When many people think of Maine’s island artist communities, Monhegan Island is likely to be the first to come to mind. That island’s dramatic landscape has played host to artists such as Rockwell Kent and Jamie Wyeth. But people may not know about the artist communities on Great Cranberry Island and Islesford, which also claim
Lobster licenses key to survival of year-round islands
“The Maine islands that depend on lobster fishing to maintain their year round populations will slowly die if they continue to lose lobster licenses,” said Swan’s Island native Sonny Sprague. Swan’s, the Cranberries, Frenchboro, and the other islands that lie in Lobster Zone B, a zone with closed entry, require five fishermen to retire their
Essay
Justice is mine A few weeks ago the Chief Justice of the United States administered the Oath of Office as he recited it for President Barak Obama. Perhaps he was recalling his visit to Vinalhaven last summer and comparing this lofty and prestigious Washington moment with that less auspicious occasion on the island. The Chief
Marvelous issue!
What a marvelous issue! I mean the one for December 2008-January 2009. So full of human interest. So readable. I always enjoy reading Working Waterfront-now more than ever. I was especially moved by Eva Murray’s elegy for Christopher Whitaker, the young Matinicus lobsterman lost at sea (“It could have been any of us: The search
Snooty review
When I read a snooty book review it usually catches my interest. Such reviews have often led me to a good book. I found a review of Carolyn Chute’s School on Heart’s Content Road in the December 2008-January 2009 issue of Working Waterfront by Tina Cohen. The headline. “A passionate, but bloated critique of the
Made in Maine?
After reading about the lobster industry crisis in the November issue of Working Waterfront, I decided to make a greater effort to purchase lobster more often. However, living in Maryland in the winter (and visiting Augusta and Vinalhaven other seasons), I soon realized that the lobsters that are available in our Maryland area are of
A chance to get it right
The City of Portland has an opportunity most of us never get in our lives: a chance to do it over and get it right the second time. On Jan. 16, Portland Mayor Jill Duson announced that the developer Ocean Properties withdrew from negotiations with the city to redevelop Maine State Pier. This comes just
Responding to hard times
This has been called the worst financial crisis in United States history since the Great Depression. Companies are closing down and people are losing jobs. In Maine, entire industries-such as lobstering-have suffered enormously. Virtually no one is immune to this economic meltdown, including the Island Institute, which publishes the Inter-Island News/Working Waterfront. Everyone in this
Interesting weather
Winter, at least in the Northeast, is a time where weather ascends to the topmost levels of our consciousness. It determines what we do, where we go and whether we can accomplish certain things at all. This year in Maine we’ve already had an ice storm that knocked out electricity for thousands, and snowstorms that
Cut in bluefin tuna quotas impacts Prince Edward Island fishermen
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) has set reduced bluefin tuna quotas for 2009, 2010 and 2011. The Canadian quota has been reduced from 546 metric tons in 2008, to 505 in 2009 and 485 in 2010, according to Ed Frenette, executive director of the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA).