The Working Waterfront - Dec21-Jan22

News from Maine’s Island and Coastal Communities volume 35, № 10

published by the island institute

Bar Harbor caps vacation rentals

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dec 2021/jan 2022 n free circulation: 50,000

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‘TIS THE SEASON—

New rule exempts owneroccupied units

By Laurie Schreiber

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n a referendum on Nov. 2, a strong majority of Bar Harbor voters chose to cap the number of vacation units at 9 percent of the town’s total number of housing units.

The 1,260-840 vote on Amendment 4 to the town’s land use ordinance came despite concerns from some owners of vacation rental units about a provision that would prevent the transfer of the units between generations.

But a spike in the units has generated concern from many residents who, in past municipal meetings, have cited a revolving door of neighbors, neighborhoods that go dark in off-season, and a decline in affordable housing due to the conversion of year-round housing to vacation rentals.

There was a 13-year period of growth in the trend between 2006 and 2019. By 2020, 16.4 percent of the town’s 2,795 housing units were used as vacation rentals. And there were 60 pending applications for such properties.

By the time of the Nov. 2 vote, Bar Harbor had 631 registered vacation rentals and 100 pending registrations.

As the Maine coast sees the cold and dark of November descend, it’s the time many boat owers—fishermen and recreational—have their vessels moved to dry land, out of the way of harm that can come through the worst of winter. See the photos that document the process of hauling out Boundless on page 3. PHOTO: KELLI PARK

To tackle the spike, the amendment created two new designations: VR-1 and VR-2.

VR-1 is a rental in which a Bar Harbor resident rents out a room or apartment in the house that is their permanent residence, or a detached unit on the same lot, or the resident leaves their house for some portion of the summer (for example, moving to a campground or family camp) and rents out the whole house to visitors.

VR-1 requires a minimum rental period of two nights but the amendment doesn’t cap the number of VR-1 units. Because there’s no cap, the question of transferability doesn’t apply—the unit owner can get a registration anytime as long as it’s their primary residence.

The cap and the non-transferability provision apply to the VR-2 designation, which refers to a continued on page 7

Affordable housing—from ‘they’ to ‘we’ Speaker says rural nature can be Maine’s asset

By Tom Groening

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n outsider might be baffled by Maine’s housing statistics. Some 70 percent of us own our own homes. Yet according to MaineHousing Director Dan Brennan, housing is now at “crisis levels we’ve never seen before.”

Brennan spoke at MaineHousing’s Oct. 20 conference, which the state agency hosts every other year. “We have a lot of work to do,” he said in his opening remarks.

Maine, too, has often been said to have the oldest housing stock in the nation, so though most own their homes, they

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also “own” substantial maintenance and And prices are trending in the oppoweatherization challenges. site direction of affordable. According to And the 30 percent who rent have the Maine Association of Realtors, prices their own struggles, particularly since for single-family homes in the state the pandemic. increased nearly 25 percent Gov. Janet Mills also this year. The median home spoke at the conference’s price is now $310,000. opening, noting that she There are some encourThe parts of the asked MaineHousing aging signs in the most country that to create an emerrecent census, Brennan are growing gency rental assistance noted. Maine remains program in April 2020 the “whitest” state, but and are more which helped 12,000 the percentage is now 91 economically renter households and percent, down from 95 landlords get through the percent a decade ago. Ethnic stable are those effects of the pandemic. diversity is an economic areas that are Mills and the legisdriver, economists say, lature approved a plan because non-white adults more diverse. to invest $50 million are more likely to start busifrom federal stimulus ness, work in the trades, funding in workforce and have families. and affordable housing, she added. She Eleven percent of state residents are also pledged to help roll back local land at or below the federal poverty line, use and zoning rules “that sometimes while 36 percent of African-American stand in the way” of efforts to build Mainers are impoverished. affordable homes. continued on page 2

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The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

Affordable around New England Housing projects in region innovate

By Craig Idlebrook

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aine is not the only state to grapple with a lack of affordable housing. A combination of aging populations and aging housing stock has created an acute affordable housing shortage throughout the region.

Because of the steep costs and massive needs to build such housing, many nonprofits and local governments have taken innovative approaches to plan and create housing projects to meet the unique needs of their communities.

Here are a few that have made headlines: In Connecticut, two affordable housing projects soon to be completed make use of some historic homes.

In Hartford, construction has begun on the Clover Gardens project, which will create 32 units for mixed-income housing spread throughout four historic properties. When first proposed, the project faced criticism from local residents, who argued the neighborhood already had more than enough affordable housing, according to a Hartford Business Journal report.

And in Madison, on Connecticut’s coast, an 1808 historic home will become a 31-unit mixed-income apartment complex, with most of those units set aside for affordable rentals, according to The Connecticut Examiner.

Throughout the U.S., ethnic enclaves known as Chinatowns have been threatened by the forces of gentrification. In Massachusetts in 2020, Boston officials greenlit a project that would build a 168-unit skyscraper of rental units and owner-occupied apartments on a former parking lot in Chinatown.

Chinatown residents will be given preference in a lottery for the affordable units, according to a Boston Globe report.

West of Boston, several affordable housing projects have focused on reconfiguring former industrial sites to create affordable housing. In Southbridge, the site of a former optical factory has already been used for a hotel and offices; now construction has begun on a CHASLE21.PLT 2/10/2021 2:43:50 PM 48-unit affordable apartment project, according to a Worcester Business Journal report.

Mobile home parks have long been considered an affordable housing option, but that is changing in New Hampshire as investors set their sights on projects they once overlooked. Recently, one group of mobile home residents in Franconia successfully organized to buy their 34-lot park, creating what is termed a resident-owned community (ROC). The

Fox Hill Cooperative is aided by New Hampshire laws designed to facilitate home sales among ROC members, and the state is now home to some 139 ROCs, according to a Next City report.

Farther south, an affordable housing project for seniors gained distinction for being environmentally friendly. The Gilford Village Knolls project in Gilford was the first affordable, multi-housing unit in the state to be categorized as passive house-certified by the The Passive House Institute U.S. The apartment complex is situated to take advantage of natural sunlight and incorporates solar panels for power generation, according to The Laconia Daily Sun. Vermont recently has had two affordable housing projects that focus on providing housing options for those 55 and older.

In Burlington, an affordable housing project called Juniper House opened its doors to 70 households in June. Applicants for the one- and twobedroom apartments are restricted by age and income, according to a Burlington Free Press report.

The below-market rent includes laundry and many utilities, and the building is constructed to be energy efficient, with solar panels on the roof.

Construction has begun on a similar, if smallerscale project to provide housing for those 55 and older in South Hero, near Burlington. The Bayview Crossing project represents the first new multifamily housing project undertaken within the island communities of Lake Champlain in 15 years, according to a VTDigger report.

Some affordable housing projects aim to ensure resources that residents need will be near the new housing. In Rhode Island, King Street Commons, an affordable housing project in Providence, will include space for childcare. The project, which creates 30 affordable units and revitalizes other existing units, also sets aside space for an 8,500 square-foot Head Start center, according to a WPRI report.

Elsewhere in the state, a non-profit is encouraging affordable housing recipients to put their Scale: 1:12.83 H: 36.252 L: 96.247 in own “sweat equity” into their future housing.

Neighborworks Blackstone River Valley administers a program for a Pascoag project that asks qualified potential homeowners to commit to working nearly full-time to help with the construction of the affordable homes for nine months.

In exchange, those potential owners lock in low interest rates and affordable mortgages, according to a non-profit’s report.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

continued from page 1

Keynote speaker Dr. Tiffany Manuel, president and CEO of TheCaseMade, who works on community development, social change, and cross-sector partnerships, asserted that diversity “offers up so much opportunity,” and that a worthy goal for a state like Maine is for all people to “be thoughtfully included,” though she acknowledged that’s now an aspiration, not reality.

There’s a history of policies that have been exclusionary, she said, including NIMBYism, an opposition by those living in traditional neighborhoods to other forms of housing.

The parts of the country that are growing and are more economically stable are those areas that are more diverse, she said.

Maine is a rural state, Brennan told Manuel, and he asked her how, given that status, housing options for disadvantaged populations might be increased.

Her answer turned the question on its head.

Being rural “can be an incredible advantage,” she said. “I think that’s a heck of of an advantage,” because in small communities, people know each other and can shape the discussion.

A key strategy is explaining to others “why housing helps us all,” she said.

Brennan asked about the role of asylum seekers and immigrants in housing initiatives, given that federal policy is often an impediment to serving that population.

If residents perceive those benefitting from housing policy as “outsiders,” she said, they will resent those group.

“That could be a potential fault line,” she said.

“It’s really important you all tread really carefully around those issues.” But the goal that should be pursued is “building a stronger sense of ‘we.’”

Rather than asserting that “This many Mainers are paying over 30 percent of their income on housing,” she advised, a better approach is: “We’ve got 5,000 people in this small community” paying that much.

“What you want to do is get people excited about housing,” she said.

Dr. Tiffany Manuel

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www.workingwaterfront.com . December 2021/January 2022

A different kind of hauling

As winter approaches, boats are moved to land

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PHOTOS BY BILL SAXTON/KELLI PARK

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or recreational boaters, this is a sad time of year, when the decision is made to have the boat hauled from the harbor by a boatyard to be stored somewhere on dry land.

For fishermen, it’s a little different—many are welcoming the chance to sleep late and maybe take a vacation trip.

Boatyards are busy doing this work, which requires expensive trucks, trailers, and lifts.

Billy and Chris Saxton own Dolphin Marina, and they say it’s important to be prepared with equipment that is ready to go.

“You never know when you get that phone call in the middle of the night,” Billy says, “and you need to get to a boat ramp to haul them out. It happens a lot.

We’re on call 24 hours a day.”

The business hauls about 600 boats each year, he estimates. Most are set on stands in a yard and shrink-wrapped.

“It takes us about ten minutes to haul the boat out of the water,” he says, “then it takes 15 minutes to put it on stands. Thirty-five years ago, all the boats were hauled out on wooden cradles. It would take us all day to do one boat. Now we can do 30 boats a day if we want to, if the tides are right.”

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The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

Guest Column Editor’s note: This issue of The Working Waterfront features two opinion columns on the salmon farm proposed for Frenchman Bay, one by an employee of American Aquafarms arguing in support of the project, and one by a representative of the group opposing it. A third piece is the testimony offered by Dr. Anthony Chatwin, president of the Island Institute, publisher of this newspaper, at the Oct. 28 Department of Environmental Protection hearing on the project.

Salmon farm would be environmental disaster

Frenchman Bay project protects maritime heritage

By Henry Sharpe

By Tom Brennan

Adjacent to Acadia, it would also hurt economy

American Aquafarms committed to adhering to rigorous standards

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Henry Sharpe of Sorrento is president of Frenchman Bay United (frenchmanbayunited. org), a coalition of individuals and organizations that is leading the fight to stop the proposed American Aquafarms development.

Tom Brennan is director of project development for American Aquafarms.

t’s been a year since American Aquafarms—a Norwegian firm backed by speculators that is American in name only—announced plans for a massive industrial salmon farm in Frenchman Bay, right next to Acadia National Park.

Longtime Sorrento lobsterman James West spoke for all who oppose this project when he stated recently: “It’s just a big accident waiting to happen. I am still shocked that we are talking about it.”

Unfortunately, we are, but we also are working tirelessly to make sure this monster fish farm is never built, and that no other Maine communities will ever have to wage a similar fight.

Every day, our coalition grows stronger—concerned citizens, fishermen, towns from around the bay, conservation groups, the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Friends of Acadia, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Oceana, the National Parks Conservation Association—even the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce, whose many members in the tourism and hospitality business understand that this project is not just an impending environmental disaster but a major economic threat.

At a recent Department of Environmental Protection meeting on the company’s applications to discharge more than 4.1 billion gallons of untreated waste into the bay each day, more than 40 people, including West, spoke out forcefully against the project. No one spoke in favor.

Other lobstermen, an organic kelp farmer, scientists, and an incredibly broad cross-section of year-round and seasonal residents were joined by Acadia National Park Superintendent Kevin Schneider, who warned about “the extreme large scale of this development” and called it “incongruous with the existing nature and setting of Frenchman Bay and its There would be two 60surrounding lands.”

In addition to the discharge of more acre lease sites with 30, than three times the effluent from the 150-foot diameter pens New York City sewage treatment system, here are just a few things to consider: employing a new “semiThere would be two 60-acre lease sites closed” technology… with 30, 150-foot diameter pens employing a new “semi-closed” technology that has never been used on this scale. In fact, the trial of the only such pen in North America was just halted because of poor water quality and fish mortality. It was one of the few (and perhaps the only) semiclosed pens worldwide to attempt raising salmon to harvest-size.

