The Working Waterfront - July 2021

News of Maine’s Coast and Islands

THE WORKING

volume 35, № 5 n jul 2021 n free circulation: 50,000

published by the island institute

Saving a Southwest Harbor anchor

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workingwaterfront.com

WALK THIS WAY—

Owners want to preserve boat yard for next generation By Laurie Schreiber

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eff and Audrey Berzinis have no firm conclusions on how to do it. But they know one thing—they want to preserve the working waterfront nature of their Southwest Harbor property for future generations. The Berzinises are the long-time owners of Southwest Boat, a marine services yard with multiple buildings, wharf, year-round dockage, 25-ton crane, 250-ton railway, 36,000 square feet of inside storage, machine shop, and welding and metal fabrication. A community sailing center and a marine supply store occupy two of the buildings. Docks are busy year-round with commercial fishing boats. The U.S. Coast Guard, which has a base two doors down, and the Maine Marine Patrol keep boats there. In typical years, the sailing center’s small-boat fleet is often out and about with races and lessons. Berzinis and his crew were recently busy rebuilding a portion of the wharf and plans were in the works to rebuild the railway and install a freezer unit for bait. Now in their mid-70s, the Berzinises are thinking about who will take over the thriving operation.

Belfast flaunted its artsy character this spring by choosing five artists to design and paint creative crosswalks. Kristyne Sanderson designed this lobster buoy-themed crosswalk, which used the actual buoy colors of the city’s lobster fleet. Sanderson and her husband John (pictured), who own and operate True Color Painting, did the work. The project was funded in part by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation. PHOTO: TOM GROENING

“How do you keep something like this going without it going to big developers of condominiums?” Jeff asks. “We want to know how we can protect our business, the tenants, the fishermen, and the use of our property in the future. Right now, it’s the only mixed-use boatyard in Southwest Harbor. We want to retain that.”

The property has a rich working heritage. Its build-out as a boatyard began in the early 1900s. Sim Mayo, the chief instigator of Mount Desert Island’s “automobile war” (he was arrested for flouting a continued on page 4

‘Natural’ salmon strategy is succeeding River-raised instead of hatchery increases return rates By Catherine Schmitt

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n Maine rivers from the Androscoggin to the Dennys, Salmo salar, or Atlantic salmon, has been

on the Endangered Species List since 2000. At Craig Brook and Green Lake hatcheries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains the salmon lineage of each river, matching reproduction to

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maximize genetic diversity and raising on the East Machias River, where since millions to be placed in their native 2012 the Downeast Salmon Federation rivers as a long-running strategy to has been experimenting with a more “natural” approach. Fish recover the species. hatch from eggs into But only a small unfiltered, fast-flowing percentage return as East Machias River water in adults, and scientists “We can fix the including John Kocik river, but if we’re tanks with black sides and bottoms meant to mimic of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center putting in fish that the gravelly riverbed. Each fall, tens of largely blame changing won’t survive, we thousands of young marine conditions. won’t succeed.” salmon, known as parr, are “The most important distributed throughout strategy we can use to —DWAYNE SHAW the East Machias River. address low marine These conditions and survival is to get more density are modeled after young salmon to the ocean,” said Kocik. And wild salmon— methods developed by the late Peter those that have grown up in their home Gray on the Tyne River in England that river instead of in a hatchery—have are credited with restoring that river’s salmon population. better survival at sea, said Kocik. Such a strategy appears to be succeeding at the Peter Gray Hatchery continued on page 5

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The Working Waterfront . July 2021

Days and nights at the opera house

The Camden Opera House. PHOTO: COURTESY TOWN OF CAMDEN

In late 19th century, coastal towns invested in performance spaces By Stephanie Bouchard

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fter the Civil War, small towns across the United States began constructing and opening opera houses, including across Maine’s interior and coast. As the days of traveling entertainers wound down, and cars allowed more people to travel to larger cities for their entertainment, opera houses began shuttering. Some were torn down after they closed, some repurposed, and others have been restored to their original use—a place for the community to gather— and glory. Some, like the Belfast Opera House, are in private hands, with the hopes of one day being restored. Here’s a rundown of some of the opera houses on the coast that are operating today as public venues:

Camden Opera House

Situated along one of the busiest routes in the state, the Camden Opera House has “always been the hub of town,” said Dave Morrison, the opera house’s manager. After it was first built in 1894 to replace a wood hall that burned down, the ground floor was used as retail space, and at one point, was home to the post office, and the top floor served as the Odd Fellows Hall, he said.

The second floor had the 485-seat auditorium, which hosted town graduations (acclaimed poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay graduated from high school there), firemen’s balls, annual town meetings, and more. Today, Morrison said, the opera house still serves as the town hub, with the ground level serving as home to the municipal offices and the auditorium

The Rockport Opera House sits above the harbor. PHOTO: COURTESY TOWN OF ROCKPORT

www.workingwaterfront.com . July 2021 offering dance, theater, and musical performances, as well as playing host to the Camden International Film Festival, conferences such as the Camden Conference, and, even today, town meetings. In the spring of last year, when the pandemic shut down everything, the opera house, too, closed for a time and moved to online events. Then in August it began presenting its SoundCheck performance series, selling only 45 tickets per show, which featured Maine performers, and was offered for free via live streaming. “Like many folks, we found that things we were forced to do to adapt ended up having a silver lining,” said Morrison. By live streaming the performances, the opera house’s audience grew to more than 18,000 for SoundCheck shows. This summer, the Camden Opera House is continuing its SoundCheck shows. For the time being, all audience members are being asked to wear masks inside the building. Each show will be live streamed for free on the opera house’s Facebook page and archived on its YouTube channel. 29 Elm St. (Route 1), Camden www.camdenoperahouse.com

Rockport Opera House

In the 1970s, the Rockport Opera house had deteriorated to such a bad state that town officials thought about either selling it or demolishing it. The Rockport Garden Club led an effort to save it, and through an outpouring of local support and a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, the building, originally built in 1891 to serve as town hall, was revitalized, said Andrew Weber, opera house manager and rental agent. Before its near demise, the opera house served as a town meeting space, a library, theater, concert hall, and even a YMCA with a basketball court and a

The Opera House at Boothbay Harbor during the Christmas season. PHOTO: COURTESY OPERA HOUSE OF BOOTHBAY

bowling alley, Weber said. Today, its theater curtain remains in place in all its hand-painted glory at more than 100 years old, and the space hosts the annual town meeting, select board meetings and other public meetings, private functions such as weddings, theater and dance performances, and concerts. It also hosts the Maine Media Workshops Summer Lecture Series and is home to Bay Chamber Concerts. Due to the pandemic, all events were cleared off last year’s calendar. This year, some events are back, but others, such as the always-anticipated Maine Media Workshops Summer Lecture Series and the Bay Chamber Summer Concert series, are not. 101 Main St., Rockport www.rockportmaine.gov/operahouse

Stonington Opera House

The Stonington Opera House has been a gathering place for year-round residents and seasonal visitors since the first version of the building was constructed in 1886, said Tony Adams, executive director of Opera House Arts, the nonprofit that operates and restored the current building, which was built in 1912, after a fire in 1910 incinerated the second version of the building. From 1912 through the 1960s, it served its community as a home for plays, dances, vaudeville and theater performances, movies, and public events, such as high school graduations, Adams said. For a time, it was home to Stonington’s town hall and the high school basketball court, and in the years immediately before its decline, was used as a roller skating rink. Opera House Arts was established for the purpose of resurrecting and restoring the opera house, and in 2000, the organization launched the opera house’s grand reopening. In the years since, the opera house has expanded,

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Stonington Opera House.

adding a glass lobby in 2012, and has been host to year-round local and international performance artists and an annual summer jazz festival. Last year, all in-person events at the 250-seat opera house stopped, but Opera House Arts offered drive-in movies at the local ball field and did virtual presentations. This summer, some events may return to the historic auditorium (that’s still in discussion, said Adams), but most events, including the jazz festival, will be held outside. School and Main streets, Stonington www.operahousearts.org

Boothbay Opera House

Originally built in 1894 as the lodge house for the Knights of Pythias, the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor has played many roles, including as a restaurant and bar, a private home, and a mini-marketplace. In its current life as a nonprofit arts center, it hosts private events, local talent, and international, awardwinning performers year-round. Things were “humming along” when everything was shut down last year, said the Opera House’s executive

director, Cathy Sherrill. “And then, COVID—and that wasn’t good for anyone or any venue,” she said, “but, we’ve weathered it.” Performances were cancelled, but beginning in July, the Opera House began doing live shows again, seating 50 inside instead of 400— keeping the windows wide open even into December. With national and international performers not touring, “our focus turned from national touring artists to supporting Maine musicians,” she said. “We sold out every show.” Financial support came from a PPP loan and the community. “People did whatever they could do,” she said. “We’ve had enough to get by.” This year, the Opera House has local and national performers booked now through summer 2022. Seating is returning to general admission but not at full capacity to allow for plenty of spacing. Windows will once again be open. Audience members must be fully vaccinated or have proof of a negative Covid test taken within 24 hours before a performance. 86 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor www.boothbayoperahouse.com

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www.workingwaterfront.com . April 2020

The Working Waterfront . July 2021

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An aerial image of the yard. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

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

SOUTHWEST HARBOR

During World War II, they employed hundreds of people and turned out hundreds of war boats for the Army, ban on the newfangled machine in Navy, and Coast Guard, running two neighboring Bar Harbor), put up a nine-hour shifts for more than two shop, built and repaired boats, and years to fulfill government contracts. Sargent sold his interest in the yard in installed naphtha and gasoline engines, according to the Southwest Harbor 1963 and subsequent owners followed. In the early 1990s, Berzinis—who Public Library Digital Archive. The property then became the moved to Maine in 1965 from Quincy, Andrew Parker Boat Yard. In 1925, Mass., after some time with the U.S. Navy Reserve and Parker sold it to at Northeastern boatbuilder Chester Un i v e r s i t y — w a s Clement, whose designs inspired “Right now, it’s the only doing contracting work for Bonnie the “lobster yachts” mixed-use boatyard in and Tom Sawyer, built by Bunker Southwest Harbor. We entrepreneurs and & Ellis, also in philanthropists on Southwest Harbor. want to retain that.” Mount Desert Island In 1937, Lennox and elsewhere. “Bink” Sargent and (This past April, Henry Hinckley University recognized bought the yard, renamed it Southwest Husson Boat Corporation, and produced large Tom Sawyer for his leadership.) draggers and other boats. Sargent, In 1993, the Berzinises and the Sawyers a Harvard engineering student, and purchased the yard and renamed it Moulden Marine Services. It was Hinckley, who had a yard across the Southwest BoatLevi harbor and was making a name for in complete disrepair. New pilings, piers, himself in sailing yachts, were distant buildings, and parking were added. The Gerald Sawyers opted out in 1998 but the yard in-laws.“Punkin” Lemoine continued from page 1

Jeff Berzinis, co-owner of Southwest Boat, wants to retain his property’s working heritage into the future. PHOTO: LAURIE SCHREIBER

continues today with the Berzinises. “In my case a lot of it was a labor of love,” said Jeff Berzinis. “I grew up walking under a pile-supported shipyard. But I do need some new blood in here to take over what we started.” Berzinis noted the location is ideal— tucked into the harbor and calm even in a storm. One of the biggest things is to maintain the infrastructure, since it’s all grandfathered in, he noted. “I’ve got to keep that presence,” he said. “Every time you turn around, there’s someone trying to bring in a condominium. The working waterfront is being jeopardized.”

Over the years, Berzinis has been busy with other endeavors, too, including building two mobile home parks. The boatyard is his “last hurrah,” as he said. “It was my passion,” he said. “I’m afraid if we don’t keep it going the way it is, it will be gobbled up and the use will change.” He’s putting out feelers for what the possibilities might be. “I want to keep the place going because it’s a mix of maritime activities,” he said. “Where else are you going to find that? So right now, my wife of 48 years and I are trying to come up with different plans. I don’t know what the answer is.” But he knows it’s important. Staples “It’s like a little community,”Bud he said.

