Articles
The Long View: Not All Places Are Created Equal
Last year when Maine legislators approved Governor Baldacci’s school consolidation plan in an effort to reduce looming state budget deficits, they quietly carved out exemptions for Indian and island schools, where consolidation is widely regarded as tantamount to ringing the community death knell. What mainland school board, after all, would rationally decide to maintain —
The Long View: Cloudy With a Chance of Belief
Maine economists used to say that when Boston caught a cold, Maine got pneumonia to emphasize our dependence on the region’s economy. And economists are still fond of reminding us that what happens on Wall Street is not what happens on Main Street. And since Maine is more Main Street than Wall Street, we should
Hard Times on the Lobster Ranch
When the stock market took a 30 percent tumble after the tech bubble burst in 2000, experienced investors observed that many of those who lost their shirts had never lived through a downturn in the market. The same thing could be said about the lobster industry today. Beginning in 1987, strange and wonderful things started
The Long View: Green Fisheries Are the Future
Two years ago, Maine’s Commissioner of Marine Resources, George Lapointe, addressed a large crowd at Maine’s annual Fisherman’s Forum at the Samoset Resort and made an astonishing admission. The way we manage groundfish in New England is broken, he said, and we need to change it. You might be forgiven for thinking that if a
The Long View: What if ?
The biggest `what if’ question facing Maine’s island and working waterfront communities is what if there were no more lobsters or lobster fishing? To say that the current lobster landing outlook is not good is like saying that Joe Torre or General Motors did not have a good year. We have covered Maine’s lobster industry
Remembering Margery Foster
Margery Foster, who was a founding trustee of the Island Institute, passed away quietly Sept. 22, 2007 at her home in Francestown, N.H. after a period of failing health. Her many friends and admirers in Casco Bay and along the Maine coast will remember her keen mind, sparkling wit, indomitable will and great love of
The Long View: Working Waterfronts, Potemkin Villages: What works in one port won’t work in another
The western flank of Maine’s largest bay, Penobscot, stretches from Port Clyde at the southern end to Searsport near the mouth of the Penobscot River. Along this 30-mile stretch of coastline are ten major ports and harbors and a dozen smaller anchorages where fishing vessels and recreational yachts share mooring and wharf space, sometimes comfortably,
The Long View: Summer O-Seven
The island summer sets slowly in the mind, especially when late lasting Indian summer days linger well into October. Who, then, can resist the remembrance of the inestimably powerful number of glancing views through haloed fog on a wave-cut shoreline refracted from the deck of a passing ferry boat, mail boat, lobster boat, sloop, ketch
The Long View: A Disturbing View of New England’s Power (Elite)
As at least four Maine island communities are actively discussing the costs and benefits of siting “community wind” farms to supply electric power to Vinalhaven, North Haven, Swan’s and Frenchboro, it is useful to reflect what happened when a much larger project was proposed offshore of two island communities in Massachusetts. By now most people
The Long View: Island Scholarships — Closing the Circle
At the end of June, approximately 85 island students, parents and donors gathered at the Samoset in Rockport to celebrate the award of $66,700 in scholarship support to 57 islanders who are pursuing their education after high school. The scholarships range in size from $250 (ten) to $5,000 (three). Twenty-one scholarships are for $1,000 or