Electricity customers on Matinicus Island say, “We’re not off the grid, we are the grid.” The ratepayers, and the diesel generators, on Matinicus Island, are among the few Mainers who are not part of the New England power grid system by which most electricity users and generators are interconnected. The Matinicus power company (its legal
Three island towns weather economic storm
How has the economic downturn affected the municipal budgets of three Penobscot Bay island communities? So far, not badly, say town managers in Vinalhaven, North Haven, and Islesboro. Housing starts, excise taxes, property tax payment, appeals for general assistance, and local business activity are all indicators of economic weakness, and so far, nothing dramatic has
Maritime books for the midwinter
Several people who either write for, read, or have been the subject of stories in the Working Waterfront have shared some of their favorite maritime books, both fiction and non-fiction, to read in the midwinter. A combination of recently published books (a few already reviewed in Working Waterfront) and those that have withstood the test
River causes dramatic changes at Popham Beach
For many people who enjoy Popham Beach in the summer, riding the Morse River is almost as thrilling as riding the waves. Timed right, it is possible to float at a good clip past the western beach in the warmish water of the outgoing tide. It’s the sort of journey that prompts kids of all
Obama nearly sweeps islands
President-elect Barak Obama nearly swept the year-round unbridged islands, winning everywhere except Swan’s Island. Statewide, Obama won with 421,497 votes to McCain’s 296,215. Sen. John McCain won Swan’s Island by 134 to 105 votes. Obama won every other island, often by very large margins. The results in Casco Bay, were: Peaks Island: Obama 417, McCain
Article does a disservice to herring fishery, public
In creating an impression of massive amounts of haddock bycatch by midwater trawlers, Jennifer Litteral’s article “Haddock bycatch upsets groundfishermen” (Working Waterfront, November) does a disservice to the public, the herring fishery and those who rely upon it for their bait supply. Frankly, the complaint by groundfishermen is baseless. Here are the facts. Haddock is
A Maine Summer Island: The Story of Bustins
Islandport Press, 2008 Softcover, 171 pages, $16.95 A summer idyll Once upon a time, many years ago, I visited an island, a small rise of sand and palm trees off the east coast of Panama. At high tide the island barely measured two acres. I had not known how small it was before we got
Vinalhaven overwhelmingly supports revisions to wind power rules
Changes to the rules governing wind power sites were overwhelmingly approved at a Vinalhaven Special Town Meeting held on December 15. The revisions defined small, medium and large wind power projects and set up different engineering reporting requirements based on the size of the project, according to Marjorie Stratton, Vinalhaven town manager. Modifications were also
Nelson writes in revolutionary waters
Opinion
The lobster industry needs to go back to basics now that the turmoil has finally unfolded. “The cat is out of the bag,” so to speak. Leadership’s role in the industry has remained ill-directed and not proactive in that it allowed several years of expanded effort after it established trap limits, which doubled the effort,