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A wild Narraguagus River salmon smolt. PHOTO: COURTESY DSF

SALMON

continued from page 1 At a presentation in late May, the Downeast Salmon Federation reported a breakthrough—more parr are surviving to become smolts, the life stage that migrates to the ocean, and more smolts are surviving at sea and returning as adults to the East Machias River. “The return rates we are seeing are higher than any other stocking techniques used in Maine,” said hatchery manager Zach Sheller. “NOAA is very intrigued and interested in these results,” said NOAA’s John Kocik. “But it still means less than 1,000 smolts and only 20 adult salmon, only a fraction of what we want to see for recovery.” According to Peter Lamothe, program manager of the Maine-New Hampshire U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Complex, 500 salmon need to return to the East Machias to consider the fish as threatened instead of endangered, and 2,000 to remove them from the Endangered Species List completely. “I hope this leads to something significant,” said Lamothe, “but we still have some work to do. Conditions in the marine environment are still the limiting factor.” In order for salmon to return to Maine rivers, two things have to happen—there has to be hospitable habitat in both fresh and salt water, and there has to be fish to fill it. There’s been a lot of momentum on the freshwater habitat side—removing dams, replacing culverts, cleaning up pollution. According to Dwayne Shaw of the Downeast Salmon Federation, conservation genetics and hatcheries are equally necessary. “We can fix the river, but if we’re putting in fish that won’t survive, we won’t succeed. We have to fix the fish, too,” he said. Their aim is to prevent domestication and be as hands-off as possible.

Dwayne Shaw of the Downeast Salmon Federation. PHOTO: COURTESY DSF

Shaw can’t tease apart what piece is critical. The habitat is certainly not ideal. The East Machias river hosts invasive fish species, like smallmouth bass, that compete with salmon. Water temperature has increased and drought has been common over the last decade. “That’s what’s remarkable to me about all this,” said Shaw. “It’s been like a worst-case-scenario test, and we’ve still seen these results. What happens when we get ideal conditions? We have to be ready.” Downeast Salmon Federation is trying to raise $751,000 in private funding to match a challenge grant from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to expand its approach to the Narraguagus and Pleasant rivers, a plan that is also supported by NOAA and the state of Maine. “We’re not going to have an impact population-wide unless we scale up,” said Shaw. Shaw’s hopes that one day people may again fish for wild salmon in Downeast rivers are sustained by stories of success in the salmon rivers of Denmark, Norway, and England, where the Tyne continues to be an inspiration. Peter Gray’s old hatchery there has been repurposed (currently for culturing mussels) and the river is full of salmon anglers. Closer to home, Shaw finds hope in the bald eagles that perch and soar along the East Machias, and in the hatchery’s dark-sided, gravel-bottomed tanks, where thousands of tiny salmon swim against the current.

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cRanBeRRy RepoRtSecretary speaks to COA grads Native Interior

Haaland urges students to join in climate change fix ting,Debpainting lines, eating , and throwing rocks By Laurie Schreiber

and Piscataway people,” she said, referring to Washington, D.C., and s the Biden administration surrounding areas. The Bar Harbor college, founded seeks to rescue, recover, and rebuild the country, graduating in 1969, offers a degree in “human sford. college idea thattoseeks embody students are stripe) and, key to those bright red with a black like ecology”—an piece of purple rope the to end of the izzas, efforts a transdisciplinary, non-departmental as they enter the workforce. So every other lobster fisherman in Maine buoy line or toggle, but all attachments busier said individualized InteriorheSecretary Deb Haaland, must be madethrough with a splice or a tuck. this winter, read about, talked about, curriculum re the who independent research, and realthe keynote address I know it’s a stretch to compare foland gave experimented with purpleduring paint. study, eason. College of knowledge. This of the Atlantic’s hybrid in- world lowingapplication Maine whale rope requireThe latest whale regulations require portu- person graduating comprisedbut 81 and online commencement mentsthewith a plein class air workshop, all Maine lobster fishermen to use new year, riends ceremony states and 14from nations. 5. markings on onJune the ropes they attach to students a personfrom could20return home eirip to lobster Haaland saidthat the college’s educational “We’retraps. up for the challenge Depending on how with close ther and say they’d been paintg was leaders is crucial the country’s you they coming intoto add the mission ing in their sparetotime. If Bruce work were to shore like they fish, will have ere so workforce, to “build back better, ” a rescue, jobs, ” she told the graduates. 2-4 purple marks on each buoy line. writing an essay on how he spent his ou did On andpainting families agenda A warps member of 100-feet the or less there winter vacation, would be a that are ques- Pueblo articulated by President part would be the must beof oneLaguna 12-inchand purple mark with- part of it. Another ber at ain35th Joe Biden. him tell his brother a fewgeneration fathoms ofNew the trap and a 36- description I heard e sub- Mexican, “You not just Haaland the 2 fathoms Mark about walking toall getare doughnuts, inch purple mark iswithin of “I want you all to meet- first the leaders tomorrow, Native American the buoy. If the warp is longer that 100 in February, with our sonofRobin, and you though floor!) to yourand generation serve as a cabinetis forremember our grandchildren Henry Cora. I feet, the requirement a 12-inch why e and secretary. leading the efforts purple mark Previously, near the trap, a second was away in Portland, and chose12-College of with isfriends h our she to protect our planet was the first Native inch purple mark halfway to the buoy, Stephanie was away with friends in the Atlantic...” Maine. American ” she said. womanmark to benear the and a 36-inch buoy. Florida. Fathertoday, and son were in charge. oal of elected came ata long lead he a will statebe putting 1,500 “Yeah, we gotHaaland doughnuts The Brucetofigures onsid- party waythen on the journey to inmarkings 2014 and is rope in all; two Cookie Jar and walked to the to 1,800 on his n, but one her and barrier-breaking of the firstofNative to throw rocks.” to three weeks extra work if he does beach for a picnic virus- American up in a military to serve in Congress, Eating Growing homemade donuts and it without women hiring help. A number of fish- position. time where sherocks attended 13 beach—if public schools focused paint on environmental ermen she are applying to their ropes family, throwing at the that t to it. justice, from climate and before isn’t a graduating mirror image of high manyschool. childby resting them change, in 3-footmissing long gutters I can murdered a single mother, she volunteered indigenous women, and As made from lengthwise-halved PVC pipe. hood summers on Islesford, I don’t her what child’sis.preschool to afford early family-friendly policies. know Bruce’s first attempt was with spray paint at q paint, but Haaland her address he soongave moved on to thevirtually. more effi- childhood education. “time cient Like many parents, relied on “I’mbrush speaking topaint. you from the Barbara and latex Fernald lives on she Islesford (Little e and ancestral stamps at times, lived paycheck to homeland will of theadd Anacostan Some fishermen a 3-foot food Cranberry Island) with her husband Bruce.

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corn were connected in this system that supports all life.” Those experiences, she said, led her to work on legislation that supported sustainable agricultural practices—with U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree, a COA alumna—and ultimately to her current position. Leading a department with “a direct mission to protect the planet for future generations,” Haaland asked students to honor their connections. “I want you all to remember why you chose College of the Atlantic and what you learned from your experience of Acadia National Park, the homeland of Passamaquoddy people,” she said, adding, “Be fierce and don’t let anything hold you back.”

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paycheck, and struggled to put herself through college, ultimately earning a bachelor’s degree in English and later a juris doctor degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law. She ran her own small business producing and canning Pueblo Salsa, served as a tribal administrator at San Felipe Pueblo, and became the first woman elected to the Laguna Development Corporation Board of Directors, overseeing business operations of the second-largest tribal gaming enterprise in New Mexico. Her work as a public servant, she said, has been centered on combating the climate emergency. “That’s a big part of President Biden’s build back better agenda,” she said. “Which is to say the focus of study at College of the Atlantic will be crucial to the work we do as we all work to build back better.” Haaland said she learned her “deep respect for the natural world” from her dad, “who always took us outside to enjoy the outdoors, and even more profoundly on my grandparents cornfield, at the Pueblo Laguna, where I learned how interconnected the world is. The food we ate came from the plants we grew, which relied on the sun and the water from the river, and the river relied on snow in the mountains during winter. It was a lesson on how even the worms we picked off of the

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Visitors line up to board Starfish Enterprise in Bar Harbor. PHOTO: COURTESY ED MONAT

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Starfish Enterprise will sail from new, more easterly port ‘Diver Ed’ heads to more fertile waters By Stephen Rappaport

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oo many people ashore and not enough animals under the water have forced one of Mount Desert Island’s most popular tourist attractions to move its operations this summer from Bar Harbor to Eastport on Cobscook Bay. Ed Monat, universally known as “Diver Ed,” has run his Dive-In Theater in Bar Harbor for some 20 years. A graduate of College of the Atlantic and one-time town harbormaster, Monat, and his wife and business partner Edna Martin, live on MDI and have no plans to move, but changes both on land and in the water persuaded them to shift their tour business to Eastport where the diving is “beautiful” and where “we could actually find sea creatures to show people,” Monat said. Customers who take a trip on Monat’s 51-foot tour boat Starfish Enterprise enjoy prime reality TV. While the boat is anchored in some sheltered spot, Monat dons diving gear and heads underwater with a high-resolution video camera connected via cable to a large onboard monitor that displays what he is seeing beneath the water. His dive mask is equipped with a microphone so he can talk to his passengers from the sea floor. When he returns onboard, Monat brings samples of the sea life he has found—perhaps sea cucumbers or crabs, lobsters or starfish—for his passengers to inspect before they are returned to the ocean unharmed. Those sea creatures, or rather their absence, are the main reason Monat decided to move his

Diver Ed emerges from the water.

PHOTO: COURTESY ED MONAT

Dive-In Theater from Bar Harbor on the shores of Frenchman Bay to Eastport. When Monat started his business two decades ago, he said, “You could put an anchor over anywhere” and find an abundance of sea life. Things began to change about a dozen years ago when it began to get more difficult “to find spots to show people cool stuff,” especially near the Porcupine Islands situated close to the College of the Atlantic dock that serves as home base for Monat’s business and provides a reasonably roll-free anchorage. In recent years, he said, the situation has been “getting worse and worse.” By contrast, the waters of Cobscook Bay around Eastport offer wonderful diving, “ginormous tides” notwithstanding, and are rich with sea life displaying brilliant colors—orange, reds, pinks, purple—that excite his customers. “There’s stuff that lives there we don’t even see in Frenchman Bay,” Monat said. “We’re going to show people some really pretty things.” Eastport has other attractions for Monat. Although he notes that COA has been great as a home base for his business, “Working out of Bar Harbor logistically is getting harder” as the number of summer visitors continues to climb. He believes the town will be “saturated” this year which will make it harder for his customers to enjoy their experience. In Eastport, the Starfish Enterprise will be based at the Eastport Windjammers dock inside the Sullivan Pier basin where there is plenty of convenient parking. With the first trip scheduled for June 21, the windjammer company, which has offered boat tours from Eastport for decades, will handle all the ticketing and scheduling for Monat’s Dive-In Theater. Eastport Windjammers’ owners, Butch and Janna Harris, “are just great,” Monat said. This summer won’t be the first time Monat has operated from Eastport. In the past, he has run tours during the city’s annual Pirate Festival and he and his wife often travel to the Downeast city to enjoy the diving and the “nice and helpful” community. “We’re super excited about the move,” Monat said. “I’m over the moon. I love diving here.” Whether the Dive-In Theater will return to Eastport in the future depends on how business is this summer, but Monat’s expectations are high. “Our goal is to get people excited about the ocean and marine life,” he said. “This is where the animals are. I think we’re going to have some incredible trips.”