According to independent modeling by the University of Maine and University of Rhode Island, the effluent, which will include fish feces, uneaten food, pharmaceuticals, and pathogens, would not simply be flushed away as the company maintains; it would circulate throughout the entire bay in ever-increasing concentrations that imperil fishermen, small-scale aquaculture, and clammers, not to mention the bay’s many residents, recreational boaters, the economy, and environment.

Ten, 500-kilowatt diesel generators powering massive pumps would run day and night, polluting our air and water while producing uninterrupted noise and light that will forever alter the bay’s tranquility.

The DEP applications contain no contingency plans for oil spills despite 80,000 gallons of diesel fuel stored on two barges that would be refilled every seven to ten days.

Not surprisingly, American Aquafarms dismisses all concerns. It greenwashes the “eco-pens” that will foul our waters, and in a recent letter tried to reassure residents the fish will “live and grow with no pain and no fear,” despite being jammed into pens by the millions followed by stun and bleed harvesting. The company trumpets creation of a handful of low-wage jobs but ignores the loss of many more existing good jobs.

Let’s face it, they are here not because they care about Maine, but because our lax regulations and dirt-cheap leases would allow them to build something here they never could build in Norway.

We must stop this dangerous and destructive development. If it is allowed to be built next to Acadia National Park, other industrial-scale projects will quickly follow all along the Maine coast. For anyone who cares about our coastal communities and islands, this is your fight, too.

he U.S. is a minor aquaculture producer, ranked 17th on a global scale, but it is the leading global importer of fish and fishery products.

Approximately 90 percent of the seafood we eat comes from abroad, over half of it from aquaculture.

A lot of the salmon we’re buying isn’t from our waters; it’s shipped across thousands of miles from Norway, Chile, Scotland, and even China. American Aquafarms intends to change that.

Earlier this year, we filed a draft lease application with the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) for two 60-acre sites in Frenchman Bay. Just 20 acres of these sites would be for our clean, closed-pen systems and an active sea farm.

In this small corner of the ocean, representing a tiny fraction of Frenchman Bay, we estimate we can produce up to 66 million pounds of healthy fish per year without impacting the seabed, air or water quality. The remaining 100 acres would be shared with our local lobsterman, fishermen, and those using the water for recreation.

American Aquafarm’s applications are subject to Maine’s rigorous, multi-step process for reviewing new aquaculture projects. This science-based, decisionmaking protocol looks after our precious natural assets while strengthening Maine’s maritime industry and, at the same time, allowing it to diversify.

In addition to DMR, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers will also put our proposal through rigorous review, ensuring that we follow Maine’s strict regulations and protect the state’s environment while inviting public involvement in the process.

American Aquafarms is confident our project will meet these exacting standards and lead the way in what’s next for our waterfront industries.

Our clean, closed-pen, ocean-based system addresses major challenges in the traditional aquaculture industry by controlling waste and preventing escapes. It eliminates the threat of sea lice and reduces the need for harmful chemicals.

Perhaps most importantly, it raises fish in their natural habitat—the ocean.

Further, our project is engineered to be low-profile, quiet, and as invisible to the naked eye as possible.

We believe our project will complement Maine’s maritime heritage and strengthen our working waterfronts, while expanding production of high-quality, sustainable seafood.

Ultimately, we plan to establish a hatchery, fish farm facilities, and a state-ofthe art processing plant at the site of the historic Stinson Cannery in Prospect Harbor. American Aquafarms will need the workforce necessary to fill the year-round, high-quality jobs we’re creating, and we’re already Our clean, closed-pen, oceanworking on collaborative efforts based system addresses major with state educational institutions to challenges in the traditional help develop a qualified aquaculture workforce. aquaculture industry…

We know that Mainers are ready to continue working on the water but need the opportunity necessary to make that a reality. The announcement that the USDA is investing $500,000 in an aquaculture workforce pilot program at Washington County Community College demonstrates there will be Mainers ready with the exact technical skills necessary to fill these roles.

And more recently, the Maine Aquaculture Association released a set of occupational standards for marine farming—the first such benchmarks in the country.

American Aquafarms wants to be a part of this next chapter of Maine’s coast.

We look forward to working with community leaders, organizations, and education institutions to ensure our project creates employment and learning opportunities for this generation and those that follow.

As we navigate the well-designed process set forth by the DMR for aquaculture, we know there will be questions. We are committed to listening, to making improvements, and meeting the high standards that Maine demands. Ultimately, this project—and a successful aquaculture industry across the state—will result in a stronger, more diversified coastal economy and a healthier, sustainable environment for us all.

www.workingwaterfront.com . December 2021/January 2022

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Island Institute opposes American Aquafarms permit Discharge would overwhelm ecosystem

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y name is Tony Chatwin. I am the president and engage professional capacity to review the of the Island Institute. For the reasons set American Aquafarms proposal. We encourage the forth below, I am offering this testimony applicant to work with the town to help defray the on behalf of the Island Institute in opposition to the expenses incurred by the town as part of meaningproposed waste discharge permit application for the fully participating in this and other proceedings related to this project.

American Aquafarms project.

I want to be clear that the Island Institute fully The Island Institute is a 38-year-old nonprofit orgasupports the development of nization based in Rockland, sustainable economic activiworking to sustain Maine’s ties that depend on and are island and coastal commucompatible with healthy water nities. Our work focuses on quality in the Gulf of Maine. ensuring that Maine’s island The proposed primary This includes the lobster fishery and coastal communities treatment system does not and aquaculture projects that have resilient economies, are reflect the interests of local equipped to adapt to climate remove the nutrients and communities and do not carry change, and have leadership in chemicals from the effluent excessive risks of degrading place to navigate change. flowing into Frenchman Bay… Maine’s coastal waters.

The proposed project is an In fact, we have worked example of a type of change to directly support dozens that islands and coastal of aquaculture projects communities must deal with. throughout the coast.

This application has more than 1,000 pages of technical information that From 2015 to 2019, our Aquaculture Business require considerable effort, expertise, and resources Development program supported 133 people in assessing their options in aquaculture and helped that communities often do not have.

I commend the town of Gouldsboro for taking start or grow 33 new aquaculture businesses—many the necessary steps to listen to its citizenry founded by fishermen to diversify their income.

According to the Department of Marine Resources website, in Frenchman Bay alone there are currently 17 limited purpose aquaculture licenses and five leased sites, with an additional four leases under review. These businesses focus on oysters, mussels, scallops, hard clams/quahog, and kelp.

These sustainable aquaculture businesses require good, clean water to be successful. These enterprises do not require additional inputs to ensure production. In fact, in many cases, these aquaculture projects improve local water quality.

As part of the proposed operation, the American Aquafarms proposal requires adding significant inputs—both feedstock and chemicals—into the pens to produce a marketable product. The proposed primary treatment system does not remove the nutrients and chemicals from the effluent flowing into Frenchman Bay, relying instead on dilution models.

The risk of environmental degradation that those inputs pose to the health of the bay, and to the existing sustainable aquaculture enterprises, is unacceptable.

Therefore, we urge the DEP to deny the proposed waste discharge permit application for the American Aquafarms project.

Thank you for your consideration.

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The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

Book Reviews

In the wake of sexual assault

Caitlin Wahrer’s first novel is emotional, suspenseful rollercoaster

The Damage

By Caitlin Wahrer (Viking)

Review by Carl Little “THE DYING DETECTIVE’S house was a tall, dark blue thing with chipping trim and shutters.”

That is how Caitlin Wahrer’s captivating debut novel, The Damage, begins: a simple expository sentence featuring detail and intrigue. In the ensuing story, Wahrer guides us through the trials of a

family dealing with a devastating act of male-on-male sexual assault. It’s a keepyou-guessing plotline as justice and the truth are sought, deferred, avoided, and maybe even claimed.

The novel, which takes place in Southern Maine, consists of 84 short chapters, each bearing the name of one of the characters, which include ex-defense lawyer Julia Hall; her husband, handsome and hot-headed Tony Hall, who works in human resources at a law firm; Tony’s younger brother, college student Nick Hall, who is the victim; and Detective John Rice from the Salisbury Police Department.

The chapters jump between 20152016, the period of the rape and subsequent upheaval, and 2019, when Julia visits Rice to review the case.

Much of the novel is devoted to recounting the often-painful family dynamics in the wake of the attack.

We are never quite sure whose word to trust, which is just where the author wants us: eager to know more as she plays with our sympathies. The brother-to-brother interactions are especially intense as Tony takes it upon himself to protect Nick.

Through her characters, Wahrer comments on the norms of the day.

Reflecting on mandatory sensitivity

Born and raised in Maine, Wahrer training, Detective Rice notes that the result is not that “his biases disap- knows the territory well. “…Winters carried some kind of peared—it was simply that he noticed them more often and felt like an existential melancholy that had to be shoveled away with the snow”—amen asshole for it.”

Social media raises its ugly and cruel to that. And she has a sense of humor: head as the community weighs in on There are several snarky references to a the affairs of others. On the other hand, red Subaru Baja, “a distinctly hideous the internet “was a beautiful thing vehicle,” and Shop ‘n Save is renamed from a law-enforcement perspective,” “Shop ‘n Overpay.”

On a couple of occasions, this reader providing all manner of evidence, struggled to willingly suspend disbesometimes unintentionally.

When Nick starts self-harming and lief. A letter to the editor written by worse, he goes off to a program in the accused, Raymond Walker, seems Belfast called Goodspring to recover. implausible, not just the fact that the paper ran it but by virtue of The author is thoughtful its polished content—as if it in describing aspects of had been written by, well, a the treatment he undernovelist. And one major plot goes; indeed, the theraWe are never twist may leave you scratching pists in the book come quite sure your head even as you smile, off as among the most whose word to perhaps, at the outcome. compassionate.

When all is read and done, A 2014 graduate of trust, which is The Damage lives up to its the University of Maine just where the title, providing a compelling School of Law, Wahrer drew on her knowledge author wants us. look at the terrible aftereffects of a heinous crime. Wahrer of the legal system in knows how to manage the writing the book. The suspense, the first goal of a maze that is the court system—victim advocates, sexual successful crime novelist. assault kits, plea deals, etc.—gets its full due as we share the tortuous legal Carl Little is the author of several books processes with the characters. on art. He lives on Mount Desert Island.

Reflections on the spirit of winter Essays explicate science and wonder

Winter: Notes and Numina from the Maine Woods

By Dana Wilde (North Country Press 2021)

Review by Dave Morrison WHILE ON A MORNING walk one early December, author Dana Wilde grew disoriented, unmoored in the

season and the day. The low-slung sun and long shadows played tricks with his perception—day or dusk?

He writes: “Why this should be disturbing, I didn’t know. But it was kind of haunting and bewildering, the initial lostness you daydream might come when you’re finally on the threshold of expiring. Or across it.”

Like someone whistling past the graveyard, he regained his balance with a recitation of scientific explanation, the mechanics that control seasons and light, an orderly and comfortable system that holds mystery and apprehension at bay. In so doing he shares with the reader some basic information (the angle of the earth’s axis, the time it takes to circle the sun, and why the sun appears in different parts of the sky in different seasons) and notso-basic information (Jesus may have been a Pisces).

Ultimately, and throughout the book, rather than setting up Sensual versus Science as opposites, he holds them both in a sort of yin and yang of understanding that make his observations so compelling, cinematic, and enjoyable.

Wilde showers us with data and history, factoids and explanations,

but simultaneously bathes us in “… More importantly, the author has a the feeling that connects you to quality that serves both endeavors—he the phenomenon: the gigantic awe, pays close attention, and invites us to do the same. Every stroll is an exploramystery and strangeness…”

Winter (North Country Press 2021) tion, an adventure where flora, fauna, is a collection of essays about winter in and season play a commanding roll.

Wilde addresses the Maine, and a companion change of seasons, and to Summer to Fall of climate. There is (North Country Press humor, heartache, and 2016). Both are subtitled Wilde as both above all, a connection Notes and Numina from natural scientist to the timeless natural the Maine Woods, and as and poet—the world that grounds often is the case in these readers and puts them essays, “numina” is the encyclopedic in a place one can see perfect word choice: the knowledge of the and feel. In a season that spirit or divine power of a place. natural world, the can seem desolate and harsh, Wilde illuminates The 52 essays are fluid and elegant unique and profound arranged by month: for example, November’s use of language… beauty, and life.

Whether it’s the Maine Gray Dissolution, The winter of Wilde’s childDecember Sun, Winter hood, or the current Midnight (January), A Mind of Snow and Ice (February), one, his poetic advice holds true: “turn, and yes, A Winter From Which I Am turn, turn, change or fade, adjust or die: adjust.”

