinalhaven is exploring energy alternatives and the SCOTIA PRINCE, despite uncertainty and looming competition, is talking about another cruise season out of Portland.
Could it be the season? In the case of tax reform the answer is obviously yes: we sent legislators to Augusta to deal with it and trust that they will. But Penobscot Island Air, Maine’s newest airline, isn’t flying because it’s January or February; it’s up there because of the hard work of the residents of several island communities, concerned citizens on the mainland including several individuals here at the Island Institute and at the Rockland-Thomaston Area Chamber of Commerce, and the determined efforts of a pilot/entrepreneur. Nor can we attribute the effort to re-vamp and re-open Eastport’s boatbuilding school to the dark months: if it happens it will be due to efforts in Washington County and Maine’s broader boatbuilding industry, members of which see a need for state-sponsored training in boatbuilding skills.
The movement at Cozy Harbor Seafoods, which may process as much as half of Maine’s annual shrimp harvest, is of course connected to the shrimp season, which occurs at this time of the year. But the company’s decision to enter the European processed shrimp market, investing $850,000 in equipment to do so, is something of a leap of faith. Like the decision to start Penobscot Island Air, Cozy Harbor’s decision to invest this way reflects an entrepreneurial spirit that shouldn’t go unrecognized.
Movement doesn’t have to be on a grand scale, of course. It occurs in small increments, such as the Herring Gut Learning Center’s successful grant application that allowed it to spend $3,000 on a salt-water aquarium for use in a school in Tenants Harbor. The classroom tank’s purpose is to help kids understand the need to preserve and protect local marine resources.
And there’s even movement on the sports front: Vinalhaven’s victory last fall in the North East Regional Open-Water Youth Rowing Championships, rowing enthusiasts tell us, may bring about the “critical mass” of teams in the area that can make each other competitive.
Whether we attribute the sense of movement to the season or circumstances doesn’t matter, but it’s welcome evidence that the Maine coast is active and vibrant – and that’s good news for us all.