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The Working Waterfront . July 2021

Rock Bound

It is a pretty great bay

Penobscot Bay is a jewel bathed in light and shadow By Tom Groening

by decade, declined, north to south. A good part of Pen Bay’s productivity is I JUST LEARNED that our world’s tied to its circulatory patterns and the oceans have their own day, and it’s June nutrients and fish that come from the 8, the day I am writing this column. river of the same name. One of the wonderful benefits But I want to bring us closer to home. For our 2021 Island Journal of my job is that I get to speak with publication, which prints soon after very smart people and plumb their this newspaper begins circulating, I thoughts. For the Pen Bay story, I wrote about Penobscot Bay, one of spoke to Bob Steneck, a University of three stories we featured this year on Maine professor who does research at the Darling Marine “great bays,” the other two Center, and he explained being the Chesapeake and the circulatory patterns, Narragansett. which have tides going Even though I live, work, Those who clockwise—if Searsport and recreate on its water care about the is at the top of the clock and along its shores, I think Chesapeake face—around Islesboro. I take the size, character, I also spoke to Paul and ecological and cultural could only envy Anderson, director of the history of Penobscot Bay for granted. Reflecting on what Penobscot Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries. One of his its superlatives and history, Bay enjoys… observations that sticks I’ve come to a renewed with me—and which appreciation for it. didn’t make it into the final It is the largest bay in Maine, and its watershed drains about story—is that those who care about a third of the state’s land mass. When the Chesapeake could only envy what Europeans arrived, it was rich with fish. Penobscot Bay enjoys—clean water, And it remained that way into the early somewhat stable fisheries, and working 20th century, though you could no waterfront access. I also interviewed Robin Alden— longer catch cod in the upper reaches of the bay, and that fish density, decade founder of Commercial Fisheries

News, founder of Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries, and former DMR commissioner—and her husband Ted Ames, a legendary figure whose expertise in fisheries management seems to draw equally from research and firsthand and family fishing experience. In our conversation, two themes emerged. The rise of technology in fishing—equipment that better allowed fishermen to harvest large quantities—was always one step ahead of regulations. The other theme is that management needs to consider fish nursery habitat, how those habitats may be different from cove to cove, and how and when fish are caught during their life cycle. In other words, more scalpel, less chainsaw. David Gelinas is president of the Penobscot Bay & River Pilots, and he talked about how cargoes delivered on tankers have changed over 30 years, and an often-overlooked facet of the bay—its deep-water port in Searsport. Long-time lobsterman Dave Cousens is very much a citizen scientist, and his tracking of water temperature and lobster shedding makes an indisputable point—the bay is warming and there are resource

impacts that follow. The biggest impact is, of course, the dominance of lobster. I’ve long been fond of driving from my home in Belfast to the eastern shore of Penobscot Bay and visiting Castine, Brooksville, Brooklin, Deer Isle, and Stonington. Those towns, my sources confirmed, don’t see their fates as intertwined with Camden, Rockland, and Port Clyde. What’s missed is the opportunity for a large bloc of communities to speak with one, powerful voice. And a final theme is change. From cod, herring, and mackerel; to granite; to lobster; and now to landbased salmon farms in Bucksport and Belfast, the bay offers lucrative extraction opportunities. A newly identified resource is wind. Can its energy be harvested responsibly and without disrupting existing activities? That story is still unfolding. Tom Groening is editor of The Working Waterfront and Island Journal. He may be contacted at tgroening@ islandinstitute.org.

Reflections

Downeast adventure has a surprise ending A challenging two years in Eastport leads to a big decision By Mark Macey WHEN MY FATHER AND I crossed from Quebec into Maine, the border agent raised an eyebrow as he looked at our IDs. “You ever set foot in Maine before?” We replied we hadn’t and that I had taken a job out here blind. “I hope you like winters.” We drove across the state in one fell swoop and arrived in Eastport quickly. My first taste of Maine was Downeast, which seemed Up East to me, but I wasn’t going to call anyone on it. At that point, I thought Maine was simply trees, trees, more trees, and some water. What had I done? I was confused, also, by the culture. In my native Utah, we talked nice but never had to follow through. Here it was just the opposite. Folks were curt, flat, a little gruff and yet when I needed help, there was everyone and their mother ready to chip in. How odd. On top of that, there was adjusting to small town life. It was like living in a fishbowl. If I sneezed, someone across town knew about it before I did. And vice-versa. And how was I expected to learn all these names? And the

store closes when? And it’s open what trepidatious steps in Maine, I’m months? And who said what to whom? planning to stay. Not just stay but bring And whose family did what when? my partner (and her bird) out here to And who’s related to whom? And what the end—excuse me—beginning of the world. I’m doing all the things I thought do you mean I didn’t wave? Over my first few months, I couldn’t I’d never do, especially here: the house, help but notice the distinct lack of the long-term job commitment, the young people. I pictured my social relationships and responsibilities. So what gives? life populated by folks Maine takes time. my parents age and up. After two years, I’ve It didn’t seem like a pretty picture. Then, as Over my first few barely scratched the surface. There’s a the border agent warned, months, I couldn’t rhythm to life here that’s came winter. help but notice hard to pin down. It I’m no Floridian. Utah has something to do has a hearty winter, but the distinct lack with the seasons and this was different. Not of young people. something to do with only was it cold, it was tradition, but it’s less wet. Not only was there obvious than that. It ice, there were blankets feels right and natural. of it. Not only was it dark, but it was dark at 3 p.m. Not only was I Maine isn’t polite, but it is kind. It’s helped me learn to be kind too. going crazy, I was going crazy. It’s helped me gain a sense of I thought I had weathered the worst of it when suddenly the pandemic hit. community—a vague word for a very I’ve got a word limit, so I’ll be brief: clear feeling. The relationships were not cookies, sweatpants, Zoom calls, video what I expected either. The wisdom and advice I’ve gained from having friends editing, and a healthy sense of doom. It may come as a surprise then in their 40s, 60s, and 80s has proved that nearly two years after my first indispensable. More than that, these old

fogeys are fun! Indeed, Maine is so many things I overlooked at first glance. It’s resilient, hard-working, independent, unspoiled, raw, and beautiful. Even these infamous Maine winters weren’t what they seemed. They’re less a torture and more a crucible. They force introspection, exploration, and creativity. One enters them one way and almost by force exits another—transformed. There’s a secret in the winters here. One that takes more than just a couple years to suss out. I plan to do just that as I put down roots here. Then maybe one day I’ll make the drive back to the Coburn Gore port of entry and let that border agent know I do like winters. Mark Macey works with the Eastport Arts Center to develop and implement youth and adult programming. He also helps the staff with events both on and off-stage. A graduate of Dell’Arte International’s PTP, he also holds a BA in theatre studies from the University of Utah.

www.workingwaterfront.com . July 2021

9

A FULL CREW— This image from Eastport’s Tides Institute & Museum’s collection show a small open boat somewhere in Washington County with six men aboard. The man at the oars is wearing a sailor’s uniform and there appears to be a larger vessel barely visible in the background. Perhaps they were going from the shore to this vessel. The photo probably dates from the 1930s.

Op-Ed

Caring for our elders: A call to action State must address critical problems in services By Susan Q. Stranahan MAINE’S GETTING OLD, faster than any other state. Now is the time for “policymakers and lawmakers to think boldly about how best to address Mainers’ needs for long-term care services.” That call to action was issued more than a decade ago. The 2010 recommendations by experts convened by the Maine legislature then fell into a bureaucratic black hole. Last year lawmakers formed another panel to study eldercare services, and guess what? The only real change, other than the date on the report’s cover, is the severity of the crisis. That prompted a few experts who served on both panels to declare: “Enough already, we know what needs to be done.” Maine no longer has the luxury—or political cover—to ignore eldercare. Years of inaction mean that the crisis has hit home to many Maine families and the providers who deliver that care. Small, nonprofit residential facilities, which serve Maine’s rural communities and islands, are struggling to keep their doors open. Waiting lists for in-home care across the state exceed two years or more—if it can be had at all. This year the first wave of baby boomers turns 75, meaning that demand is going to surge. The root of the problem is Maine’s unrealistic reimbursement rates for MaineCare, the health insurance program for low-income residents. One in four Mainers (some 345,000 people) depend on this program. Current rates don’t come close to meeting the cost of actual care. Island Institute Board of Trustees

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

In addition to being inadequate, the rate-setting process itself is inconsistent and often lacking in data justifying how and why the rates were established. As a result, providers can’t budget with any confidence. The failures of MaineCare extend beyond a lack of adequate funding and transparency. The reimbursement gap fuels the extreme shortage of caregivers, even as jobs go begging. Facilities that depend on MaineCare simply can’t afford to pay competitive wages. “In our current environment, any MaineCare rate that does not consider market forces will not be sufficient to allow providers to compete for workers,” according to Jess Maurer of the Maine Council on Aging. Caregivers shouldn’t be expected to work at belowmarket rates. (They are kind-hearted, but they need to live, too). Residential care facilities and service providers not dependent on MaineCare reimbursements can pay above-market rates and offer signing bonuses or other perks beyond the reach of facilities that do care for thousands of low-income Mainers. Maine’s inattention to its eldercare network is reflected in other ways. The job classification system is archaic. The term “direct care worker” encompasses at least six or more jobs, each with its own certifications. Entry-level training should be uniform for these positions and a career ladder created to encourage workers to upgrade their certifications. Training programs are out of date. In one instance, a program was halted because the textbook, published in 2003, was no longer in print. There is little recruitment or outreach to potential employees,

even as demand for workers soars. Employers are in bidding wars for workers; non-profit providers almost always lose. Providing in-home or community-based residential care is much less expensive than providing care in nursing homes or hospitals. Yet the MaineCare reimbursement system is biased toward the costlier options. Surveys consistently show that elders would far prefer to remain in their own homes with assistance than be shipped off to large congregate care facilities. And our recent experience living through the COVID pandemic proved that nursing homes and hospitals were dangerous places to be. Who wouldn’t want to remain at home? In Washington, the Biden administration has elevated the need to support eldercare as part of its American Rescue Plan. That’s welcome news, long overdue. But Maine can’t afford to wait for federal help. Rep. Jessica Fay, D-Raymond, co-chair of the Legislative Caucus on Aging, recently introduced An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Commission to Study Long-term Care Workforce Issues (LD 1573). The bill addresses many of the weaknesses identified in both the 2010 and 2020 reports. As the experts said, “We know what needs to be done.” Now, let’s do it. Susan Q. Stranahan is president of the board of the Island Commons, a seven-bed residential care facility on Chebeague Island. The Commons has served Chebeague and the Casco Bay community since 1999.

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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The Working Waterfront . July 2021

Book Review

The woman behind the ‘hidden’ food

Erin French’s memoir describes tough times, nurturing food inding Freedom: A Cook’s Story Remaking a Life F From Scratch, By Erin French

Her family owned a diner and she, starting as a youngster, was expected by her father to work there regularly, eventually serving as a line cook. Among his shortcomings as a parent was that he was a demanding boss. She left home as soon as she could, for Boston and college, but her dream of becoming a doctor was dashed when pregnancy changed her priorities. She returned home and had the baby. Her mother’s support got her through that, and continued—through French’s marriage, divorce, addiction to prescribed anxiety medication and subsequent recovery, and raising her son. And, she cooked. Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story Remaking a Life From Scratch provides heartfelt details of that experience. It’s emotionally weighty, but the goal isn’t to portray herself as a victim. Rather, her memoir speaks to the healing power of loving relationships, the value of honest self-assessments, and the possibility of surviving personal challenges that rock one’s world. And it isn’t a book about celebrity chefdom. French is self-taught, not anyone’s acolyte. James Beard is the only “name” invoked in her book and that is because she was invited to cook a meal traditionally held in his honor. Martha Stewart featured her in an issue of Stewart’s magazine but French doesn’t tell us that; what might have been touted by another up-and-coming cook as proof of success goes unmentioned. Even with a Magnolia Network series about her last winter, French doesn’t seem on her way yet to cultivating Kardashian status. This spring, French posted online that given “dining out is a great privilege,” would patrons, when they request reservations, also make a contribution of any amount to a Waldo County food bank addressing food insecurity? Donations would be no guarantee for securing a reservation. On May 27, French announced that $325,000 had been raised so far. Some might wonder if it’s just guilt-assuaging, or—despite the disclaimer—people do so hoping for an advantage. But to me, Erin French seems to be about this: food infused with care is nurturing. Whether with a donation or from a menu, feeding people can be “a great privilege.”