Trying To Awake (March).

I would not be the first to describe Wilde as both natural scientist and Dave Morrison’s latest collection poet—the encyclopedic knowledge of of poems is A Murder of Crows the natural world, the fluid and elegant Descended, Displacing an Exultation use of language certainly support that. of Larks (Soul Finger Press 2021).

www.workingwaterfront.com . December 2021/January 2022

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In Plain Sight

The steam ferry Union on the Bath waterfront, circa 1890.

PHOTO: COURTESY MAINE MARITIME MUSEUM

Before bridges: River crossings relied on ferries Boats carried rail cars across the Kennebec River

By Kelly Page

property known as Waterfront Park and is probably best known as the spot where thousands of people nce a primary mode of transportation for gather to admire the fireworks during the Bath many Mainers, ferries are more often a fun Heritage Days’ Fourth of July celebrations.

Steamboats like Union ferried passengers from Bath excursion than a necessity, at least for those who live and work on the mainland. Yet for over a to Woolwich for over 90 years and railcars for over 50. century, such vessels transformed life along Maine Before this, ferrymen rowed passengers across the river. coastal and inland waters, enabling commerce, There was once even a horse-powered ferry in Bath!

While steam power was a technical travel, and recreation to reach previously upgrade, the wait to board a ferry and isolated areas. embark across the river could be hours While ferries today are mostly assolong. This was the case whether you ciated with crossing bays, the scene Steamboats like were a passenger, driving an automobile, pictured here is actually the Kennebec Union ferried or in a train car.

River in about 1890.

The locals’ frustration with ferry Looking downriver, it depicts steam passengers service resulted in some unflattering ferry Union, having just left its slip on the from Bath to nicknames for the steamers they Bath waterfront. A passenger steamer relied upon. Union came to be known can be seen in the distance and a couple Woolwich for as “Onion” in its later years and the of schooners are dockside. over 90 years Hockomock was called “Hunky-dink.”

What’s striking about this image isn’t An extreme example of a lengthy just the active waterfront that no longer crossing occurred when P.T. Barnum’s exists. There are also two “missing” circus was en route to Rockland in 1876. bridges: the Carlton and Sagadahoc bridges that have connected Bath and Woolwich The train was 65 cars long and could only be ferried across the Kennebec two to four cars at a time. It took since 1927 and 2000, respectively.

To place this image in its contemporary context, the railroad ferry nearly two entire days to complete most of what you can see here is currently municipal the task.

O

BAR HARBOR

continued from page 1 whole-house rental in the case where the property is owned by a non-Bar Harbor resident, or a Bar Harbor resident who does not use the property in question as their primary residence.

VR-2 requires a minimum rental period of four nights and transferability is prohibited.

“Presently, the transferability matter is immaterial because there is no cap,” said the town’s planning director, Michele Gagnon. “So when property transfers, the new owner just applies and can secure a registration under their name.”

The amendment doesn’t regulate rentals of over 30 days.

In 2020, the town had as many as 351 dwelling units that would be considered VR-2 under the new regulations, Gagnon said. That number includes units associated with owners who don’t have a Bar Harbor address in the assessor’s database, and units belonging to owners who do have Bar Harbor addresses but which may be second homes or investment properties.

The 351 VR-2 units represent 12.5 percent of all dwelling units.

Following a series of joint workshops, the town council and planning board arrived at 9 percent as an appropriate cap.

“The 9 percent number is seen as not being too low (which would keep the goal from being achievable) but not being too high (which would perpetuate the current conditions),” said Gagnon.

Talks of a bridge spanning the Kennebec at this site began as early as 1868, shortly after the railroad came to Bath, but it was ultimately a shift in modes of transportation and tourism that paved the way for a bridge.

The tourist destinations made popular through steamer travel became accessible in other ways: the condition of roads improved, the popularity of automobiles increased, and railways expanded deeper inland.

Rivers like the Kennebec became an impediment to more direct travel as opposed to the transportation highways they once were. And so, with state Sen. Frank W. Carlton of Woolwich leading the effort, the Carlton Bridge opened to vehicle and rail traffic in late 1927 after a year of construction.

Ferry service completely ended in 1929. The Carlton Bridge remains an active rail bridge with Route 1 vehicular traffic having been diverted to the four-lane Sagadahoc Bridge upon its completion in 2000.

Kelly Page is collections and library services manager for Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. Among the exhibits the museum is now featuring is “Broadside: The Power of Print in the Maritime World.” From sailing cards to shellback certificates, mass-produced images shaped the maritime world. This visually rich exhibit explores the role of these prints in commerce, conflict, and leisure.

Going from 12.5 percent to 9 percent could happen through the expiration of current registrations and construction of new year-round units, she said.

“Once we are under the 9 percent cap, then new registrations would be issued, using a wait-list system,” she said.

At various hearings prior to the vote, some vacationrental owners said the non-transferability provision would reduce the value of their investment. One said that because a number of vacation rentals are owned by limited liability corporations, which can be registered anonymously and which provide for business continuation agreements, it will be difficult to monitor transfers. Others said the amendment doesn’t address the affordable housing shortage and hurts Bar Harbor residents who earn money through rentals.

8

The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

Rock Bound

Who do we want to see on our streets?

The answer raises even more questions

By Tom Groening IT WAS A COUPLE of years ago. A message on my voicemail urged me to come to Castine for a story about a municipal water tank being converted into an after-school childcare center.

I probably rolled my eyes when I listened to the woman’s message.

The project seemed a bit outside of the newspaper’s purview, but I love Castine, and had a vague recollection of the tank, a wooden affair with most of its capacity below grade.

I called the woman back, and she made the case for the story, arguing that having a place for children to spend safe, quality time between the end of the school day and the end of their parents’ workday was critical.

So off to Castine I went. My lessthan-enthusiastic attitude about the woman and the story evaporated pretty quickly, for several reasons.

Castine is an oddity. It’s almost an island, jutting out into Penobscot Bay at the end of a peninsula (in fact, when the British occupied it during the American War of Independence, they dug a canal, making it a de facto island). Maine

Maritime Academy students keep the place hopping during the school year, while in July and August, the town takes on a different vibe, with the older, seasonal residents returning to their classic New England capes and colonials to quietly enjoy a Maine summer.

Nancy Sayre, the woman pitching the story, explained that the academy brought many blue-collar workers to town doing maintenance, food service, and other jobs. They couldn’t afford housing in Castine, but if their children could leave the town elementary school and spend the afternoon being engaged in crafts, science, and reading activities, parents could pick them up on their way home to Penobscot and Orland.

Sayre and her husband, W.G., both in their early 70s, are retired college professors. They corralled other retirees, and some younger folks, and got a volunteer effort launched that demolished and rebuilt the structure—now complete— into a beautiful and functioning facility.

I was struck by two comments the couple made.

“I don’t want to walk down the street and see myself,” she said. “I want to hear children laughing and giggling.”

“It’s a town out of balance,” her husband agreed, with too many older folks.

I could see why the effort succeeded.

She is a force. I remember being struck by her slightly unkempt shock of white hair, her bright red clogs, and her radiant smile. I was a bit smitten.

Sayre contacted me again recently to invite me to see the completed facility.

Something as mundane and yet complex as after-school daycare is critical to keeping our coastal towns vibrant, I realized. The Sayres may not turn Castine back into an economically stratified community, but they have struck a blow for that goal.

Who we see while walking our streets was integral to an essay by Scott Planting in the October issue I was proud to include. Planting is the retired director of the Maine Seacoast Mission, and his essay was inspired

by Downeast, Gigi George’s account of five Milbridge-area teen girls approaching adulthood. Downeast reveals that another fight is worth pursuing, one that keeps our young folks here, because their character and tenacity is essential.

A third example of this battle for our coastal communities came to light after my brief late-September visit to Eastport and Lubec. I shared photos on Facebook of fine new houses in both towns, no doubt built by out-of-staters as seasonal escapes, adjacent to houses beyond repair but with views of the water.

Yes, renovating houses means local tradespeople get work, and yes they pay larger shares of property tax. But as one commenter said, they also drive up real estate values and taxes, pushing locals inland.

Yet another wrinkle to this dilemma is the role ethnic diversity can play, a subject the Island Institute’s Yvonne Thomas writes about in Field Notes in this issue.

Do you have any thoughts on these challenges? Let me know what you think.

Tom Groening is editor of The Working Waterfront and can be reached at tgroening@islandinstitute.org.

Reflections

How Vinalhaven wrestles with pandemic Housing, labor, and tourism issues impact island Reflections is written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront.

By Matt Jablonski WHEN I BEGAN my fellowship with Vinalhaven’s town office in September 2020, I came to the island in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The effects of the pandemic were apparent from my first week here.

Reduced tourist traffic, lower demand for lobster, and recurrent concerns about outbreaks on-island all contributed to a sense of disruption in the island community.

In the 14 months since I began my fellowship, I continued to witness firsthand the cascading consequences of the pandemic on island life and the ways the community is seeking to address these issues.

Among the most prominent challenges facing the community is the cost of housing. Vinalhaven has not been able to avoid the vertiginous rise in housing costs afflicting much of the nation’s housing markets. Homes up for sale on

island frequently receive multiple offers almost immediately and an influx of offisland purchasers have driven prices up.

The associated rise in the cost of living has placed strain on year-round residents, especially young families, who are seeking sustainable long-term housing on island.

Housing shortages have in turn affected users of the island’s working waterfront, which is among the largest lobster fisheries in the state. Lobstermen depend on a robust seasonal workforce during peak fishing months. However, due to the lack of available seasonal workforce housing and the broader labor shortage, lobstermen have had to fish short-staffed throughout the season. And, with lobster fetching the highest prices in recent memory, fishermen have had to work longer hours with less help this year to take advantage of the hot market.

Municipal services on Vinalhaven also have been impacted by the pandemic.

Staffing challenges persist at the town office with multiple departments operating shorthanded for months now as a number of positions remain unfilled.

Exacerbating all these issues on island was an exceptionally busy tourist season. Maine State Ferry Service

passenger traffic during Memorial Day was down 57 percent in 2020 from 2019. Traffic, at least on Vinalhaven’s ferry, was certainly considerably higher in 2021 compared to 2020.

As one island resident described it to me in September: “June felt like July, July felt like August, and August feels like God-knows-what.”

The availability of the COVID vaccine enabled more safe travel this summer, which plenty of tourists took advantage of on Vinalhaven. Local businesses struggling with staffing had to contend with increased demand while thousands more traveled the island’s ferry and roads, placing greater strain on island infrastructure.

Altogether, the nexus of challenges facing the community, some of which predate the pandemic, no doubt intensified as a result of the pandemic. The community has begun to confront these challenges. At the municipal level, the town office and select board have collaborated with the community to begin developing solutions.

The zoning ordinance is currently under review to make high density housing development easier on island. As a Fellow, I have worked with the recently reinitiated housing committee to conduct

an island-wide housing survey and begin formulating actions the municipality can take to alleviate housing demand.

The pandemic has presented a panoply of difficulties for Vinalhaven.

While these difficulties persist, the island community is working to address the problems head-on, and my work as a Fellow has afforded me the ability to participate in this work.

The fellowship has been an exceptional opportunity to understand the intricacies of local governance in difficult times. I look forward to the coming months, as my year on island has equipped me to contribute to the essential work done by the town office during the quieter winter season.

Matt Jablonski works with Vinalhaven helping the town government integrate its strategic plan and develop its organizational infrastructure. Prior to his move to Vinalhaven, he has lived in a variety of states, including Massachusetts, Washington, and Texas.

He is a graduate of Haverford College with a degree in English.

www.workingwaterfront.com . December 2021/January 2022

9

BIDDEFORD BUILDING— Do readers know if this building, the Lafayette House in Biddeford, remains in existence? The photograph was made as part of the “Historic American Buildings Survey,” according to the Library of Congress, and it was shot by Dominic Avanzato in August 1936.

Contact edior Tom Groening at tgroening@islandinstitute.org if you have any information to share.

Op-Ed

Fish-farm opponents distort facts Belfast project wins permits, endorsements

By Erik Heim

at scale internationally. This has been independently vetted by the Department of Environmental THE NOVEMBER ISSUE of The Working Waterfront Protection, Department of Marine Resources, the featured a misleading opinion column by John Conservation Law Foundation, the Atlantic Salmon Krueger, an activist from Upstream Watch, a group Federation, and others.

Upstream Watch has promoted zero discharge opposing plans by Nordic Aquafarms to build a and other unrealistic ideas for land-based aquaculsalmon growing facility in Belfast.

