This is not their first rodeo, you think, as you listen to the procession of lobster boats leaving the harbor one after the other beginning when the sky is still a dull gray wash on the horizon at 4 a.m. Their signatures are a series of small wakes trailing aft in the slate-still water as
Island tourism thriving — but can it grow?
While everyone knows that Maine’s year-round island communities couldn’t exist without the lobster industry, summer tourism is also vital to the economic well-being of the islands. According to the Island Institute’s most recent Island Indicators report, restaurant and lodging sales represent 35 percent of all island taxable sales. According to the report, Maine’s islands are
What Maine can learn from Superstorm Sandy
SOUTH PORTLAND — Last October, “Superstorm Sandy” hit the U.S. East Coast, killing 72 people and leaving 8.5 million people without power. Several factors made Sandy a “super”storm, according to Jay Tanski, a coastal processes and facilities specialist with New York Sea Grant and John Cannon of the National Weather Service, who presented at the
Vinalhaven updates its comprehensive plan
VINALHAVEN — The small group working for nearly two years to update the town’s comprehensive plan is nearing the finish line. Town officials hope soon to submit the draft of the plan, which inventories assets and identifies threats and opportunities, to the state for it to review for compliance with statutes. Andrew Dorr, the Vinalhaven
Portland council OKs Shucks expansion on waterfront
PORTLAND — The city’s working waterfront is poised to welcome a major new player for the 2014 lobstering season. The city council voted July 15 to lease a 19,000-square-foot space on the Maine State Pier to Shucks Maine Lobster for lobster processing. In June, the council’s Housing and Community Development Committee voted unanimously to approve
What happened on Boon Island didn’t stay on Boon Island
True survivor horror stories torment the imagination and fill library shelves. Those that include that most morally repugnant taboo, cannibalism, are in a league of their own. There’s the tale of the Donner party, crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains, getting caught in early winter snows and resorting to eating their dead. The true story that
Summer mind games on Swan’s Island
Seeing as the rain’s let up, I thought I’d provide a helpful guide to summer recreation on Swan’s Island. We offer something for everyone: sailing, strolling, beachcombing, kayaking, jogging, swimming and even (a personal favorite) sitting around just looking at things. The trick to really enjoying Swan’s Island is to befriend someone who lives here.
Lobster Fest’s early years
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories culled from a collection of Maine Coast Fisherman newspapers from the late 1940s through the early 1960s donated to The Working Waterfront. Dora Thompson is a recent Oceanside High School graduate who is a participant in The Working Waterfront/Island Institute’s student journalism program. She
Taking the plunge on Peaks
Islands are filled with random, slightly wacky traditions. Each island has its own unique traditions, but certain traditions happen only because you live on an island. For instance, I was told it’s an island tradition that on the last day of school students go dock jumping, marking the end of the school year and the
Coal by rail worries Oregonians
A plan to ship coal to Asia by way of the Columbia River in Oregon has sparked protests. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that “hundreds of people turned out in Portland and Hermiston, Ore., for simultaneously held hearings” on the proposal hosted by the state’s department of environmental quality on July 9. The plan would have