Review by Tina Cohen

Y

ou’ve probably heard of Erin French. She started off in Belfast hosting “secret suppers” in her apartment, and then moved into the space downstairs which she turned into a restaurant. With the loss of that in a bitter divorce, she took to the road, cooking in an Airsteam trailer she converted to a chef’s kitchen, preparing meals held in people’s barns, greenhouses, gardens, and orchards. French has started from scratch again and again. But, being a creative force, she’s made the best out of life events. And that could be her motto with food as well. The Lost Kitchen is now found in a refurbished mill in Freedom, the town she grew up in. The dining experience includes local produce, vintage dishware, hand-sewn linens and hand-built tables, atmospheric lighting, field-fresh flowers, and a crew of women sharing the work with team spirit. You can observe French and others in the open kitchen, preparing the eight-ten course meals they proudly serve. “Memorable meals R us” seems an apt slogan. Last year, the pandemic shuttered it. Not fully—some lunches were served outdoors, and French became the purveyor of farm produce, the middleman connecting her local growers to customers. She also showcased Maine-made crafts on her website to promote that market. This year, she has announced it is back to normal. “Normal” being a return to tradition, where if you’re lucky to have your mailed postcard drawn, you score a reservation. An intimate dining room, dinners only, four nights a week and closed in the winter means these seats are precious. People from everywhere send in their cards, fingers crossed. French’s first book was The Lost Kitchen: Recipes and a Good Life Found in Freedom, Maine (2017). With that, we were introduced to her way with seasonal food, affirming the nurture and sensuality a meal could hold. Her second book is a memoir, and like a classic fairy tale, French’s origin story has a curse that’s also a blessing.

Tina Cohen is a seasonal resident of Vinalhaven.

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www.workingwaterfront.com . July 2021

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Book Review

Robert Indiana’s Maine misadventures Book highlights famous artist’s final tragic years The Isolation Artist: Scandal, Deception, and the Last Days of Robert Indiana, By Bob Keyes

Review by Carl Little

B

orn Robert Earl Clark in Newcastle, Indiana, in 1928, the famed “Love” artist changed his name in 1958 not long after moving to New York City—a way to pay homage to his home state, but also to help make him stand out in the art scene. And that he did: at his death in 2018, Robert Indiana held a firm spot in the art-historical continuum. The “sign painter” Pop artist had achieved international fame for his paintings, prints, and sculpture. After reading art writer Bob Keyes’s engrossing The Isolation Artist: Scandal, Deception, and the Last Days of Robert Indiana, you can understand why he didn’t change his name to Robert Maine. Despite spending the better part of 40 years of his life on Vinalhaven, Indiana never really got along with his adopted state. Whether being shunned by fellow islanders for alleged sexual predation, having his “7” sculpture vandalized (twice) in front of the Portland Museum of Art, or suffering the slights he imagined Maine museum directors gave him, Indiana was an unhappy camper—even though his camp was the castle-like Victorian-era Star of Hope Lodge, a former Odd Fellows Hall on the Penobscot Bay island. Much of the book recounts the wrangling over rights to market, reproduce, and sell Indiana’s work. It’s a sad and often grim and ugly tale of art world corruption and back-stabbing, of opportunistic vultures circling a belligerent yet vulnerable cash cow. The thumbnail bios of “The Players” at the end of the book come in handy. At times the book reads like a police procedural—cooked books, tampering with evidence, questions about the artist’s living conditions, even foul play: Indiana’s body was briskly removed from the island just days after a lawsuit had been filed against him by the Morgan Art Foundation for breach of contract. Unlike, say, the famous Brooke Astor case, which also had its share of twists and turns—and accusations of elder abuse—there were few high-profile friends and/or celebrities to question Indiana’s treatment. That said, the artist had his

champions, among them, art historian John Wilmerding, who wrote or co-wrote several books on the artist, including The Essential Robert Indiana (2013). As someone who knew the work intimately, Wilmerding smelled forgery in some of the later work, including a series that featured Bob Dylan lyrics, but he also recognized that Indiana “was his own undoing.” A number of islanders make cameo appearances, including poet, painter, and theater producer/director John Wulp, who maintained a cantankerous relationship with Indiana, and Jennifer Desmond, clinical director of the Island Community Medical Services, who signed the artist’s death certificate. Indiana was a Christian Scientist and, according to Desmond, “did not love Western medicine,” which helps explain his physical deterioration over his final years. Keyes started covering Indiana in 2012, not long after he joined the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram staff. He stuck with the story, right up to and after the artist’s death. He admired Indiana, as he notes in an afterword, but also considered him an ass. The Indiana saga continues to play out in the courts and press. In late May the Associated Press reported that the Maine attorney general’s office was demanding that law firms in Maine and New York return millions of dollars allegedly overpaid by Indiana’s estate. Then in early June Keyes broke the story in the Press Herald that allegations that Indiana paid teenagers on Vinalhaven for sex in the 1980s had resurfaced. The U.S. Postal Service recently released its latest iteration of its “Love” stamp, a series started in 1973 with Indiana’s famous design (he was paid a $1,000 fee). There is enormous irony that the artist best known for his interpretations of that four-letter word ended up for the most part unloved. Indiana’s story is, in Keyes’s words, “a tragedy of Shakespearean machinations,” but it is also a tale of ego, eccentricity, and enmity. You’ll be shaking your head by the end. The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland is currently showing “Robert Indiana: The Hartley Elegies,” 10 large-scale silkscreen prints from the series made between 1989 and 1994. The show runs through Jan. 2. Carl Little writes about art for several publications, including Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors. He lives on Mount Desert Island.

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The Working Waterfront . July 2021

Book Review

Eating as revenge on invasive crab Green crab has long been served in other cultures The Green Crab Cookbook By Mary Parks and Thanh Thái

Review by Ben Neal

E

uropean green crabs are a scourge on the Maine coast, first introduced during the mid1800s, likely by sailing vessels. They were first recorded in Casco Bay in 1900, and within 50 years had occupied the entire coast. These little crabs (up to three inches across) can be present in very high densities in the intertidal and nearshore waters, where they have devasted populations of juvenile soft-shell clams and blue mussels, directly preying on the annual spat from these bivalves. There are also reports of them influencing the feeding and behavior of lobsters and destroying the roots of marsh grasses with their burrowing. With waters warming from climate change, populations of green crabs are expected to increase even more, possibly threatening the very existence of the soft-shell clam fishery, currently Maine’s thirdmost valuable wild fishery. A single adult green crab can eat up to 40 juvenile clams in a single day, meaning nearly all newly settled clams in areas without physical protection (such as green crab exclusion cages) are cleaned out and do not reach adulthood. One solution to this issue is to catch and remove the crabs. Several locations have tried directed removal

for ecological reasons, but these efforts are limited in scope, and have not had lasting success. Another potential answer is to catch and utilize them as food. Maine has plenty of fishing capacity, and The Green Crab Cookbook, written and edited by Mary Parks and Thanh Thái, proposes adopting a “If you can’t beat ‘em, then eat ‘em!” strategy. Currently, though, there is almost no commercial fishery, largely because there is little market for these small crabs. This cookbook addresses the latter issue by presenting a number of culinary suggestions for what to do with a bucket of the invaders. You can gather them yourself, turning over rocks along the shore, or possibly purchase some in your area from one of the apparently growing number of commercial fishermen keeping them (more information on suppliers can be found at greencrab.org). The recipes described are notably international. A good part of the book stems from a trip Parks took to Venice, Italy in 2017, where she was hosted by a family of traditional moecante, or Venetian lagoon green crab fishermen. These watermen specialize in catching and holding green crabs until they molt, whereupon they are sold for some of the highest prices of any seafood in Europe, up to $55 a pound. The moecante are skilled in estimating exactly when the crabs will molt, holding them in large, suspended baskets until just the right moment. Immediately after molting, the soft-shell crabs are deep fried and served 2-5 crabs to a plate, available

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only during very limited periods seasonally, during both spring and fall molts. They are eaten whole, legs and all. Hard shell crabs also produce masinette, or clumps of crab roe. This succulent orange caviar can be served mixed with picked crab meat on half shells or mixed with pasta to create a savory dish. Thanh Thái is Vietnamese and drew on her cultural background to create recipes based on the rice paddy crab, found and eaten across southeast Asia. These crabs are also regarded as pests, boring into the soft bottom and damaging young rice shoots. A rich cuisine has developed around them, with the side effect of controlling the populations. Her recipe for Bun Rieu, or crab noodle soup, looks delicious, and there is an appealing picture of a crab Bahn Mi, or baguette sandwich, with the crab claws sticking out at all angles like a child’s vision of what a crab sandwich should really look like. Some of the recipes also have intersection with other developing Maine seafood industries, like a crab, ginger, and kelp stock, or oysters on the half shell dotted with masinette. All told, the cookbook presents some 20 varied recipes, along with brief but interesting background on green crab biology and their place in Venetian and Vietnamese cuisine. It is a good guide for utilizing these all-too-common invaders, and perhaps a step forward in creating a new seafood industry diversifying our waterfronts. The book is available for $30 at GreenCrab.org Ben Neal lives on Islesboro and teaches at Colby College.

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www.workingwaterfront.com . July 2021

Mixed grades on air pollution

Lung Association releases ‘State of the Air’ report THIS YEAR’S “STATE OF THE AIR” report from the American Lung Association finds that Maine reported mixed results for air pollution throughout its counties and metro areas. Both Bangor and Portland metro areas were named among the cleanest cities for short-term particle pollution, while Portland reported a worsened level of yearround particle pollution, and Bangor fell off the “cleanest 25 cities for year-round particle pollution” due to lack to data. Portland also showed improved levels of ozone and Bangor ranked for the fourth consecutive year as one of the cleanest cities for ozone. Particle pollution and ozone pollution are two of the most harmful and widespread types of air pollution. See the full report at Lung.org/sota. Overall, the report reinforced the fact that emissions from factories, power plants, dieseland gasoline-powered motor vehicles (cars and trucks) and equipment play a role in forming ozone and generating dangerous fine particle pollution. Together, with the rising temperatures due to climate change, air quality in the U.S. is in danger of being degraded, and residents across the country are at an increased risk of air pollution harming health. In addition, studies show that air pollution exposure is linked to greater risk of respiratory infections, including some evidence that suggests that exposure to air pollution may make people more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. The Lung Association has and will continue to support Maine’s consideration of the Transportation and Climate Initiative Program.

Funding opportunity available for small cities and towns Commuity Heart & Soul assists booster groups

COMMUNITY HEART & SOUL is offering its new Community Heart & Soul Seed Grant Program, a funding opportunity for small cities and towns nationwide. The program provides startup funding of $10,000 for resident-driven groups in communities with populations of 2,500 to 30,000 to implement the Community Heart & Soul model. The Community Heart & Soul model engages the entire population of a town in identifying what they love most about their community, what future they want for it, and how to achieve it. “Small cities and towns across the U.S. have opportunities to build a brighter, more prosperous future but often need an initial boost to get started,” said Mark Sherman, Community Heart & Soul executive director. “With the seed grant program, we are working to accelerate the growth and adoption of Community Heart & Soul so that even more communities can make use of the proven model.” Community Heart & Soul is a nonpartisan, community engagement process that brings residents together to chart a better future based on what matters most in their communities. A highly inclusive process, Community Heart & Soul reaches deep into communities to ensure all voices, including those that are often hidden or missing, are represented in determining a town’s future. Grant recipients will have the potential to transform their community through Community Heart & Soul, leading to increased local pride, more viable economic development projects, and stronger community connections. “When residents get closer, their differences tend to fade and the things they care most about replace the differences,” said Lyman Orton, founder and chairman. “Trust is built and residents become more collaborative in their decision-making and stronger believers in their communities. People continue to stay in their communities, new people move in, and investment in towns increases.” The Community Heart & Soul Seed Grant program is accepting applications on a rolling basis. For more information visit www.communityheartandsoul.org/seed-grants.

County Grades on ozone:

• Every county maintained its grade for ozone from last year’s report: Penobscot (A), Androscoggin (A), Cumberland (B), York (C), Kennebec (A), Aroostook (A), Hancock (D), Knox (C), Oxford (A), Washington (C) • York, Hancock, and Knox counties recorded slightly less levels of ozone than in last year’s report, but not enough to impact the grade. • York County was the most polluted in the Portland metro area, but improved to the fewest unhealthy days ever, 1.5 days. The worst period had been from 2001-2003 when the metro area had 22.7 days of high ozone on average.