As with his previous efforts, Krueger’s storytelling ture that don´t exist at scale. Pursuing such ideas at scale would greatly increase risks is deceptive and designed to fit his in operations and endanger the activist agenda. Our company has welfare of the fish. It would also a great story, and it will make large increase the risk of off-flavor in contributions to the local area for Upstream Watch has the fish, and it would significantly decades to come.

Upstream Watch is a group promoted zero discharge increase power use.

Anyone claiming zero discharge of activists in Belfast who have and other unrealistic at larger scale is at a minimum had more than a fair opportunity ideas for land-based leaving out processing, cooling to argue against the now fully aquaculture water, sludge dewatering, and permitted land-based salmon purging of their fish before project. It lost every argument in harvest. All of these activities the federal, state, and local permitrequire exchange of water. ting processes after promoting its Nordic’s technology has an excellent track record. purported scientific perspectives. Krueger and this group were unable to present solid and convincing Nordic is unique in the industry with a full-fledged internal design division and proven technology patents. science. Nordic did exactly that.

And who is Nordic Aquafarms? We are a progres- Nordic’s design team are pioneers in the industry and sive seafood company with three land-based fish our technology has a reputation of “best in class” among farms already in operation. Our facilities are pioneer major international aquaculture companies.

The Belfast plant will remove 99 percent of particles projects that have been granted significant environmental awards and that have enabled extensive and most nutrients in the seawater exchanged. That is a much higher standard that most sewage treatment learning that we are leveraging in Belfast.

The result is an environmental and ocean protec- plants, and a much higher standard than any other tion standard that far surpasses existing operations existing or planned large seafood project in Maine.

Island Institute Board of Trustees Emily B. Lane, Chair Kristin Howard, Vice Chair Charles Owen Verrill, Jr. Secretary Douglas Henderson, Treasurer, Finance Chair Carol White, Programs Chair Megan McGinnis Dayton, Philanthropy & Communications Chair Shey Conover, Governance Chair Michael P. Boyd, Clerk Sebastian Belle David Cousens Michael Felton Nathan Johnson Bryan Lewis Michael Sant Barbara Kinney Sweet Kate Vogt Donna Wiegle John Bird (honorary)

Comparing Nordic’s project in Belfast to start-ups like West Coast Salmon which has never built a farm and which has zero farms in operation is grossly misleading.

Hopeful start-ups in this sector make all kinds of claims before the hard reality hits. While its vendor has built quite a few fish farms, the vendor has yet to validate grow-out salmon farms at the scale Nordic operates today and certainly not what Krueger is promoting.

Producing more fish with less water, less power, less discharge, and lower cost doesn’t add up to a quality operation. It remains to be seen what if anything will be built by West Coast Salmon; we wish them be best of luck.

After ten years in this industry, we have seen many flashy start-ups that never make it or that fail miserably because they over promise.

After Krueger wrote a similar opinion piece published earlier this year in the Portland Press Herald, West Coast Salmon called us to apologize for unknowingly being drawn into a local activist brawl.

It was clear the company wanted no part in Krueger’s crusade or his misrepresentations.

The permitting agencies and many others in Maine did an extensive job vetting Nordic´s applications and listening to all sides before approving this development. Nordic will create many jobs in Maine, defend the need for a healthy bay since we get our water there, and drastically cut the carbon footprint compared to imported fresh salmon products.

We remain thankful for all the great support we have in Maine and Belfast.

Erik Heim is president of Nordic Aquafarms Inc.

THE WORKING WATERFRONT

Published by the Island Institute, a non-profit organization that works to sustain Maine's island and coastal communities, and exchanges ideas and experiences to further the sustainability of communities here and elsewhere.

All members of the Island Institute and residents of Maine island communities receive monthly mail delivery of The Working Waterfront.

For home delivery: Join the Island Institute by calling our office at (207) 594-9209 E-mail us: membership@islandinstitute.org • Visit us online: giving.islandinstitute.org

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10

The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

Casco Bay: Warmer, saltier Friends group shares monitoring data

By Stephen Rappaport

C

asco Bay is talking to us, but do we know what message it is sending?

Last month, Friends of Casco Bay scientist Mike Doan and Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca gave some answers to that question in a remote presentation to about 100 participants concerned about the health of the vast Southern Maine waterway that stretches from Portland Head in Cape Elizabeth to Cape Small in Phippsburg. About a half-dozen of the roughly 130 islands in the bay are inhabited year-round.

Friends of Casco Bay has been monitoring the bay’s water quality for about 29 years. Three permanent sites—continuous monitoring stations located in Harpswell, Cundys Harbor, and Portland—operate year-round. The Harpswell site was established in 2016. Friends of Casco Bay established the two other sites this year.

In addition, the group samples water quality every three weeks from May through October at 22 sites spread around the bay. Some of those samples are collected from aboard the organization’s research vessel, the 28-foot lobster boat Baykeeper. Doan or other members of the Friends of Casco Bay science team collect other samples from shoreside sites.

With the 2021 monitoring season just about done, Frignoca and Doan had at least some preliminary findings to report, although some of the data they collected may have raised more questions than they answered.

First, Doan reported that the data confirmed that Maine enjoyed a much warmer winter than normal, with water temperatures “well above average” from that of the past five or six years. Even the heavy rains of July “didn’t have that much influence to reduce temperatures,” Frignoca said.

As with temperatures, the salinity of the waters of Casco Bay was higher. In all likelihood, the warm winter contributed to those higher levels, she said.

Historically, high spring river flows resulting from heavy snow melt could be relied on to reduce salinity. Last winter, warm temperatures meant less snow, less snow melt and, consequently, reduced fresh water flowing into the bay. That isn’t necessarily bad news.

Casco Bay is home base for a burgeoning oyster farming industry and, Frignoca said, oysters harvested from those farms this year were “especially salty.” She proclaimed them “luscious.”

Fishermen pull their traps for the season off South Portland in October.

PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

This year, monitoring recorded “less nuisance algal blooms” than in recent past years, except in Portland Harbor where the algal blooms were “consistent and persistent,” she said. The scarcity of algae was another boon for the bay’s aquaculture industry as the Department of Marine Resources ordered no shutdowns for toxic algal blooms.

Why there were fewer algal blooms this year is unclear, but the organization is working with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to establish a numerical “threshold” for algal levels that can be used by the state and municipalities around the bay for planning and regulation of storm water runoff.

As is often the case, news about the Casco Bay and the Gulf of Maine is decidedly mixed. While reduced freshwater flows into the bay may have produced some benefits, it was also a cause for concern.

The impacts of prolonged warm, dry spells punctuated by heavy storms is as yet unclear. But, Frignoca said, there was so much drought in Maine last summer that it seemed as if the ground was absorbing more water.

“We didn’t see the runoff we’d expect for a wet July, Frignoca said. “I think we can expect more summers like that.”

Newly published from Penobscot Books Margaret, by Bary Lyon Terry A novel of love and loss, with a good measure of sailing, set in Castine and Boston The story resonates with me, as we are a mid-fifties “couple thinking of retirement. Part of that is concern

about our health, what to do after retirement, how will we get along with each other with so much together time, and concerns about our children’s future.

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. April 2020 . December 2021/January www.workingwaterfront.com www.workingwaterfront.com 2022

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Roque Bluffs State Park adds island Fifty acre Pond Cove Island will offer camping The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has announced that the Bureau of Parks and Lands has acquired Pond Cove Island.

The 50-acre Pond Cove Island, located in Englishman Bay in Washington County, will be added to Roque Bluffs State Park.

The island is located roughly a third of a mile from the mainland. It features nearly two miles of winding shoreline, gentle stone and cobble beaches suitable for landing kayaks and small boats, and open views of the Atlantic Ocean.

The popular Roque Bluffs State Park offers a variety of coastal landscapes to enjoy, including a half-mile sand beach, freshwater pond, hiking

trails, and a picnic area. In addition to serving as a new coastal attraction, the state’s acquisition of Pond Cove Island will also contribute to the town’s tax base because of the revenue-sharing formula for Maine State Parks.

Acquisition of the island has been a priority for the bureau for many years.

Maine Coast Heritage Trust stepped in as the island’s interim owner while a conservation plan was developed. The Land for Maine’s Water Access Fund, North American Wetlands Conservation Act, and private contributions to Maine Coast Heritage Trust made the acquisition possible.

“As a sea kayaker, I know how important it is to have islands close to

shore that are open to the public,” said Bureau of Public Lands Director Andy Cutko. “Pond Cove Island is an exceptionally scenic spot in an ideal sheltered location, and we look forward to developing campsites for overnight use.”

“The addition of Pond Cove Island to Roque Bluffs state park provides a new and unique opportunity for visitors to easily experience the thrill of exploring and camping on a Maine island,” said LMF Director Sarah Demers.

“We’ve been working to conserve this exceptional island for many years now, and we’re thrilled to see it protected and owned by the state,” said Maine Coast Heritage Trust president Tim Glidden. “Pond Cove Island will

make a fabulous addition to Roque Bluffs State Park.”

Remote camping at designated water access sites on Pond Cove Island is planned for the future in partnership with the Maine Island Trails Association. The entire island will be open for hiking, picnicking, and birdwatching, with hunting, fishing, and trapping allowed under state park rules. The island’s 37 acres of intertidal wetlands provide significant habitat for tidal waterfowl and wading birds. A nearby existing town boat launch provides easy access to the island.

For more information, contact the BPL Northern Regional Office at (207) 941-4014.

John Martin, Bud Staples, and Elsie Gillespie chat around the woodstove at the annual town meeting.

Warm wishes this holiday season to my buyers, sellers, and colleagues with many thanks to all for a great year.

It has been gratifying to see buyers well matched to their new Maine properties and selling properties for my sellers to enable them to bring their future plans to fruition. Working with all of you has been a pleasure and I look forward to another great year.

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The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

Rockport Village in its fall finery Harbor town is classic New England PHOTO ESSAY BY TOM GROENING

J

ust north of Rockland and just south of Camden—two Knox County communities that have busy Route 1 as their main drag—lies Rockport Village, tucked away east of the highway. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more photogenic, classic New England harbor town. It’s no wonder that Maine Media Workshops makes its home here.

Excursion schooners do, too, sharing the harbor with a small fishing fleet and the stalwart Rockport Marine boatyard.

A few years ago, the town voted to rebuild its library at the same village location, and the brick structure recently completed looks as if it’s always been there. A new hotel is being built on an open lot in a much older block of brick buildings which perched on a steep hill overlooking the harbor.

The boutique hotel is flanked by restaurants and across the way from Island Institute co-founder Peter Ralston’s gallery.

The town showed off its fall finery on a clear late October day.

www.workingwaterfront.com . December 2021/January 2022

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14

The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

Our Island Communities Islesford potter wins crafts honor Marian Baker recognized for work, education

T

While teaching at Maine College of Art & he Maine Crafts Association (MCA), a statewide nonprofit organization that builds Design from 1985 until 2019, Baker founded upon Maine’s rich craft traditions by nurturing Islesford Pottery on Little Cranberry Island a vibrant, supportive, inclusive craft community and in 1989. Furthering the Maine maker’s tradistrong individual craft artist practices, has named tion, the studio and gallery represents several potter and educator Marian Baker of Yarmouth as Maine potters during the summer months.

Baker often uses the space to feature her the 2021 recipient of its Maine Craft Artist Award.

The award recognizes Baker’s dual accomplish- students’ work by creating a resident potter ments in both her personal practice as a professional position at Islesford Pottery, allowing alumni maker and studio-gallery owner, as well as in her to make and sell their work while learning the years of dedicated service to the education and career aspects of running a business and promoting development of a younger generation of ceramics personal growth in their work.

As a potter for over 40 years, Baker has students.

In 2009, the MCA began to annually honor indi- highly developed strong stylings that are vidual Maine craft artists in recognition of their easily recognized by her peers and experts in the craft community. exceptional bodies of work and Predominantly using contributions to the field. wax-resist glazing The award juror is guided by techniques alongside these benchmarks: excellence in As a potter for over 40 colors found in nature, craftsmanship, inspired design, a Baker’s work tells stories singular voice or style, and a career years, Baker has highly within the mysteries in their of service to the field. The 2021 developed strong stylings layering, playing between awards were selected from many peer nominations by MCA founder that are easily recognized… matte and shiny surfaces.

Her ceramics have been Carolyn Hecker, who has served as featured in over 15 publicaexecutive director for more than a tions and have been featured decade, establishing the MCA as a in exhibits across the U.S. statewide organization and network of craft artists. Since founding the MCA in 1983, Baker chooses to create useful pottery because she Hecker has remained involved and supportive of the believes handmade things can enrich the lives of their users. She sees her works as a bridge between organization and craft artists throughout Maine.