Notable county grades on particle pollution:

• Throughout the state, all counties maintained A grades for short-term particle pollution, with the exception of Aroostook which maintained its C grade from last year. • All counties continued to meet the national standard for year-round particle pollution • Cumberland County was the only county to measure worsened year-round particle pollution • For the fourth consecutive time both Androscoggin and Cumberland counties posted zero unhealthy days for short-term particle pollution • All other counties did not collect this data The year’s report found that nationwide, more than 4 in 10 people (135 million) lived with polluted air, placing their health and lives at risk. In Maine, more than 300,000 residents live with lung diseases like asthma, COPD and lung cancer, as well as heart disease. hey are already at risk, making them more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution.

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The Working Waterfront . July 2021

Quirky, artsy Eastport

Beyond red-brick downtown, beauty abounds PHOTO ESSAY BY LESLIE BOWMAN

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astport saw more prosperous times when the fishing industry was booming. Today, it is the artists who call this island city home and they have created a vibrancy that contributes to the economy and quality of life.

In late spring, before the onslaught of visitors, the streets are quiet. When the lilacs and poppies bloom, it is a sure sign the season has turned. Color is charged up in gardens, on houses, and in the sky. While downtown is filled with galleries and shops, the neighborhoods and waterfront offer inspiration. These views are a few of those discovered during a recent city tour. —Leslie Bowman

www.workingwaterfront.com . July 2021

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The Working Waterfront . July 2021

Our Island Communities Island high school grads back in gear As pandemic fades, young adults pursue opportunity By Christa Thorpe Three islanders graduating from high school this month are moving forward into more education and experience, undeterred by the pandemic:

CAMERON TODD of Chebeague Island graduated from Yarmouth High School and will study cybersecurity at Thomas College this fall. During the past two years, Todd split school days between the Yarmouth school and the Portland Arts and Technology High School, or PATHS. “I grew up attending the Chebeague Island School through fifth grade and loved the small multi-aged classrooms,” reflects Todd, a tenth-generation Chebeague islander. After fifth grade, Chebeague students commute to mainland schools, adding logistical challenges to participating in off-island activities, so he based his service efforts close to home. “I chose to focus on volunteering within my small community, supporting organizations on the island like the Chebeague Recreation Center, historical society, and Island Commons assisted living home,” Todd said. Taking cybersecurity courses in high school “proved to be a great fit for me,” he said, making high school “more engaging and interesting.” The PATHS cybersecurity program also offered the opportunity to earn professional certificates in the field. At Thomas College, Todd will gain further expertise for a career protecting the data and privacy of those relying on technology, while also earning a B.S. in cybersecurity, a field with a workforce shortage. Recently, Todd earned an Island Institute Maine Island Scholarship towards college tuition.

AUTUMN OXTON of Vinalhaven also pursued career and technical education. At the Midcoast School of Technology in Rockland, Oxton earned professional certificates in welding, auto-collision repair, and as a Certified Nursing Assistant. Oxton is graduating from the Vinalhaven School and has been inducted into the National Technical Honors Society. Two days after graduation, Oxton begins at the Aveda Institute Cosmetology School in Augusta. The pandemic did not derail her education this last year. “We were lucky to only miss one day of in-person classes all last year, and now I get to go to Aveda in person. The only difference has been the masks.” Oxton has been interested in cosmetology since the age of five, she says. “My gram was a cosmetologist.” A recipient of Island Institute funds via the Mentoring Access Persistence (MAP) scholarship and the Compass Workforce Grant, Oxton believes in trying a variety of things to find what fits. She took welding courses on the advice of her father who lobsters on Vinalhaven. She enjoyed working as a teaching assistant in the welding lab, “but I decided I wouldn’t like welding as a career because it’s too solitary.” The Aveda Institute program offers courses in the several different branches of cosmetology, including an instructor training course that interests Oxton. “I want to see what I like, then do more training to delve deeper.”

ACER VAN DIS of Union attended Islesboro Central School for high school and is graduating as valedictorian. Van Dis will take a gap year, completing a National Outdoor Leadership School course in Chilean Patagonia before attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute New York to study architecture. During the outdoor leadership course, Van Dis will experience mountaineering, rock climbing, and sea kayaking, while also earning wilderness first responder certification. “I had initially planned to start college immediately after high school,” Van Dis said, “but as a result of the pandemic, I spent a lot of time engaging in outdoor sports. I also wanted to give some time for my college to figure out their approach to COVID-19.” The NOLS gap year opportunity “seemed perfect,” Van Dis notes, as it will be “a chance to have an extremely meaningful experience, really push myself in outdoor extreme sports, and learn skills and things about myself that I will never be able to learn in the classroom.” Van Dis earned an Island Institute Geiger Scholarship to offset gap year costs.The gap year won’t be the first time Van Dis has sought education outside the classroom. “In high school, I’ve had to think outside the box and follow who I am and what I want to learn, but it’s led me down some very interesting paths, from interning at Pendleton Yacht Yard to learning how to weld stick electrode and TIG, from having an internship exploring music recording and amplified circuitry, to doing my architecture independent study this year. At the end of it all, I am amazed at how different I would be if I hadn’t been willing to give those interests a shot.”

“I chose to focus on volunteering within my small community, supporting organizations on the island…”

www.workingwaterfront.com . July 2021

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Island freight business finds its Northern Star On Swan’s Island and Frenchboro, mailboat is essential service By Laurie Schreiber

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ven before the pandemic, online ordering made getting goods shipped to Swan’s Island and Frenchboro increasingly attractive—often more so than heading off for a trip to mainland stores. The past year of sheltering in place accelerated that trend. Who handles all that freight? Brian and Kathy Krafjack, who own The Island Market & Supply on Swan’s Island and are agents for the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, and UPS. They also own the freight company that serves Swan’s Island and Frenchboro. Officially called Swan’s Island Freight LLC, it’s commonly known as “Hopkins Freight” after its founder and long-time operator, LJ Hopkins, who sold the business to the Krafjacks in 2019 and has stayed on as an employee. Many a time has the deck of their mailboat, a 34-foot Lee Wilbur lobsterboat named Olivia Grace, been chockablock with packages for the 10-mile trip from Bass Harbor to Swan’s. Krafjack holds freight destined for Swan’s Island at the store for pick-up, and hops back on the boat to travel a further five miles offshore with goods ordered by Frenchboro folks. “FedEx and UPS has exploded,” Krafjack said. “It started a few years back, when online ordering became so easy. Everyone does it now, especially on an island.” What kind of freight, you ask? It could be anything, from groceries to trampolines. “At least two hot tubs, probably three trampolines, a mounted moose head a few years back,” Krafjack said of some larger and eclectic items. “Refrigerators. Last fall, a couple bought a house on Frenchboro and needed all new appliances and new furniture.” When the amount of freight they were carrying began to exceed capacity, the Krafjacks began looking for a larger boat. After searching online for a singleengine supply boat, he found Northern Star in New Bedford, Mass. The Dyer 40 hull, built in 1981, served ships on Buzzards Bay and the Cape Cod Canal as a pilot boat, proven in all kinds of weather. “I thought it had the most potential to become what we needed,” Krafjack said. He was unable to sea-trial the boat himself due to quarantine requirements between Maine and Massachusetts at the time. So he called on a friend who’s a tugboat engineer in Connecticut, which didn’t have the same restrictions. “Originally, he said, ‘No, you don’t want a pilot boat. They’re rough-riding, noisy, and smelly,’” he related. “After the sea trial, he called and said, ‘You’re going to like your new boat.’ He was convinced once he’d been onboard.” Still, considerable work was needed to fit it up for freight. Front Street Shipyard in Belfast took the job. The boat came with a large, dry pilothouse with seating for six. The project included pulling the seats and converting the space to carry freight, installing a new sliding door and new windows, and cutting a new opening for the door into the existing fiberglass. That will allow most freight to be carried inside, out of the weather. And the drive will be a lot drier and warmer for Krafjack. The boat came with a flat deck and no cockpit—a configuration that worked well for a pilot to jump up onto a ship’s ladder. For Krafjack’s purposes, it made better sense to cut a cockpit into the deck, making it easier to receive freight over the rail at waist level and walk it into the pilothouse. Olivia Grace “served its purpose,” he said. “But now that I know a little bit more about what I do, I know a little bit more about what I need.” Northern Star will also have a new engine, running gear, and wiring.

Northern Star, a former pilot boat, at Front Street Shipyard in Belfast, where it was retrofitted to carry freight. PHOTO: COURTESY BRIAN KRAFKACK

“That’s important to me because I run alone and, if something breaks down, I’m kind of stuck out there,” he said. Northern Star will be faster, too, expected to run 15-16 knots, compared with Olivia Grace’s 10 knots. “I’ll be happy to run her around 13 knots,” said Krafjack. “I’m an old sailor. I don’t need to go too fast.” Because of his mailboat duties, Krafjack can’t get off the island much to visit the boat. Instead, email does the trick. “Front Street sends me emails every Friday with questions and photographs,” he said. As an architect earlier in his career, he responds with sketches. By press time, it was expected sea trials would be underway by mid-June, with delivery scheduled for July 4. Bar Harbor Bank & Trust helped finance the

purchase and part of the refit. The Island Institute’s Tom Glenn Fund Community Impact Fund assisted with the purchase of the Olivia Grace and now the Northern Star. As for Swan’s Island, things are beginning to pick up and the general feeling is upbeat this summer, said Krafjack. Generally, the year-round population is 350, ticking up to 1,200 to 1,500 in the summer. But like the rest of Maine, there seemed to be an influx of homebuyers over the past year, he said. “I think you feel a little safer living on an island,” he said of the mood this past year. “People were probably coming here for the same reason Kathy and I did going on eight years ago now—to find a quieter place. Kathy and I joked: In 10 years, will we be taking a vacation to the city to escape the crowd?”

The work on Northern Star included building a new wheelhouse.

PHOTO: COURTESY BRIAN KRAFJACK

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The Working Waterfront . July 2021

Historic flight still shrouded in mystery

French aviators and ‘White Bird’ may have crashed Downeast By Karen Holmes

of the framing were two large beams running parallel to each other and about four feet apart. These beams were slanted and seemed to be connected to an engine. The he disappearance 94 years ago in May engine was clearly visible and was about four feet up in of the White Bird biplane and its two the air supported by the frame resting on dead trees and pilots—possibly in Washington County— brush, slanted upwards.” remains an unsolved mystery of aviation history. The shape, design, and size of the engine intrigued The plane’s two French pilots may have been the them. They saw that logging had been done nearby first to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean, and assumed people knew about the wreck. At the less than two weeks before Charles Lindbergh’s time neither was aware of the disappearance of the famous flight from New York that touched down White Bird. in Paris on May 21, 1927. In 1988 Dolan moved to Princeton. In a periodical Charles Nungesser and Francoise Coli were published by the National Air and Space Museum he attempting to win the Orteig Prize of $25,000 A postcard depicts Charles Nungesser and Francoise read about the mystery of the White Bird and realized as the first aviators to fly a plane nonstop Coli, who some believe may have been the first to fly the significance of what he and Stevens saw in 1958. across the Atlantic between Europe and North across the Atlantic. Stevens died sometime after they began searching America. They took off in their biplane— again, but Dolan kept looking for the substantial gravel called L’Oiseau Blanc, or White Bird—from an airport outside of Paris on May 8 and planned to land in New York Harbor road they had traveled on and for the prominent rock formation under which near the Statue of Liberty on May 9. The pair never arrived and no remains they had parked. Dolan learned that Route 9 had been a gravel road from 1950 into the 1960s. were ever found. The late Arthur Dolan of Princeton in eastern Washington County, who passed When he drove down the now-paved road from his home in Princeton, he saw the away in 2017, thought he knew what happened to the plane and its pilots. He rock formation. He sought out the owner of the land where he and Stevens had seen believed the White Bird and its pilots crashed during an emergency landing the remains years before. The owner gave him permission to visit the site, which is in attempt onto Meddybemps Lake. Dolan’s story has never been included in Alexander, but there was no longer any visible evidence. There are rumors in the area that the White Bird engine was removed from the published history and folklore about the disappearance of the White Bird. During the fall of 1958 Dolan and his friend Al Stevens left Massachusetts to go its crash location intact, hauled onto Route 9 and taken away to Minnesota or deer hunting in Downeast Maine. They traveled down a long gravel road and hidden away in a building. Dolan spent years trying to convince organizations to search the site using parked under a large rock formation. They then left the car and walked into the woods. Dolan—a privately licensed pilot—was shocked when they came upon modern technology. Dolan always said his most important goal was to gain some debris. He later wrote, “In the center of the trees we saw the remains of recognition for Charles Nungesser and Francoise Coli for being the first pilots to an airplane. There were no wings, wheels, cockpit or fuselage. What remained complete a transatlantic flight.

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On the afternoon of May 9, heavy fog cover was obscuring visibility along the Nungesser and Coli’s flight plan drafted in France in 1927 described how they would fly over the English Channel, southern Ireland, and then follow the 54th Maine coast and inland for some distance. Nungesser and Coli would have had parallel across the North Atlantic to Newfoundland. Coli and Nungesser would difficulty finding and recognizing any land and water features. If they were running then turn southward and fly down the eastern coasts of Canada and the United low on fuel, perhaps they hoped to find a water body long enough to land on. Harold Vining from Cooper later said that on that date States. If they had maintained an average cruising speed of he heard a plane fly over his home heading in a southwest 100 mph, they would have reached New York Harbor in direction towards East Machias and Machias. The plane’s approximately 36 hours. engine was loud and seemed to be sputtering. Anson Berry Any successful flight depends on an accurate was fishing at Round Lake, which is southwest of the Vining interpretation of expected weather conditions, residence. He also heard a loud and sputtering plane engine. especially wind speed and direction. Winds can favor He said he looked up and briefly glimpsed a white plane or disrupt calculated fuel consumption. Weathermen in Harold Vining from Cooper heading northward and the sound faded away. France thought there would be easterly tailwinds that later said he heard a plane would help Nungesser and Coli in the L’Oiseau Blanc fly HOPE westward on May 8. fly over his home heading But Nungesser and Coli instead encountered Although there have been many searches in the waters off eastern towards East Machias unexpectedly strong westerly headwinds as they flew past Canada and the U.S., nothing has ever been found. Organized Ireland. Ships in that area reported very stormy weather, searches done by The International Group for Historic Aircraft and Machias. thick cloud cover, and heavy precipitation and wind. (TIGHAR), the National Underwater Marine Association, and The cruising speed of the L’Oiseau Blanc could have been other groups and individuals have failed as well. The Quoddy Tides lowered and more fuel consumed. Coli and Nungesser published articles in 2015 about the mystery, which included an might have had to make a course change to get out of the anonymous donor’s offer of a $5,000 reward for the whereabouts stormy conditions and been worried that too much fuel of the White Bird’s special and one-of-a-kind engine. Despite this consumption would decrease their time aloft. There was effort to revive interest, nothing resulted. no radio aboard the biplane. Arthur Dolan died in the Maine Veterans Home in Bangor in 2017. He said During the process of building the White Bird, the designers knew the plane he was terribly disappointed that he failed to convince someone to search the had to complete a very long flight, so they included three large aluminum fuel Alexander site. He felt he had failed to prove that Nungesser and Coli had tanks that could contain 1,000 gallons of fuel—limiting how much additional successfully reached mainland North America, and was saddened their families weight the White Bird could support—so it was decided not to carry a radio still do not know what happened and where they died. He also hoped for some or life raft. The biplane had been designed to safely land on the water of New sort of memorial to be erected at the Alexander site. York Harbor, leaving no need for heavy landing gear, so it had been jettisoned Before he left France with Coli in the L’Oiseau Blanc, Nungesser spoke to the after takeoff. crowd gathered to support what was considered a patriotic and heroic effort for Early on the very foggy morning of May 9, Newfoundland residents reported France. He said, “You know what this thing means, and we both do. We are taking hearing and seeing the White Bird flying overhead. Reports from Nova Scotia, a risk, I know, but we are taking it willingly and with all our hearts.” New Brunswick, and the Bay of Fundy followed. These seem to show that Nungesser and Coli were flying on a straight, southwest course. They could have This story first appeared in The Quoddy Tides newspaper, based in Eastport, and is entered American airspace just north of Perry. reprinted by permission.

Islesboro church gets new steeple Fund helps churches restore historic architecture

The St. Mary of the Isles Church has a new steeple. PHOTO: COURTESY ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF PORTLAND

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ith the help of congregants and staff at St. Brendan the Navigator Parish in Camden, St. Mary of the Isles Church in Islesboro now has a new steeple. “Steeples represent an important part of the history and culture of most small towns in Maine,” said Karol Skoby, business coordinator at St. Brendan the Navigator Parish. “But few architectural elements are more exposed to threats than steeples.” The damage that can be caused by wind, moisture, lightning, age, and

deferred maintenance can require considerable funds for repair. In 2007, the Maine Steeples Fund was established to support local efforts to restore church steeples of historic, cultural, and community significance in small cities and towns in Maine. “The fund offers assessment grants and restoration grants,” said Ruth Demers of Maine Steeples Fund. “As long as you are a nonprofit entity or municipality, you can apply for funds.” With the help of Skoby and Art Govoni, the caretaker and project coordinator,

congregants Lila White and Lee and Diane Fentress applied for a grant from the Maine Steeples Fund, submitting a description of the work to be done and a history of St. Mary of the Isles, which hosted its first Mass in 1901. The group then worked with an assessor to determine the scope and estimated cost of the restoration. The Maine Steeples Fund matches funds raised by the applicant. “Ultimately, St. Mary received a $28,000 grant,” said Skoby. “The balance of the cost of repairs was underwritten by private donations.”

The work was extensive as the steeple needed reconstruction from the belfry up. The cross was still in good condition but received a re-framing. The work was done by DICON, the restoration and construction company of the Diocese of Portland which maintains and enhances over 400 structures in Maine. St. Mary of the Isles Church, located on Pendleton Point Road, will reopen on July 3 for Masses on Saturdays at 9 a.m.

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The Working Waterfront . July 2021

‘Bridge resource management’ a team approach Shipping industry moves away from all-powerful master By Isabel Reddy

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fter the deadliest crash in airline history, the collision of KLM and Pan Am airplanes in 1977, killing 583 people, the airline industry made major changes, including the adoption of cockpit resource management. For the maritime industry it was after the Exxon Valdez accident in March 1989 that similar changes were adopted, dubbed bridge resource management (BRM). According to the Allianz Global Safety and Shipping Review 2020 report, the number of 100 gross-ton shipping losses declined in 2019 to 41, the lowest this century, and a 70 percent fall over ten years. “Improved ship design and technology, stepped-up regulation and risk management advances such as more robust safety management systems and procedures on vessels are some of the factors behind the long-term improvement in losses,” the report notes. The International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, developed the standards of training, certification, and watchkeeping in 1978 which were amended in 1995 and in 2010. The standards require BRM training. These are exacting qualification standards and requirements for personnel on seafaring ships. The procedures and guidelines are dynamic, with near misses and non-conformities reported, and routine audits conducted. There’s a phone number by which any crew member can report any concern, 24/7. Factors that can lead to mishaps include: poor visibility/weather, equipment failures or misuse of instruments, fatigue/exhaustion, inter-ship communication deficits, and BRM/pilot problems.

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There are six marine schools in the U.S., including Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, where Steve Cole, a captain turned professor, teaches BRM. He explains that traditionally, there was a rigid hierarchy in the maritime world, where the master was master. Yet bridge resource management ends the “tough guy or gal” model that had been in place. “BRM has sought to achieve the opposite, to achieve a team structure with a leader,” he explains. Cole tells students it’s not that you should report something they’ve seen or even sensed, but rather that they are obligated to report it. It’s a matter of ignoring any feelings associated with being wrong, he says. Some ships have offered monetary incentives for filing nonconformity reports, but that got out of hand when reports were submitted for such trivial matters as a rag dropped on deck. A captain who doesn’t listen to his crew, says Capt. Mike Flanagan, “creates an intimidating bridge presence.” Flanagan retired as a master mariner after 30 years sailing in the freight business. There’s a lot of traffic at sea, he says, and that increases the risk of accidents. The Straits of Singapore are a bottleneck, with about 2,000 ships passing through every day. The Gulf of Tokyo has about 400 ships a day. Flanagan prefers the bare minimum of people on the bridge because it’s quieter with less risk of confusion. He regularly trained the chief mate to take his job. “If the chief mate is in charge of bringing the ship in, I just sit in my chair and supervise,” he says. There were very few times when the pilot was making a mistake, he adds, which called on him to “take the con.”

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Students at Maine Maritime Academy work on the bridge of the training ship State of Maine in 2017. PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Management of the bridge typically has four different watches, Cole explains. Each subsequent watch number reflects increasing risk and mandates more people on the bridge. Watch one calls for two people on the bridge. Watch two is in effect if foggy or tricky navigational conditions were observed, and would call for a chief mate and possibly two able seamen. Watch three is in effect when approaching port and picking up a pilot, and may require three able seamen. Watch four is the same as watch three with the addition of the pilot. Cole says students need confidence and a belief that they can do the job, and this new approach helps achieve that.

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A deeper meaning of ‘lost at sea’ Seafaring towns are changing with new harvest

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emigration, associated international commerce, and the exchange of ideas. Typically, these monuments will stand at the heart of the old port, in the nearby shipyards, or in the old warehouses, markets, and exchanges, in the sailor-town neighborhoods that were the physical center and socio-economic heart of these first urban concentrations—in natural harbors or at the confluence of rivers with the sea. Today more and more people the world over live on the shore—and more are moving there still to relocate to harbor cities with rich regional histories—where the waterfront and port facilities are being modernized to accommodate the old: oil and gas imports, automobiles, and container cargo, with the new: the cruise ship industry, residential development, and recreational use. These cities are proud of their revitalized ocean-related historical architecture, brick and iron buildings adapted to 21st century retail and offices, the atmosphere of the narrow cobbled streets enlivened by brewpubs and restaurants, bike trails and parks. The old fish sheds and docks are mostly gone, the buyers and sellers, product distributors and processors, lobster boats and draggers displaced and re-located inland to anonymous warehouses serviced by trucks. The loss of the Fulton Fish Market in lower Manhattan in New York and the Tsukijii Market in Tokyo are two of the most egregious examples. What is left behind? Usually it’s a fishermen’s memorial, a statue, an empty after-thought of a proud history of ocean enterprise and harvest from the sea. It seems a cruel indifference, to abandon that authenticity, that formative force in the building of community, to permit an insensitive forgetfulness of family, friends, and neighbors gone before, once lost at sea, now lost to memory.