Baker is an example of successfully balancing both art and daily life.

In selecting Baker as a 2021 artist award recipient, a long-standing teaching career and a strong profesHecker wrote: sional studio practice.

Marian Baker

“Marian Baker is the truest of Maine craft artists.

Her practice is central to her life and career and she is central to Maine craft. Her ceramic work is stunning and she has an energy for producing and educating that is very special, making her an essential piece of the history of Maine craft.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to honor her in this way, through an organization which has both supported Marian’s practice and career, while having benefited from her steady dedication and participation.”

On behalf of the MCA, Hecker also selected artist, author and educator Tim McCreight of Harpswell as a 2021 Maine Craft Artist Award Recipient.

Collins secures funding for lobster industry Earmarks to support fishing in face of whale rules

S

en. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has secured $15 million in the draft fiscal year 2022 commerce, justice, and science appropriations bill to support Maine’s lobster industry.

The bill must still be voted upon by the full Senate and House. Collins released the following statement: “The seafood industry is a vital part of Maine’s economy and heritage, sustaining jobs and strengthening our coastal communities. The livelihoods of the Mainers who work in this industry were recently jeopardized by a rule from the National Marine Fisheries Service.

“This rule, which is intended to protect the fragile right whale population, unfairly targets Maine’s lobstermen and women and does not reflect reality in the Gulf of Maine. Notably, there are no known cases of Maine’s lobster industry being responsible for killing or seriously injuring a right whale, and there has not been a single right whale entanglement attributed to Maine lobster fisheries in nearly two decades.

“This funding would support our state’s iconic lobster industry by engaging stakeholders in the local and regional seafood systems, helping

to cover the costs incurred by lobstermen as a result of the misguided rule, and improving the incomplete and imprecise science upon which the federal government relies. I will continue to champion this investment as the appropriations process moves forward.”

The funding includes: • $765,000 to help the lobster industry plan for the future: The process would engage and prepare stakeholders led by the Maine Department of Marine Resources and supported by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the Downeast Lobstermen’s Association, the Southern Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the Maine Lobster Dealers’ Association, and the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.

• $10 million to help the lobster industry comply with new regulations: Funding will cover costs paid for by the lobster industry to comply with the final rule to modify the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, including gear modification, configuration, and marking requirements, currently set to take effect in May 2022.

• $300,000 to improve scientific understanding of right whale migration patterns: Funding would support a continuous plankton recorder survey to better track the movement of the whale’s primary food source, a strong indicator of migration patterns.

• $4 million for right whale-related research, monitoring, and conservation: Funding will spur partnerships among lobster fishermen, state agencies, and research institutions toward developing operational technologies that will help the lobster industry in the Gulf of Maine.

Collins also secured instructions to NOAA to complete an assessment and cumulative estimate of any economic losses incurred by the lobster industry that are directly related to the final rule and to work with Canada to develop risk reduction measures that are comparable in effectiveness for both fisheries and vessels.

Collins joined the Maine congressional delegation and Gov. Janet Mills in opposing the new rule they believe threatens the lobster industry and does not meaningfully protect whales.

www.workingwaterfront.com . December 2021/January 2022

15

Who’s next—bringing in new community leaders Island communities struggle to pass the torch

By Kate Tagai

C

hebeague Island’s Donna Damon started the October meeting of the Maine Islands Coalition by asking the 30 assembled members and guests an important question: “Who are community leaders?”

Her second question may have been more important and telling: “Who will take your place?”

The questions were at the heart of the gathering, which centered on planning for community leadership succession. Damon, who chairs her island town’s select board, and Sarah Brake, who serves on Frenchboro’s select board, were asked to share their personal experience as leaders.

The coalition was formed by the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront, to bring representatives from the 15 year-round island communities together quarterly to address common problems and share solutions.

Damon joined the Cumberland budget committee (before Chebeague seceded from that town) when she was just 21 and has been serving on community boards and committees ever since, giving her more than 40 years of experience.

Brake was elected to the Frenchboro board in 2015 and has been serving her community since, though she is still in her 20s. For several years, Frenchboro had the youngest select board in the state when all

three members were younger than 30. Each stepped up out of community necessity and learned as they did the work.

Brake shared the challenges of being a young leader and navigating different expectations between generations, often being underestimated because of her age. She also learned how to set boundaries when community members showed up at her door at all hours with complaints.

Having a strong female mentor, Brake said, was key to helping her succeed in her role.

For many small communities, those who step up to lead do so because it is necessary to keep the town, school, or community organization running, not because they identify themselves as leaders. People can stay in their roles for decades, either because there is no one else who steps up, or because they become comfortable.

But when a long-term leader steps down or dies, it can cause turmoil. Recording and acknowledging their experiences is important, as is planning for the transition with job shadowing or a job description that accurately outlines the expectations and time commitment.

Brake advised members to share the entire story of their positions with new leaders, so they have the context for what they are stepping up to. The goal is not to scare them away, but to offer a sense of the history that guides decisions.

A common question among island representatives at the meeting was how to enourage younger residents to seek leadership roles. Brake suggested simply asking someone to be involved and telling them why.

Another strategy, suggested by Bill Chamberlin, a seasonal resident of Isle au Haut, was to engage younger members even if they are unable to commit entirely. Finding tasks and smaller responsibilities allow them to learn and contribute to the committee while also preparing them for and building their interest in formal roles.

Damon talked about how she learned Robert’s Rules of Order while running meetings as a young person and that it is important to pass along the knowledge of how systems work even before new leaders are asked to step up.

Gabe McPhail of Vinalhaven said that watching streamed meetings, job shadowing, identifying a mentor, and attending formal trainings can all help new and aspiring leaders learn the systems so when they step up, they are better prepared to lead and veteran leaders can step away knowing the organization, town, or committee is in good hands.

Kate Tagai is a senior community development officer with the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. She works on the Institute’s leadership and education programming.

Light station restoration complete on Swan’s Island Close to $900,000 raised for work on four buildings

A

fter some 15 years of planning, fund raising, volunteer and preservation work by dozens of contractors, the town of Swan’s Island has completed the restoration of the Burnt Coat Harbor Light Station.

There are four historic buildings at the light station—the light tower, the keeper’s house, the oil house and the bell house—and all have undergone careful and thorough restoration in compliance with historic preservation standards. It is rare to find a light station with so many of the original buildings virtually intact.

As soon as restoration was well underway, the keeper’s house and tower were opened to the public during the summer season. Over the last several years, thousands of visitors have toured these buildings and enjoyed local art and exhibits of local history in the keeper’s house.

Climbing the tower with a local guide is a favorite activity for visitors. On a sunny day, the views from the top of the light tower are spectacular. Visitors also enjoy exploring the 1.8 miles of trails on Hockamock Head, adjacent to the light station site.

An apartment on the upper floor of the keeper’s house has proved an extremely popular summer weekly rental. Rental income provides the town with a revenue stream that assists with routine maintenance costs.

Friends of the Swan’s Island Lighthouse (FOSIL) supported the town financially in this historic restoration project through an annual appeal, a capital campaign, and many grant applications. Altogether, close to $900,000 was raised to complete the historic restoration of these buildings.

For more detail on the restoration and future plans, check out the FOSIL website: www.burntcoatharborlight.com.

Burnt Coat Harbor Light on Swan’s Island. PHOTO: COURTESY HARBOR VIEW STUDIO/SWAN’S ISLAND

The light station, a critical aid to navigation in its day, still guides vessels safely into Burnt Coat Harbor. It still is a U.S. Coast Guard maintained active aid to navigation.

Next year marks the 150th year that the light has shone

from the tip of Hockamock Head. FOSIL hopes that lighthouse friends and many of those who supported the restoration will visit in August 2022 as the sesquicentennial of the lighting of the light is celebrated.

16

The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

www.workingwaterfront.com . April 2020

23

cRanBeRRy Book Review RepoRt

Town meeting, painting lines, eating Showing the Chesapeake’s island stories doughnuts, throwing rocks Islands at risk documented in emotionaland photography

As winter winds down, islanders mix prep work and gatherings house on Holland Island. At the time of fact, the phrase “climate change” only

Review by Jack Sullivan A PHOTOBOOK IS typically conceived to be consumed lightly,

By Barbara Fernald making it a great candidate to present on the coffee table. While Annapolis ACTIVITY onJaytheFleming’s islands, at thebook end photographer new of February and into March, is like Island Life is beautiful enough to earna of the coffee action table, at the itend amirror place image on anyone’s is of August into September.

Just as the not a light read. It requires a reader’s summer residents of the full immersion because it isCranberry more of Islesartifact end their right before an thanvacations it is a photobook.

It fall, many year-round residents end is a snapshot in time, documenting a theirofwinter just beforebutthe way life thatbreaks has long existed, is spring equinox. facing the threat of disappearing.

It’s intime to get back to work Bay, and Set the middle of Chesapeake reconnect. the imagery will look familiar, even to Our annual town takes Mainers who have nevermeeting left the state’s place on the second Saturday in March. borders. Small, close-knit commuFor selectmen and oftown employees, nities, harvesting shellfish, and winter has been anything but a vacacultures built around the sea all paint tion.pictures They have been Life. working steadily, the of Island gathering information to of write the Unlike the rocky shoreline Maine’s warrant for town meeting.

It’s the time islands and coast, Chesapeake Bay’s of yearare welow-lying come together as a town to islands and sandy, making decide on projects and spending and them particularly vulnerable to sea level how much is to by be raised by rise.

Islandsmoney populated hundreds property of people taxes. around the turn of the 20th Discussion of theinhabitable. school budget century are no longer alone can take well over an hour.

The One powerful image that Fleming islands take turns hosting the meetcaptures in Island Life is of the last ing and the luncheon. This year, town

the photograph, every other building meeting willhad takeeither placebeen on moved Islesford. on the island or What’s for lunch?

Homemade pizzas, had collapsed into the sea. Six months salads, desserts. getsmet busier later, theand subject of theLife image the as wefate. volunteer to help prepare the same first of the season.

Of community the dozens meal of once-populated Town meeting is a great opportuChesapeake Bay islands, the islands of nity to hear about winter from friends Smith and Tangier are the only two that and neighbors.

“How communities. was your trip to remain as year-round ...?” “Who knew grand-parenting was While the communities are portrayed so exhausting or that there were so as vibrant, filled with personality, and many cold germs involved?”

“You did vestiges of tradition, Fleming does not all that painting?” These quesbalk at documenting the same impending tions could be asked in September at threat of an eroding coastline. He instead a school board meeting in a large submakes a point of doing so: dramatic urb. (Preferably not during the gravemeetportraits of islanders holding ing while someone else has the floor!) stones from cemeteries that have been In January February, Bruce and claimed by theand ocean, children playing Iwith got toy to spend a lot of time with boats in their driveways, our the grandchildren in Southern Maine. asphalt submerged by several inches of Visiting them the main goal of storm surge, andwas inundated helicopter most of our winter travel.

We considpads that raise questions about emerered trying to preparedness. paint our kitchen, but gency response weFleming’s kept catching odd coughing virusphotographs create uneases and experienced more down time iness; the urgency is palpable. than we wanted, so we never got to it.

A reader who understands the Maybe I’ll paint it in May, when I can fundamentals of climate change will have the windows open.source of the instantly target the Bruce saw more than enough paint, urgency, but at no point does Fleming anyway, this winter.

During his “time play the role of explicit “activist. ” In off” he painted 600 buoys (white and

appears in the book once. Instead, bright redchooses with a black stripe) and, Fleming to play the rolelike of every other fisherman in Maine observer andlobster documenter. this winter, he readdoes about, about, This photobook nottalked feel like its and experimented with purple paint. primary purpose is to inspire me to The latest whale emissions. regulationsInstead, require reduce my carbon Maine fishermen new itallfeels likelobster a document thattoisuse meant markings on the ropes they attach to to memorialize the island communilobster traps.

Depending on how close ties and their culture. But for me, it to shore they fish, they will have to add succeeds at both.

2-4 purpleFleming marks on buoy line.

Because haseach been visiting On warps that are 100-feet or less there the islands frequently and for many must be 12-inch purple marktowithyears, heone was uniquely suited tell in a few fathoms of the trap and a 36their story. Some of the settings he inch purple within 2 fathoms of immerses themark reader in are truly intithe buoy.

If the warp is longer that 100 mate. An image comes to mind of a feet, thepicking requirement is for a 12-inch woman crab meat in her home purple mark trap, a second kitchen whilenear herthe husband relaxes 12in inchrecliner purple next marktohalfway to the buoy, his an American flag and a 36-inch mark adorned Christmas tree.near the buoy.

Bruce figures he will be putting It is evident that Fleming and1,500 his to 1,800 markings on his rope in two subjects are well acquainted, all; if not to three and weeksit of extra the workreader if he does friends, makes feel it without hiring help.

A number for a moment as if they are part of offishthe ermen are applying paint to their ropes community. byThere’s restingalso them 3-foot long gutters an in entire section of the made dedicated from lengthwise-halved PVC book to the wildlife ofpipe. the Bruce’s first attempt was with spray paint bay, so beyond the powerful humanbut he soon on to thetale more interest storymoved and dramatic of effisea cient brush and latex paint. level rise, Island Life also illustrates the Some fishermen will add a 3-foot

piece of purple rope to the end of the buoy line or toggle, but all attachments must be made with a splice or a tuck.

I know it’s a stretch to compare following MaineIsland whale Liferope requirements with a plein air workshop, but

By Jay Fleming (2021) a person could return home from either and sayregion. that they’d been paintnature of the It is complete with ing in their spare time. Ifpelicans Bruce were macro images of newborn and writing an essay how he his underwater shots on of feisty bluespent crabs. winter vacation, painting would be The context of the photography ina part it. Another wouldvaluable be the IslandofLife makes itpart far more description I heard him tell his brother than just its beautiful imagery. Tangier Mark aboutislands walking to gettodoughnuts, and Smith appear be special in February, with our son Robin, to Fleming for their culture first, and and our grandchildren Henry and Cora. IfI their beautiful scenery second. was Portland, itand the away trendswith of friends erosionincontinue, is Stephanie wascommunities away with friends in possible these will follow Florida. son were in charge. the sameFather fate ofand Holland Island.

“Yeah, we got doughnuts The Fleming achieves what a trueatdocuCookie Jar and then walked to the mentarian would, and he does it well, beach for a picnic and to throw rocks.” capturing people working, living, Eating eating, homemade donutsin and playing, and praying the throwing rocks at the beach—if that present day—no matter how uncertain isn’t a mirror the future looks.image of many childhood summers on Islesford, I don’t know what is.is q Jack Sullivan a multi-media storyteller with the Island Institute, Barbara lives on Islesford (Little publisherFernald of The Working Waterfront.

Cranberry Island) with her husband Bruce.

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World Ocean Observatory

Seafood shrinking as world’s protein source

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IF WE DO NOT do something to counter pressure through consumption and illegal fishing, we will face a crisis in protein supply to feed the growing world population, an estimated 40 percent of whom today are reliant on seafood as their essential source of protein.

We have exhausted certain areas, reduced certain species to the brink of extinction, and despite all the scientific data, regulation, and policy, made insufficient progress toward conservation and protection of a natural resource on which we rely.

Pretty simple, and yet there is not much success to The other day in my doctor’s office I noticed show for our awareness of the problem. As a result, we will inevitably turn to aquaculture, in the water a poster on the wall cautioning pregnant or on land, to compensate for this loss and maintain women against consuming certain wild fish, swordfish for example, as containing mercury seafood supply to meet the demand of the future.

Aquaculture is not new. Much of the salmon we and other polluting elements that might purchase at the supermarket is farmed in Norway or endanger both mother and fetus. We need to Chile. Most of our oysters and mussels are farmed. understand this too as a status quo condition: Kelp and other seaweed farms are growing by the day. that we are already overfishing wild species we have contaminated by detrimental activity New on-land aquaculture plants are proposed. on land. This is beyond irony There is much controversy, some when we understand the potenopposition righteous and justified, some tial effect on the health of an self-interested, some fearful of change. unborn child.

There is every reason to be careful Surely, we would do well that the solution does not exacerbate Much of the to inform ourselves and to the problem. These include disease, salmon we understand the pros and catastrophic death or release, interferpurchase at the cons of both wild fishery and ence with traditional fishing patterns, aquaculture before we close polluting waste, harmful by-products, supermarket is our minds for or against one and corrupted freshwater sources.

The usual counter arguments are farmed in Norway approach over another.

The ocean will provide, if made: new local employment, propor Chile. we can focus our ingenuity on erty tax generation, local endeavor to the most important things. It compete with foreign producers, and will give us energy, freshwater, the fundamental assertion that,without food, medicine, and cultural aquaculture, we will be priced out of a meaning, but only for as long as we respect it supply that will affect our diet and public health.

I believe aquaculture and associated value-added for its generosity and its solace. Is it possible, products are inevitable, and with all responsible now, that we avoid our old ways of consumpcaveats taken, must be welcomed and encouraged. In tion until there is no more to give? Is it possible that we serve the ocean equally to its truth, this is already reality.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has service to us?

Let’s not close our minds to change so that reported that, since 2013, aquaculture production has already exceeded that of wild fisheries, whether change does not overwhelm us. industrial or artisanal. Enormous progress has been made in closing the reproductive cycle, species diversification, live and formulated feeds, selec- Peter Neill is director of the World Ocean tive breeding, disease management, water manage- Observatory, which produces weekly radio ment, and other technical advancements that have essays heard on WERU-FM, 89.9, on addressed initial, justifiable concerns. podcast at apple.com/us/podcast/worldShould we be cautious? Of course. Should we ocean-radio/id425361249, and at www. ignore this advancement out of recalcitrance and worldoceanobservatory.org/world-ocean-radio. fear? I hope not.

He lives in Sedgwick.

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The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

Saltwater Cure

A good deed was the best medicine Non-COVID illnesses are back, but so is kindness

By Courtney Naliboff IT’S NO SECRET that these are trying times. It’s a metaphorical rough ferry ride, with the news cycle and pandemic sending us up into an optimistic high, only to bring us crashing down into yet another trough. In a recent column, I wrote about the small gesture of leaving patches of milkweed standing for the monarch butterflies. It must have really resonated—a lot of you wrote to me about it. So, I want to offer another anecdote about a little bit of hope in trying times.

One ray of light during last year’s masked and distanced school year was the fact that nobody seemed to get sick.

No colds, no flu, no norovirus. Not for me, not for the kids. When I did finally catch a cold this summer, it was a shock to my immune system, and I was way sicker than I anticipated.

While masking and vaccination are keeping COVID at bay on the island (knock wood!), we seem to have gone back to our old ways of catching whatever little bugs are milling around. A cold went through the school a few weeks ago, which my daughter caught,

and last Saturday, she woke up with a a likely case of Lyme, which became even more definitive as the rash spread temperature of 102.

I was heading off that afternoon for the next day. This meant a full week a Halloween show in Portland, and out of school, missing a test that she Bill stayed home with Pen. Over the was looking forward to (what can I say, weekend I got a few updates—her she’s my kid!), and four play rehearsals.

We were glad to know what was temperature was hovering between 102 and 104, she had a negative COVID going on, but it didn’t help poor Pen’s mood. She had turned test, she felt better when into a little couch she took ibuprofen, and lump, binge-watching worse when it wore off.

The Simpsons, eating When they I came back Sunday afterplain noodles, and noon, and quickly vetoed realized that she napping. Her bearded the idea of trick or treating. had missed the dragon, Cliff, kept She had also missed her company, but the community center greatest of all she truly missed her Halloween party. She cried, kid rituals, trick friends and routine. carved a pumpkin, and Her friends missed went back to her spot on or treating, they her, too. When they the couch under a favorite banded together, realized that she had fuzzy blanket. missed the greatest of Her condition remained unprompted… all kid rituals, trick or mysterious. On Tuesday, treating, they banded when I was home with her, together, unprompted she found two clues: a tiny blister on one finger, and a round rash by adults, to form an elementary school meal train—one comprised entirely of on her forearm.

Back at the clinic, she was quickly Halloween candy.

She received four huge bags in all, left diagnosed with hand, foot, and mouth—that dreaded fall virus—and on our porch, my desk, or delivered to

our front door. Parents looked relieved to pass off some of the massive stash, and the kids understood that they were performing a true mitzvah.

Pen was delighted. Her friends missed her, they understood what she was feeling after missing out on Halloween entirely, and now she had a candy hoard for the ages.

Once her antibiotics arrived she started to feel better, and she’s on track to be back to school on Monday. She spent the end of her convalescence writing thank you notes to her friends and happily doing a little school work her teacher sent home.

I wouldn’t wish the double whammy of HFM and Lyme on anyone, but when bad circumstances lead to good works, they become a little easier to bear.

Courtney Naliboff parents, teaches music, theater, and writing, and plays music on North Haven. She can be reached at: Courtney.Naliboff@gmail.com.

Journal of an Island Kitchen

A sunshine filled kitchen

Old and new ways of dealing with winter

By Sandy Oliver WHEN CAPT. EMERY BUNKER, who lived in my home with his wife Adrianna in the last half of the 1800s, renovated the house in 1889, he added a kitchen ell and attached it to the barn.

Before he became a master mariner, he learned carpentry from his father Silas, and absorbed all the wisdom of siting houses that our forebears deeply understood.

As the sun trends lower at midwinter, the south kitchen window collects sunshine and warmth and an almost blinding light floods the kitchen midday. Then as the sun shifts seasonally northward more light comes in the opposite window, over the sink, and fills the kitchen with light but less heat.

The barn, thank goodness, has a southeastern facing roof.

The house is perfect for solar gain.

Despondent about climate change, I read one day about the seeming uselessness of individual action. One writer said, “Do one thing.” If everyone did One Thing—whatever is in their power to do—we could make real progress.

That, plus a desire to improve household sustainability, pointed toward solar power.

Decades ago now, a wise old anthroposophist (follower of Rudolf Steiner— look it up, it’s pretty interesting) told me that wood, when burned, released sunshine absorbed by the tree over years of growing. As a metaphor, that works for me so when I stoke my kitchen stove in winter, I imagine sunshine—solar power—released to warm my face and hands by, to fry morning eggs or cook soup. That’s been part of my life for years now, recently joined by 18 solar panels and a Tesla Wall.

Low tech and very high tech. The cook stove’s gas burners, used all the five months when I am not burning wood, serve as a supplemental cooking surface in colder months. I also use an electric oven, a toaster, coffeemaker, food processor, stand and hand mixers, microwave, and stick blender.

Recently we added a fast-heating electric kettle. A fridge and two freezers help me store garden produce, even though many vegetables and fruit are simply cellared. Electricity powers the water pump as well.

Anyone living in Maine, certainly on the islands, is familiar with power outages. Lots of friends and neighbors installed generators lately, most

relying on propane or gasoline. In this house, we managed outages nicely over the years, cooking and heating wash water on the woodstove; staying warm with stove fires; and relying on our rain barrels or melted snow for flushing or washing.

In fact, water pump and freezers are my sole points of worry in extended outages. Otherwise, we kind of like it when the power fails, reading, knitting in evening by candlelight or solar flashlight, in a very quiet house free from all the hums and buzzes of our appliances.

Installing a big battery regularly replenished by sunlight solved my back-up power problem. With management (like not baking or drying clothes), we can rely for a couple days of cloudy, stormy weather on stored sunshine. Even with clouds, the barn roof generates modest amounts of energy, enough to keep the lights on and toast bread.

I get to monitor all this on my phone.

An app shows me the flow of electricity from the roof to house circuits and to battery storage. I can see when the house draws on the grid, or excess energy from the panels flows back to it. I’ve spent so much time absorbed

by watching kilowatts moving around that my household teases me about watching solar porn.

It’s true. So thrilling to see that my battery is up to 98 percent filled and 4.1 kilowatts are distributed to house and battery. I know because I just looked.

And it’s only 10:06 in the morning. So far today, I have been 99 percent selfpowered. Hah. I freely admit it’s not cost effective.

Entertainment value aside, had I saved the expense of installing my system, I could pay my electric bill for the rest of my natural life which, with luck, is about ten more years, though the system will probably benefit the next generation.

However, filling my kitchen now with sunshine from the barn roof, is the One Thing I could do. So I did it.

Sandy Oliver is a food historian who gardens, cooks, and writes on Islesboro.

She can be reached at: SandyOliver47@ gmail.com

www.workingwaterfront.com . December 2021/January 2022

19

Letters to the Editor Bias is on left, too

Island memories

Oatcakes success

To the editor: I read with interest the Rock Bound column on “Citizen Hearst” in the November issue of The Working Waterfront. I follow the news media quite closely, especially as pertains to political reporting.

I was disappointed, but not surprised to see the negative reference to Fox News and its “political agenda.”

We can agree that Fox generally tilts towards the right.

But why not mention that CNN and MSNBC have political agendas that decidedly tilt towards the left?