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SEVERAL YEARS AGO, I visited Ireland with my son, a musician, and one day we ventured to a small coastal village in search of the grave of a famous Irish traditional singer whose voice and repertoire had shaped my son’s first music in a fundamental way. At the local pub, we learned there were five graveyards in the area and we visited them all in our search to pay homage, a lovely walk along shore looking out over the sea that seemed as much of the place as was the land itself. We found the stone and, while my son placed a guitar pick in the ground as a respectful tribute, I observed the other stones there, canted by wind and encrusted by the salt air, almost all of which were the final resting place for fishermen, each marked with name, date, and the phrase “lost at sea.” Ironically, all the stones were facing inland, as if the mourners had insisted this final resting place must turn its back on what took those lives, and so many others, from a community that fished more than it farmed, and by so doing, lost generations of husbands, sons, and brothers to a cold, hard, dangerous, and unforgiving ocean. Work on or by the sea is challenged by extremes of weather, wave, wind, and dynamic forces that can equal the wrath of God. Human responses, even in today’s most sophisticated technical and engineered world, are limited by the shape and strength of the boat, the durability of the gear, the uncertain availability of the catch, and the weaknesses of the human body and spirit. The graves in that lost cemetery are not unique; indeed they can be found along every coast worldwide shaped by the realities of maritime culture. And then there are the unmarked graves of men swept overboard or died and committed to the ocean as their final port of call, without memorial. How many thousands of these are there, dissolved in this history, forgotten? I came from the heartland of the U.S. and never saw the ocean until I was 18 when my father took me to Gloucester, Mass., a town that has relied on fishing as its primary source of sustenance and survival since its founding. A famous statue stands there, a fisherman looking out to sea; the local churches have stained glass windows commemorative of over 4,000 captains and crew lost at sea since the 19th century. The village houses along the Atlantic shore are known for their widows’ walks—on the roof look-outs from which to scan the horizon for the returning sails of whaling ships absent for years at a time, sometimes bringing home sperm-oil and ambergris fortune, oft-times bringing nothing but sadness and loss. Every major fishing port or coastal city will have its fisherman’s memorial, its monument to lost seamen, its maritime museum documenting the full array of goods and services that contributed so substantially to the early history of the place—not just the fishing, but the boat-building and merchant trade, immigration,

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22

The Working Waterfront . July 2021

Saltwater Cure

Weight of Memorial Day settles on island Traditions and rituals are tied to deep truths By Courtney Naliboff HOW INTERESTING that Memorial Day should occur in spring. North Haven observes the day with a somber procession through the village, from the American Legion Hall to the ferry ramp. Community veterans, some in and some out of uniform, oversee the presentation of cedar-and-poppy wreaths in memory of North Haven’s war dead, then stand at attention to listen to the Gettysburg Address and the names of all service members from North Haven—from the Revolutionary War to the present—read aloud. The minister and his wife share the duty these days, but in the recent past David Cooper read them in his signature baritone. He’s now retired, he says. After a prayer, the company, trailed by children bearing flags and flowers, moves to the ferry ramp. Three veterans designated as the firing squad move to the end of the ramp to fire three shots, startling the ferry terminal pigeons into flight. Then I play “Taps” out over the water, echoed by an unseen second bugler,

whose location and identity I choose trickling denouement of the pandemic, to let remain a poignant mystery at this the resurgence of mass shootings, the time. The children throw their flowers seemingly unending police violence into the water, leaving a raft of lilacs against black people, has given the and buttercups floating in the green concept of memorial ceremonies an sea. The veterans walk in formation extra import and weighty sadness. Standing in the chill mist back to the parking lot, and of Memorial Day morning, then disperse and mingle. admittedly grateful that Memorial Day often it wasn’t a downpour as feels like the beginning The raft of it had been three hours of something—summer, flowers in the earlier, I noticed the white specifically, as many of our summer residents arrive ocean seemed candles of the Main Street horse chestnut tree were that weekend, some for the to represent melting, blossoms drifting duration, and some just to say hello and check on their lives in bloom, to the street to pile up against the retaining wall in houses before departing cut short. a yellowing snow drift. The until July or August. There raft of flowers in the ocean are flowers in bloom, and seemed to represent lives in for us here in Zone 5, it bloom, cut short—maybe marks the end of frost danger, so many of us spend the rest of that’s always been the intent. It didn’t hit home before this year. the day putting in our gardens. All of those things are true this year, The change in orators, the assessment as they always are. And compared to of friends present and absent, an last Memorial Day—an essentially island child’s serious illness, the recent private event—this one felt bustling, death of a musical acquaintance, all cheerful, and blessedly normal. But the framed spring’s renewal as one step

in a relentless cycle of emergence and decline. Spring is about new life, and spring brings reminders of mortality. They’ve always been there, Memorial Day among them, but they’ve been underlined and highlighted for me now. I did wind up putting in my tomatoes that evening, surrendering to the persistent drizzle and the mud of my garden. The lined tweed pants I had worn to play Taps became coated with dirt, as did my boots, as did my coat. I started them from seed, and they’ll only be with me a short while—until November, at the latest. Then I’ll coil their withered vines into the compost bin, continuing the cycle of new life and death. Courtney Naliboff teaches music, theater, and writing at North Haven Community School and lives on the island. She may be contacted at: courtney.naliboff@gmail.com.

Journal of an Island Kitchen

Local we know, sustainable we hope Island bucks trend in raising its own food By Sandy Oliver SUNDAY AFTERNOONS, starting the last Sunday in May, a small farmer’s market sets up next to the Up-Island Church (formerly the Free Will Baptist Church, now a preservation society) while cars line Church Turn containing customers ready to pounce on seedlings, vegetables, eggs, honey, all kinds of island-grown fresh stuff. The Up-Island Farmers Market had its start in the fall of 2019, when a summer-long Wednesday morning farmer’s market at the community center with mainland vendors ceased at the end of August when summer crowds diminished. Island producers added themselves to the mainlanders who offered vegetables, meat, cheese, soap, oils, berries, and bread. But at the end of August, harvesting continued and islanders still had vegetables to sell, and so they took themselves up-island and set up shop. Locals still wanted fresh vegetables and the little market worked well enough that it all just began again the following June, soldiering on through the pandemic summer with customers in masks respectfully maintaining distances. It’s island food for island people. Some customers stop en route to or

from the transfer station, which is open on Sunday for people whose work lives make the Monday and Wednesday open times a bit inconvenient. If we learned anything during the pandemic, it was that supply chains are long and often fragile. Disease and hackers break them for sure. So does weather: witness how the Texas freeze affected citrus and livestock. Now, this summer, Western almond growers facing continued drought are uprooting their thirsty trees. When certain items aren’t actually scarce, they are expensive instead. Meanwhile, only a few decades ago, Islesboro people grew a great deal of food—vegetables, meat, fruit, eggs— and produced milk for their own use and vended it to year-rounders and summer residents alike. We even had a Grange. When the car ferry began operation, the ease of tapping into the mainland supply undermined on-island food production except for some families who always had gardens or kept a beef critter. Even though Islesboro is ledgey and full of mucky, swampy places and clayey soil, unlike North Haven with its farm-friendly geology, we can grow quite a lot of food. So Pam Larson and Michael Hutcherson operate Growing Things,

a market garden and greenhouse with an actual farmstand. They bag up salad greens and offer little white turnips, flower seedlings, and later a wide variety of vegetables, husk cherries, tomatoes, and charming round “snacking-cucumbers.” Rachael Earl runs Endor Farm, well fertilized by sheep and horse, alive with chickens and ducks. She brings heirloom vegetable seedlings, gorgeous radishes, microgreens, and cartons of eggs now, later all kinds of vegetables, bundles of lovage. She sometimes brings Phyllis, her disabled hen, a survivor of an eagle attack, who rests in a blanket nest, and surveys the proceedings with mild interest. C.J. Houle and her friend Nate sell honey in various forms, beeswax candles and beeswax soaked cloths for food storage. We are hopeful of a young mushroom grower joining us. I’m there, too, the proprietor of Pretty Good Farm, now with lots of herb seedlings, rhubarb, lettuce six-packs, and later with very ordinary vegetables like loose leaf, romaine and head lettuce, cherry tomatoes, summer squashes, red and golden beets; later, with luck, corn. There’s always fresh herbs. As summer wears on into the fall, customers acquire carrots, beets,

garlic, potatoes, and winter squashes. We give up when the gardens do, or the weather discourages people from coming out. Of course, we see friends, and part of the fun is catching up on our lives and times, especially now that the pandemic is retreating. Our market is mostly about food—vegetables, sometimes baked goods. For me, the main thing is getting locally produced, wholesome food into our neighbors, and if they buy from us we can continue to grow it and be sustainable. Grain and meat are still a way off in the future if we ever get there at all, so I’m not going to kid myself about providing a whole diet for all islanders. I’ll just bet anything we can rebuild a lot of food production on island and when we do hackers can hack, climate can change, pandemics come and go, and we’ll sleep better at night with dinner in the ground outside our kitchen doors. Sandy Oliver is a food historian who writes, gardens, and cooks on Islesboro.

www.workingwaterfront.com . July 2021

23

Guest Column

Castine has rich native history, too Struggle for control with and against colonial powers By William A. Haviland

meeting and seven years earlier met with Champlain in what today is Bangor. It was at that 1604 meeting I ENJOYED Tom Groening’s photo essay on “Historic that friendship was established between the Castine” (The Working Waterfront, June). He did Etchemins, their allies, and the French. In 1615, the Mi’kmaqs succeeded in murdering capture the sense of the village today. There was, however, one thing that he got wrong. The nations Bashaba, and became the dominant power in the that fought over the place were not just the French, region. Soon, however, their power waned, by which English, Dutch, and American colonists, but also time the major threat came from the British colonists to the south. Etchemins, who were the original inhabitants. In 1626, the French were ousted from their trading Castine was an important gathering place before the French established their trading post there in post on the Bagaduce by Plymouth colonists, but 1615. In 1611, a French trader and Jesuit priest met regained control in 1632. They then constructed there with 300 Indians in 80 canoes and a shallop. Fort Pentagoet. The name comes from the Indian word pentagwet, the word for the No fewer than seven canoe routes lower falls of the Bagaduce. Penobscot converged there: One from upstream comes from the native name for the on the Bagaduce, one from the mouth In 1615, the cliffs at Dyce’s Head—“place of the of the river, three via portages across descending rocks”—an important Cape Rosier, another from Morse Cove Mi’kmaqs landmark when out on the water. This on the Penobscot to Grindle’s Eddy on succeeded was not the only place so-named; it the Bagaduce, and one on the isthmus was also applied to the river from the where the British later dug their canal. in murdering head of tide to Old Town. By the time of the 1611 meeting, Bashaba, and The French were again ousted by the region was a war zone. Owing to became the British colonists in 1654, but French the disruption of established trade networks following the arrival of the dominant power control was restored in 1670. Arriving at the fort with the new governor of French in Nova Scotia, Mi’kmaqs in the region. Acadia was a young lieutenant, the (known to the English as Tarrantines) future Baron de St. Castin. He quickly embarked on raids along the coast as far established an alliance with the regional afield as Massachusetts. In response, in Etchemin chief, Madockawando defense of their homeland, Etchemins living between the Kennebec and Narraguagas rivers (“Wonder Worker,” a name reflecting his reputation formed an alliance with Abenakis living between the for having strong supernatural powers) through marriage to one of his daughters. Kennebec and Mousam rivers. In 1674, Fort Pentagoet was destroyed by This Mawooshen (“people walking or acting together”) Confederacy was headed by a grand chief Dutch raiders, after which St. Castin established named Bashaba. He was in attendance at that 1611 a homestead and trading post on the north shore

Discovery Wharf is open

Marine touch tank, virtual reality return

of Hatch’s Cove. This was the target of a raid by British colonials in 1688. By this time, St. Castin was involved with Madockawando in raids on colonial settlements in an effort to stave off further invasions by colonial settlements. Then, in 1675, all out warfare erupted in southern New England, as indigenous people there made a last, desperate bid to save their independence. To make matters worse, in the same year, William Waldron kidnapped 15 Indians near Machias, whom he sold into slavery in the Azores. To the Etchemins and their Abenaki allies in and around Penobscot Bay, watching the destruction of native people of the New England colonies must have made it clear that they would be next on the “hit list” of the British. So in 1676, the first of six wars the Etchemins waged began, along with their French and Indian allies, to defend their independence. In these wars, Madockawando, St. Castin, and later his several sons (from a marriage to a second daughter of Madockawando) carried out numerous raids on colonial settlements in Maine from their homes on the Bagaduce. In the end, though, there simply weren’t enough of them to match the massive influx of people immigrating into the New England colonies. By 1760, all was lost, and “white” settlers took over. The bottom line: Castine and the surrounding region has a rich Indian history, which should not be ignored.

William A. Haviland is an anthropologist and author of Canoe Indians of Down East Maine. He lives on Deer Isle.