One has only to remember that for 2-1/2 years the liberal media, led by CNN and MSNBC and the New York Times, screamed daily about Donald Trump and his “Russian collusion” activities. When that was finally shot down by the Mueller investigation, there were no apologies or retractions from these outlets.

They simply moved on to the next alleged scandal.

Fox News has consistently shown much more credibility in accurate news reporting over the years.

What is not reported is often more telling than what is reported. A good example is the southern border illegal immigration crisis. Fox was reporting the story beginning in January. CNN began reporting gradually in recent months after a leadership change at the top of the organization.

Likewise, the Hunter Biden scandal(s) are covered regularly by Fox, but no mention made by the others.

There are hundreds of other examples, too numerous to list here, which illustrate my point.

One final anecdote: I recently gave up my subscription to the Bangor Daily News in disgust after spending five years trying to find one positive comment involving conservative politicians or their policies.

I hope The Working Waterfront is not trending in that direction. Otherwise, you produce a nice newspaper.

To the editor: My wife and I enjoyed the articles on Ted Hoskins and the Union Congregational Church on Isle au Haut in the November issue.

There were threatening skies on a cool September Saturday when Ted married us out there in 2007.

After the vows were said and the church emptied to “When I’m Sixty-Four,” the sun broke through, the weather warmed, and we all walked to the library for laughter, food, and dancing.

We have the good fortune of having life-long friends at Point Lookout and we try to get out to the island every summer to enjoy its magic.

Trailering our 21-foot Seaway from home in West Bath to Stonington allows us the unimaginable pleasure of cruising through the islands of Merchants Row. Going the “back way” we scoot between Pell and Wheat islands. That’s when you first see the steeple. It’s been an aid to navigation for over 160 years.

I get a lump in my throat every time it comes into view.

To the editor: I was very interested in making the oatcakes described in the November issue of The Working Waterfront which I receive as an insert in the Bangor Daily News.

I enjoy Carr’s Whole Wheat Crackers, but find them rather sweet. As Barbara Fernald noted in her Cranberry Report column, I had everything needed in my cupboard, including three different kinds of oats. Extra thick rolled, steel cut, and quick. I went with 2 cups of quick oats. I followed the recipe exactly. And I did find that I needed to flip them over and bake another five minutes.

These were just right! Not sweet. Thank you, Barb!

There were several other articles in this issue that I really enjoyed reading including the one about piloting in Penobscot Bay, workers and jobs, changes in census populations, the boat builder with ALS, and Phil Crosman’s recollection about the fractured arm and more.

Thank you for your excellent journalism.

Phil Whitney Great Cranberry Island

Informative writing To the editor: High praise for Peter Neill’s columns in The Working Waterfront (“World Ocean Observatory”). They are well-written, informative, and up to date. I’m proud to say he and I were classmates way back when.

Patti Riley Ellsworth

Nick and Polly Hyde West Bath

Enlightening reads To the editor: Just a note to let you know how much I appreciate each issue of The Working Waterfront. Excellent, wellpresented articles that are educational.

Example: Meghan Grabill’s article, “Here comes the sun” was enlightening for a non-technical, non-DIY type like me. For the first time, I understand the basics involved with residential solar installation!

Also enjoy culturally-based articles such as the one on French Canadian “bias.” The Augusta experience cited hit home. As an Augusta resident growing up in the 1940s, I immediately identified with the examples presented, and how much I rebelled against the bias as a “young white guy” with a lot of Franco-American Cony High School friends.

Best regards for continued success.

Albert Johnson New York City

See you in January!

Our next issue prints in 2022

With this issue—the December/January edition—The Working Waterfront wraps up 2021. We return with the February/March issue, which prints Jan. 20.

The COVID-19 pandemic has held sway over our lives—personal and professional—for about 20 months now. The pandemic also has left its mark on Maine, impacting real estate prices and tourism, among other things.

And of course, COVID has impacted how we produce this newspaper and how we fulfill our mission of reporting on and reflecting the wonderfully rich place that is the Maine coast and islands.

As editor, I’m proud of what we offered you, the reader, these last ten issues. It’s been harder to get out and about to meet with community leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, environmentalists, educators, and those whose livelihood is tied to ocean. But the first-rate writers and photographers who contribute to these pages did connect with this place

The Working Waterfront welcomes letters to the editor, which should contain no more than 300 words and sent, with “LTE” in the subject line, to: tgroening@islandinstitute.org Longer opinion pieces should be cleared with editor Tom Groening before submission at the same address.

Don Cookson Atkinson

and brought you diverse stories and images, many of which would not be found anywhere else.

As I look back on 2021, I’m grateful to the advertisers who have stuck with us through another difficult year. Please know that the 45,000 copies of each issue we circulate are reaching readers.

I’m grateful to our writers and photographers who tell me they like to be a part of this publication, if only because it gives them the opportunity to document the wonderfully vibrant, stunningly beautiful, and defiantly authentic place they choose to call home.

I’m grateful to our four island columnists, whose voices add spice and flavor, to Island Institute staff who share writing duties for two other columns and who often pitch-in with news stories, and to our Island Fellows, who take turns writing a column about their work and lives.

I’m grateful to the Island Institute, the 38-year-old nonprofit that publishes this paper, and whose dedicated and talented staff work to sustain coastal and island communities.

And I’m grateful to you, the reader, for investing your valuable time in what we have to say and show. See you in January!

—Tom Groening

20

The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

Field Notes

Equity can be workforce solution Why the ‘neighborhood’ must change

By Yvonne Thomas

“THE NEIGHBORHOOD is changing” was the refrain from Lawrence Alexander, an equity educator who spoke at the Island Institute’s Workforce Pathways Conference in October. The refrain suggests that if Maine is to thrive, it will be because we embrace change on almost every level, including changing who lives and works in our communities.

In Alexander’s lively and humorous remarks, he made the business case for equity and inclusion in schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods.

Amanda Rector, Maine’s state economist, who spoke earlier, reported the demographic and economic trends in Maine that reflect a lack of age and racial diversity.

Alexander asked the educators and employers attending to consider the ways we are trying to hold onto what was when we need to prepare ourselves, our schools, and our workplaces for what will be.

Leaning into diversity and equity is seen as a moral imperative by many Maine schools, businesses, and nonprofits. But it’s also the smart thing to do if we care about the future success of our state. Alexander notes that if we

resist becoming more diverse, we do so at our own peril.

Consider millennials, born 19811996. They are the most educated and yet underemployed generation in history in part because society did not adequately connect what was happening in school with what would be needed in the workplace.

In my nearly 20-year role as a school counselor beginning in the mid-1990s, I embraced the “college for all” movement with the best of intentions, thinking it was both inclusive and equitable. But one-sizefits-all approaches in public education are inherently inequitable because students have such diverse backgrounds, levels of privilege, and social and academic needs.

What I should have been doing, and what schools and businesses are now starting to pursue, is connecting students to the type of postsecondary education and/or training that will lead them to career pathways that are fulfilling and financially viable. This includes preparing them for global citizenship regardless of where they live or work so they can both enjoy and foster a sense of belonging wherever they are.

So how do we do that? Alexander explained it as an equation: diversity plus

equity plus inclusion equals belonging.

Diversity on its own is merely a fact— differences exist. When we choose to center equity, we can start to see people where they are and meet their needs.

Inclusion is the actions we take to ensure our schools and workplaces are safe and fair for everyone. Being able to bring every aspect of our identity, our full selves to school, workplace, and neighborhood will be the result, and that equals belonging. If we neglect to do racial and other equity work, then we are telling current and future students, employees, and community members they cannot fully bring themselves to school or work. And they won’t.

If we make an ongoing and active commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, people will feel they belong in this school, this workplace, this neighborhood, and this state.

Because Maine is predominantly white we need to learn how to talk about race and normalize diversity in school and in the workplace. This is hard to do, especially for white people like me. I do not get daily reminders from the dominant culture that I am somehow less than or “other” because of how I look or live.

Alexander stresses the importance of

Fathoming

cultural competency as a 21st century skill that employers value and schools and workplaces must teach and model.

As white people are able to talk about race and examine policies and practices that improve schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods, they gain cultural competence.

When we address all aspects of diversity, especially race, we are telling everyone their full humanity is welcome and belongs here. If we get this right, everyone will benefit, especially those born in the last 25 years.

They will attend schools and live in communities that will prepare them to belong and thrive in racially diverse workplaces with unlimited options.

The neighborhood is changing, and so must we.

Yvonne Thomas is a community development officer and education specialist with the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront.

She can be reached at ythomas@ islandinstitute.org.

Equitable access to broadband is a worthy investment Those pursuing training are key demographics for economy

By Susan Corbett and Nick Battista THE PANDEMIC CLARIFIED what many already knew—your ability to connect to the internet is not guaranteed.

Where you live determines the quality of the infrastructure you can access. Your ability to use that connection depends on whether you can afford internet service, if you have a device to use, and your skill in using the device.

Your internet connection is intensely personal. A good connection allows you to video chat with family and friends or share pictures of your kids. You might use the internet to look up something health related—whether it’s for you, a parent, a child, or a friend. Maybe you do some of your banking online.

As school, work, and life happen more online, your internet connection is your access to the digital economy.

Most internet access comes from a service provider and is delivered through privately owned infrastructure. Companies build broadband infrastructure where it makes economic sense, where they can see some sort of economic return on the capital they invest.

Rural areas are often less profitable because they have fewer potential

customers. Communities or neighborhoods with low average incomes are more likely to be skipped by companies. Poorer, more rural communities struggle even more to attract private investment. In addition, years of digital redlining means many communities are still stuck with antiquated, inadequate infrastructure.

Public subsidies can help improve internet infrastructure. If a company can reduce its capital needs through a grant, it can see a higher return on its capital investments. A 25 percent to 50 percent public subsidy can close the gap for many projects.

In the same way that a private company needs to see a return, taxpayers need to know they are getting a good return when they pay for part of a project. The public return doesn’t come when the infrastructure is built, it comes when people use it.

Equitable access to the internet is not just an infrastructure problem. It also exists where people aren’t able make full use of the internet, even if they have world-class infrastructure.

Through 3,234 one-on-one tutoring sessions to novice computer users, the National Digital Equity Center reaches some of Maine’s most vulnerable

citizens and helps them join the digital economy. Of these students: • 4 1 percent have an educationallevel of high school or less.

• 4 8 percent have a family median income of $34,999 or less.

• 5 9 percent are between 21 and 64—working age adults.

• 5 9 percent are 55 years old and older, including 27 percent who are 70 and older.

• 75 percent are female.

Broadband adoption rates reported in the American Community Survey tell an important part of the story. This data provides insight into how many people in an area have internet in their homes.

Layering in data sets such as median income and educational attainment as well as broadband speeds and information about digital inclusion work helps paint a picture of the potential return on public investments. This information can help provide a data-driven reason to support that community in broadband planning or increase digital inclusion efforts like programs that help provide affordable broadband, affordable equipment, digital literacy training, and public computer access.

Intentionally seeking out vulnerable communities and serving them with

suitable programming helps make the

internet more useful.

Beyond looking at the data, closing

the digital divide also requires making connections between those in the broadband sector and those working on adjacent issues. For example, when the pandemic happened, some of the displaced workers training at career centers took free digital skills classes and received a certificate that counted as one of their job searches. Over 500 unemployed people went through this program. This kind of work could be further leveraged through packaging the trainings with a skills assessment and creating individual learning plans to help the individuals get the right skills for the jobs they are seeking.

Not everyone in Maine has the same opportunity to participate in today’s economy. Let’s work together using data and partnerships to close the digital divide.

Susan Corbett is founder and executive director of the National Digital Equity Center. Nick Battista (nbattista@ islandinstitute.org) is senior policy officer at the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. Both serve on the ConnectMaine Authority Board.

www.workingwaterfront.com . December 2021/January 2022

21

Cranberry Report

And the secret ingredient is…

Plus, the gift of fall on a Maine island

By Barbara Fernald I would like to humbly apologize to anyone who read my last column about oatcakes and who had baking failures because they followed a recipe in which I neglected to put oats in the list of ingredients.

Two cups of oats! Two cups of oats!

I so carefully edited my directions to make sure they made sense but I forgot to double check the rest of my recipe.

I would never intend to leave out the main ingredient, but I sure did last month! I actually had a batch of oatcakes baking in the oven on the day I received my November copy of The Working Waterfront. I never noticed the omission, but within an hour I had an email from a reader who wanted to bake.

“How many cups of oats do I need?”

I looked again at my column in the paper. No oats! I looked back at the copy I had sent to our editor. No oats!

The mistake was all mine. It was easy enough to fix in the online version, but I vowed to answer any emails, letters, or phone calls on the day I received them. I had over a dozen opportunities to follow through with this commitment, and each one was

actually quite enjoyable, though I’m still sorry for my mistake.

I will call almost any month “one of my favorites” because I love living on Little Cranberry Island, but if I had to pick a favorite season, fall is the one.

This year’s warm October days were a gift, luring several of us into the water on bonus beach afternoons. It was an amazing year for apples all over the island, providing quick picking and an abundant source for applesauce, chutney, pies, breads, cakes, and crisps.

On four different occasions I picked baskets of Macintosh apples from Mark Fernald’s tree, yet each time it looked as if no one had been there.

In my garden I’ve been “undoing” the summer. I’ve cut back my perennials, divided some irises, pulled up annuals, and helped my grandchildren plant next year’s garlic. The garden is ready for a blanket of leaves and seaweed.

How fortunate I am to live in a place where I can get free seaweed right at the end of my road. It’s one of the perks of island living. I just have to wait for the next storm to conveniently deposit piles of the brown slimy vegetation at the top of the beach.

As I put my garden to bed for a long nap, my head fills with ideas. Any evidence of what didn’t grow well last summer is gone. All I see is potential for the next growing season and I feel optimistic.

In the weeks before the winter solstice the lowering angle of the sun creates a quality of light that I look forward to seeing every year. I love the cloudy days, when a stray beam of sunlight hits the yellow leaves of a birch tree. The illusion of a tree generating its own luminosity against the gray delights me every time.

Toward the end of November the light will be a little more filtered, with a cooler hue. More of it comes through the openings left by fallen leaves, so even though the days are shorter, they can be extremely bright.

The very light I love is a bane to lobster fishermen who have trouble with the glare it produces on the water. They are starting to round up gear either to move it out farther or bring it ashore and the light can cause them to miss a buoy or more.

I know it’s not everyone’s favorite time of year, and that some people really suffer with days that darken by 3:30 p.m. I am

Observer

fortunate to not be one of them. I am so grateful to really love this time of year, undaunted by the dark and so appreciative of the extraordinary light. For me the darkest days fly by with the distraction of the holidays and before I know it the days are getting longer again.

When I think about this time last year, I remember that I did not feel this way about fall at all. It was a very dark time. I want to fully appreciate how wonderful it feels to write an end of year column today using such words as: abundance, hope, optimistic, enjoyable, delight, and oats. I wish you all much grace in the days ahead along with 2 cups of oats and abundant delight in the new year.

Barbara Fernald lives on Islesford and has lots of loyal readers, evidenced by the emails and phone messages the editor received about the missing oats!

She may be contacted at fernald244@ gmail.com.

Living with others

History sometimes comes to ‘life’

By Phil Crossman AROUND MID-DAY on Friday, Aug. 15, 1986, while excavating on the shore of Carver’s Pond, a gravestone—in one piece and undamaged—was unearthed from a very unlikely spot, only a few feet from the shore, certainly far from the nearest cemetery. The stone was cleaned up and carefully set aside. It read: Sarah Noyes, wife of Chaney Noyes, born February 21, 1822 died, August 15, 1886.

In 1849, Sarah and Chaney built the big comfortable federal home that I’m so fortunate to now own and occupy.

They lived here together, until Sarah died, 37 years later.

This day, Aug. 15, 1986, the day her gravestone was unearthed, was the one hundreth anniversary of her death and that night Darlene, our customary babysitter, showed up around 6 p.m. to look after our daughter Katie. I and Elaine, she lovely in a red dress, were headed out to the Haven for dinner with friends.

Darlene played with Katie for a while and then, around 7, took her upstairs to bed, read her a story or two then

came back down and snuggled in on inched toward the stairs that led to the couch to watch something inter- the second floor. Peeking around the corner and upstairs into the darkness, esting on TV. Around 7:30, she heard the kitchen she could see there were no lights on door open, and someone come in. upstairs either.

She tried to issue a hesitant “hello” Darlene called out from the couch, but merely croaked.

“Hello?”

Trembling, she turned There was no answer, but and, leaving all the lights the footsteps came closer, from the kitchen, through Time passed and on, retreated back to the den and there tried the dining room. Figuring no one came desperately to become it was one of us, she barely glanced over her shoulder back downstairs, one with the couch.

Around 9 Elaine and when a woman, dressed in and Darlene I came home to find red—she did notice that grew more and Darlene, a tiny knot much—walked through among the cushions, the dark hall and went more anxious, peeking out from beneath upstairs. then spooked. a blanket. She told us Elaine had probably about the visitor in red forgotten something. that was still upstairs and Odd, though, that she then she hurried home. hadn’t said hello or asked That was over 30 years ago. about Katie or even turned on a light.

Our cat does not navigate the Time passed and no one came back downstairs, and Darlene grew more hallway—where Darlene saw the and more anxious, then spooked. It figure in red—comfortably, and not would be at least an hour before we at all unless the light is on. Then, sometimes, he skirts along quickly, were expected to return from dinner.

She got off the couch, stepped tenta- more so recently, tail at attention, tively into the hall and turned on the fur standing up, his back pressed light. She entered the living room and against the north wall while hissing turned on a light, then all its lights and at the opposite wall, until he emerges

into the living room and retreats to a napping place at the opposite side of the room, not to sleep but, apparently, to watch what only he sees.

And while he does often go upstairs, he will not come into our bedroom, often backing into a corner in the hall and snarling quietly but unmistakably, at our bedroom door.

No one has come downstairs yet that we know of, although several times in those 30 years, we’ve been awoken in our second-floor bedroom by a transient presence, usually at the foot of the bed, lovely in red, clearly troubled.

Phil Crossman lives on Vinalhaven, where he owns the Tidewater Motel and serves on the select board. He is the author of Away Happens, As The Crow Flies and Observations: A Maine Island, a Century of Newsletters and the Stories Found Between the Lines.

He can be reached at: PhilCrossman.

VH@gmail.com.

22

The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

GMRI to buy Portland’s Union Wharf Nonprofit committed to keeping working waterfront

By Stephen Rappaport

According to a statement released by the Institute to announce the signing of a purchase and sales agreement in March, the Proprietors of Union Wharf, led by fifth-generation owners and managers Charlie and Malcolm Poole, began looking for someone to take the property off their hands.

Union Wharf is Portland’s oldest commercial wharf, built in 1793. Family predecessors to the Pooles were involved as proprietors and owners as early as the mid-1800s.

After 160 years of ownership, the Poole family sought “a like-minded entity to carry on the tradition of maintaining a working pier and a working waterfront,” GMRI said in its statement. The family selected GMRI’s bid because of its commitment to steward the wharf as the centerpiece of the city’s working waterfront.

“We were not the highest bidder, but we paid a fair price and provided a stewardship commitment” to maintain the wharf for use by the maritime and fishing communities through a limited liability company GMRI will set up for the purchase,” Perkins said.

“Union Wharf is a fully operating pier and working waterfront, and we’re going to keep it working,” Perkins said. That means GMRI has no present plans for new buildings on the wharf, though it might expand an existing building upwards “to accommodate marine and marine technology related businesses.”

That’s good news to existing tenants of the wharf.

Togue Brawn has run Downeast Dayboat, which sells freshly landed Maine scallops and other Maine

THE PAST AND the future of Portland’s working waterfront will be melded together when the Gulf of Maine Research Institute completes its purchase of Union Wharf from the Poole family, owners of the historic wharf since at least 1861, later this year.

GMRI announced the impending purchase on Nov. 15. Speaking a day later, the Institute’s president and CEO Don Perkins said the parties hope to complete the transaction by late December.

No sales price has been disclosed, but it is likely to be high, given the demand for waterfront property in Portland. City tax records show a total assessed value of $8,727,200 for the approximately 6.7-acres of wharf, related shorefront, and a 51,000 square foot building.

Perkins said the purchase price would be paid with cash and the proceeds of mortgage financing from “a commercial lender with a very strong reputation and presence here in Maine.”

GMRI had that lender lined up before it submitted an offer for the property. “We had to,” Perkins said. “We were competing against other, well-endowed bidders.”

Meeting mortgage payments should not be an issue, Perkins said. Union Wharf has been “extremely well maintained by the Poole family,” has a “capable and eclectic mix of tenants,” and generates enough income “to service the debt and improvements.”

Perhaps surprisingly, the Institute wasn’t the highest bidder for Union Wharf.

A lobster boat cruises past some of Portland’s wharves in late fall. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

seafood products, all over the country from Union Wharf for several years. She was pleased the wharf ’s new owner will be the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

“As a tenant on Union Wharf, I was concerned when I heard about the Poole family’s decision to sell, although I certainly understood their motivations,” Brawn said recently. “I spoke with Charlie [Poole] many times over the past year or two as various buyers were considered and I was thrilled when I learned that the wharf would remain in the hands of an entity with a proven track record of working with and prioritizing the needs of Maine’s commercial fishing industry.”

That’s just the sort of response that Perkins and GMRI are hoping for.

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www.workingwaterfront.com . December 2021/January 2022

23

Art of the Waterfront

Marsden Hartley’s Corea and Lobster Fishermen Iconic painting speaks to place and community This column marks the launch of an occasional feature by renowned art writer Carl Little on images of Maine’s working waterfront.

By Carl Little

W

hen Marsden Hartley returned to his native state in 1937, he was determined to become “the painter from Maine.” Born in Lewiston in 1877, he had spent time in Berlin, the south of France, Bavaria, the American Southwest, and other places hither and yon. In generally poor health, more or less fed up with the New York art scene, he was ready to head north.

Hartley fulfilled his mission with paintings that now rank among masterworks of 20th-century American art. They include images of Georgetown Island, Vinalhaven, the Bagaduce River, Mount Katahdin, and Old Orchard Beach.

When fellow painter Waldo Peirce drove him Downeast to Corea in 1939, Hartley found what turned out to be his final home. He returned a year later and took lodging with the Young family, setting up a studio in the church across the street. He would spend a part of the following three summers there before dying of heart failure in the Ellsworth Hospital on Sept. 2, 1943.

That quintessential coastal village offered Hartley new subjects, including the local fishermen. And his work in Corea led to fame: In acquiring Lobster Fishermen in 1942, the Metropolitan Museum of Art signaled his stature as a major American artist.

Hartley was, so to speak, primed to paint this subject from his sojourns in Nova Scotia in 1935 and 1936. There he had become close to the Masons, a family of fisherfolk. He admired their rugged selfreliance and respected their fraught relationship with the sea (two sons drowned in a storm during his stay).

While the Nova Scotia paintings offer semi-likenesses of individuals, Hartley’s Maine lobstermen are nearly featureless. Dressed in work clothes, each wearing a hat, they are not heroic figures, yet their simple postures speak to a self-sacrificing attitude. One man looks off as if to check the weather, another rests his forehead on his hand. Only the Lobster Fishermen, Marsden Hartley standing fisherman seems confident, his fingers hitched in his belt, his large boots imposing.

Through this forthright yet humble tribute to Hartley places the men on a wharf with lobster traps Downeast fishermen, the “painter from Maine” introto indicate their livelihood. The landscape beyond is duced museum goers from around the world to a particpure Downeast: on one side, a house surrounded by ular place and people—and to the working waterfront, a pointed firs, on the other, two points of land with fragile yet enduring part of our state’s heritage. shacks, an island, and a blue sky with wisps of clouds.

“These men are part of—are one with—their environ- To learn about Hartley’s life and art, visit the Bates ment and their work,” observed Donna Cassidy in her College Museum of Art’s Marsden Hartley Legacy ground-breaking study Marsden Hartley: Race, Region, Project: bates.edu/museum/marsden-hartleyand Nation (2005), adding, “they are a community.” adventurer-in-the-arts/.

The Working Waterfront . December 2021/January 2022

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LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO Maine’s working waterfronts are the lifeblood of our coastal and island communities—from boatyards, piers, and seafood processor to marinas, restaurants, and bed and breakfasts, our connections to the people, resources, and experiences we love are dependent on Maine’s working waterfronts! Rapid changes in Maine’s climate and economy are putting tremendous stress on Maine’s coast, and now less than 20 miles of our 5,000 miles remain as working waterfront.

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Please join the Island Institute community and make a gift today. Your support will preserve and protect Maine’s working waterfronts for future generations!

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3 WAYS TO SUPPORT MAINE’S WORKING WATERFRONT: 1 - Online at giving.islandinstitute.org 2 - Call the Island Institute office at (207) 594-9209 ext. 132 3 - Mail your gift to: Island Institute, PO Box 648, Rockland, ME 04841 All gifts count toward membership