NEW OFF THE FOX ISLANDS—

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he Stonington nonprofit Maine “We are looking forward to meeting Center for Coastal Fisheries visitors at our location on Stonington (MCCF) has re-opened its Harbor so we can continue to help marine education center Discovery people understand fishing and the Wharf. The interpretive center will seafood economy of eastern Maine,” open its doors beginning Tuesday, said Paul Anderson, MCCF’s executive June 22 with a limited schedule and director. Discovery Wharf will be open on new reservation system. Discovery Wharf has welcomed Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, thousands of visitors from across the from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Parties of up country and world but was closed to eight individuals can make their to the public last summer due to the reservations online today. Advanced ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The booking is available at www.picktime. use of a booking system will allow com/discoverywharf. Visitor guidelines staff to follow CDC, state, and local and more information about MCCF guidelines as well as proper cleaning can be viewed at www.coastalfisheries. procedures in-between visitors to org. Reservations are required are subject to change. randon Sperling of Spruce Head ensure a safe experience for everyone. and hours Visitors can enjoy the beloved marine Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries was sworn as a Maine marine touch tank, interactive display wall, and works to secure a diversified fishing patrol officer. Prior to Joining virtual reality exhibit. This year’s VR future by connecting fishermen, the Marine Patrol, Sperling served as exhibit will also feature new experiences, scientists, regulators, and others a patrol deputy with the Knox County collaborative research, including scallop and offshore lobster through Sheriff’s Office in Rockland. After a fishing, a tour of an oyster farm, and ice education, and management. Its nine-week field training program, fishing. Visitors can also expect to see innovative and collaborative approach Sperling will serve in the North a familiar face when being welcomed helps ensure that fishing can be kept Haven/Vinalhaven patrol. From 2013 by Capt. Leroy Weed, the star of alive for today and for tomorrow’s to 2019, he served in the US Coast MCCF’s online video series, Ask Leroy! fishery stewards. Guard as a boatswain’s mate. He has

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completed law enforcement training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and is currently enrolled in the American Military University, pursuing an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice. From left are: Marine Patrol Pilot Steve Ingram, Lt. Dan White, Major Rob Beal, Brandon Sperling, DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher, Captain Matt Talbot, and Sergeant Matt Wyman.

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The Working Waterfront . July 2021

Field Notes

Ocean economy, conversation changing Wind, whales, and warming waters mean working together By Sam Belknap DRIVE DOWN ANY PART of Route 1 and you’re bound to spot at least a few signs sporting phrases like “Save the Fishermen, Stop the Mills,” or “Stop Ocean Industrialization.” Given the challenges facing Maine’s fishing industry, it’s no surprise people are concerned about the future of their coastal communities. The signs on lawns and roadsides are evidence of the palpable fear of an uncertain future coursing through the coast. If we pause and take the time to honestly look at the situation, can anyone blame fishermen and women, their families, and their communities for the real fear they are feeling? This is fear based on uncertainty. Fear based on wondering whether they can continue making a living doing what they love to do. Fear based on questions about offshore wind and federal regulations to protect the endangered right whale. Too often, people don’t take the time to listen and learn from one another. We are caught in a world where everything is overly politicized, in a culture where how we think or feel about an issue is too

quickly dismissed by others as wrong or misguided. Would you feel like the leaders in a legislative or judicial process were listening to you if they didn’t acknowledge how you were feeling, or what you were afraid of? I wouldn’t. I spend a lot of my time, and have for the past two decades, talking to fishermen. During that time, I’ve learned a few things, not the least of which is that the vision of a multi-purpose ocean is not a foreign concept on the wharf. For those who see the harm of scrubbing the eggs off a single female lobster as an unforgivable environmental transgression, and for people who regularly return every other lobster to the water to grow and seed the fishery for the next five to ten years, “environmental impact assessment” means something very different. Their daily life and lived experience are based almost entirely on their own personal conservation work in a highly regulated industry with equally complex social, cultural, and ecological systems. For many of the fishermen I have talked to, change is the only constant. They’ve seen the coast become ever more reliant on a single species while also

watching the ups and downs of global economics swamp that fishery. They’ve seen firsthand the alarming impacts that climate change is having on their lives, businesses, and communities. More importantly, they’ve seen what can happen and how they can influence policy and shape events simply by effectively engaging in conversations about how to manage our coast. As state and federal agencies, as well as private corporations, focus their sights on offshore wind, it is no longer a hypothetical for the Gulf of Maine. Offshore wind is no longer a matter of “if,” but of “how” it impacts the fishery and the communities that depend on the ocean for their way of life. As decision-making processes move forward with a limited ability to include fishermen and meaningfully address emotions like fear and loss, we are faced with a dynamic in which people are feeling marginalized or not heard. Fishermen feel their cultural identity is being stripped away in the name of societal progress. To some, it may seem strange to focus on “feelings” in a conversation that involves fishermen and state agencies. However, with

public and private efforts on offshore wind moving ahead, sharing our thoughts and fears about the future is the only way to move forward. These conversations must start from a non-judgmental perspective that invites and validates feedback from those who love this coast and the heritage their livelihoods represent. Our coast is too important to not work together to shape it, and to shape our shared future. We must learn how to listen again, and to talk to each other with a shared goal in mind, so we can all help shape the future of our coast. In navigating the changes that are inevitable, we can go quickly alone, or we can go far together. As somebody who cares deeply about the coast, our communities, and the people that call the Maine coast home, I look forward to listening, learning, and working together. Let’s see how far we can go. Sam Belknap is a senior community development officer with the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront.

Fathoming

Closing a rural school raises key questions Studies show impacts to community go deep By Lisa Millette IT IS SCHOOL BUDGET TIME. For remote and rural towns, it is common for the sustainability of small schools to be in question: do the economic benefits of the school outweigh the cost to local property tax payers? On the surface, closures or consolidations often seem more cost effective. In 2014, Citizens Organization for Rural Education (CORE), driven by concerned community members from Danforth, Weston, and surrounding northeastern Washington County towns, took a close look at the value of its East Grand School, a facility committed to active outdoor learning. In partnership with the Sunrise County Economic Council and Strategic Wisdom Partners, CORE released an economic impact study in 2018 showing closing the K-12 school would cost 43 jobs, 35 as direct layoffs from the school and eight indirect job losses associated with reduced spending as school employee households relocate. The school is Danforth’s second biggest employer. Using the IMPLAN model, developed by the federal government and University of Minnesota, it was calculated that these jobs contribute an economic input of around $3 million

annually, most being in expenditures in the towns and surrounding areas. The impacts to the community, however, would be seen in losses beyond the economic. The school is the hub of the community and provides incentives to families considering moving to this remote and rural area known for its picturesque lakes. The loss of the school would undoubtably result in the relocation of families and school employee households as a round trip commute to the next school district is 60 miles or more. A drop in the area’s population could reduce the patronage needed to support other businesses such as grocery stores, gas stations, the medical clinic, and bank which also serve seasonal residents and tourists. The trickledown effects could be much greater than the IMPLAN model projects. “The conversation really hinged around public-school funding, local taxation, and how schools affect economic activity,” said Elbridge Cleaves, president of CORE, the group that sparked the study on closing the East Grand School. “It’s hard to get communities to talk, let alone the communities and the school.” Cleaves says the economic study gave credibility to the conversation which in turn led to an ongoing partnership

between the towns and the school. The study showed the economic value of the school as well as its role as a social hub. Korah Soll of Rural Aspirations Project noted that residents of Danforth, Weston, and the surrounding area have reached an important conclusion. “The economic development lens is connected to the school improvement lens. They recognize through CORE that the future vitality of their community depends on the strength of their school and the strength of the education within that school.” With the near-term stress of closure gone, East Grand, led by principal and superintendent Peggy White, was able to strengthen and develop its programming aided by the Rural Aspirations Project. It’s the school’s responsibility to continue quality programming which attracts and retains families and grows the area’s lifelong citizens. However, the question of closing is not a one and done conversation—school staff, political leaders, and state budgets all change the equation. Cleaves has seen students who love the area stay or come back for work. “The broadband isn’t incredible, but people are working from the area. It’s all interrelated.” In looking ahead, he says, “Our hope for the future here is almost 100 percent dependent on home feeling like a good place. If you

lose the school, you lose that.” A study by Dreier and Goudy in 1994 came to similar conclusions when it looked at rural Iowan towns that kept or closed their high schools. They showed that towns with high schools gained population over two decades while those without lost population. Questioning the future of East Grand School brought the area’s community together to think more deeply about the economic intersections and the area’s potential. The conversation never stopped. Recently, a group of citizens launched the East Grand Economic Council. Their vision is that “by 2030, the Greater East Grand Region is a stable, unified constellation of remote, rural, welcoming communities that collaborate to attract and retain people of all ages to live, work, visit, and play.” While the question initially circulated around the school, it opened the door to a larger conversation and a comprehensive look to the future. Lisa Millette is a community development officer with the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. She works on climate and energy, marine economy, and small business issues.

www.workingwaterfront.com . July 2021

25

Cranberry Report

The sounds of love are in the air Birds and couples share intimate calls By Barbara Fernald ONCE IN A WHILE my column ideas just don’t pan out. This is one of those months. I thought I would revisit the golf cart situation on Islesford. I started counting carts on a quick trip to the town dock. There were ten golf carts parked among the trucks and cars of people “off island” for the day. I took the long way home and counted 20 more golf carts. Several people have traded up for newer models and I’m envious. Joy our postmaster sent her cart off to Mountain View Auto and three days later Mr. Bunker sent it back looking and working like a brand-new vehicle. I wondered what he could do for my own old basic white model. Meanwhile, I had a question for Bruce who was finishing up enlarging the back deck on our house. “Hoo-hoo!” I called in our little two-note call to each other. He was not on the deck. I headed out the front door to find him in his workshop. “Hoo-hoo?” the lights were out. Where did he go? As I came back to the house, he was inside, having gone through the back door just as I was going out the front. I could hear him calling, “Hoo-hoo!” We laughed

As Bruce and I set out for our at our timing, and at how silly we might sound to someone passing by. afternoon walk, we stopped Chris Minutes later Bruce’s sister, Karen, and Marian coming toward us in called. She had been birdwatching near their golf cart. I can remember the Maypole marsh when she heard a hearing Chris’s parents, Howard and sound she had never heard before. She Sally, calling out to each other on the thought to herself, “What the hell was dirt road to the Coast Guard station: that?” She listened and looked until “Coo de Loo! Coo de Loo!” It was a she saw a Nelson’s sparrow singing the unique warbly sound. Chris reported being strange raspy song. quite embarrassed by it I asked her to tell me as a child, so no, he did what the sound was like not have such a call with and she laughed. “Look Marian. “Sometimes my it up on the Cornell Bird Chris reported mother would yodel, site.” I listened to several being quite and that was the worst!” versions, one of which he admitted. sounded ominously like embarrassed by it As they pulled away, a rattle snake. Cornell as a child, so no, Brian and Kitt were describes the sound as a walking by so I asked wheezing choking gasp. he did not have them about their call. Had I been with Karen, such a call with Nope, no call. We the sound would have rounded the corner and gotten my attention too. Marian. Pat and Bob were in their The timing of Karen’s yard. They did not have a phone call about the new musical call, though they bird, and Bruce’s and my did call “Hun! Hun!” to calls to each other during the day, caused me to go in a different each other in the house. Many birds only chirp one sound direction. With my deadline quickly approaching, I decided I would write as a call rather than a song, so the about the songs that couples call to each “Hun!” was a little of what I was hoping for. other and liken them to bird songs.

We ran into several more people on our walk and the answers were the same. No, no musical call. “Honey, I’m home!” “Hello!” “Hi Bobba!” “Hi, Toots!” These were the kinds of greetings that were mentioned when I asked friends before Zoom meetings, or friends at dinner, or friends on the phone, but so far not one other musical call or whistle. It turns out that calling to each other with musical notes is not as common in my human circles as I had expected it to be. So, if you are walking down Bar Road and you hear a two note “HooHoo” that gets louder and more drawn out the longer it goes on, you can smile and identify it as a couple of rare birds trying to locate each other in the house at No. 23. Barbara Fernald lives on Islesford (Little Cranberry Island).

Observer

Remembering that first kiss

Columnist has too-vivid memory of young love By Phil Crossman

She blushed and rushed to assure everyone within earshot that she SOME PEOPLE WAIT for the mail “remembers nothing of the kind” but ritually, gathering at the post office does recall that I was a troublesome kid. I recall though. We sat on the after the mail van arrives. They are in no hurry and talk about the weather sloping ledge behind the gym. We each and about the folks that come and go embraced our own drawn up knees. as soon as the door closes and they’ve Our arms afforded some modesty as we talked about marriage come and went. and then about kissing, One day I walked in just which we knew, from having behind a local woman, She turned watched our folks, had a lot someone my own age with her head to do with it. whom I recalled a long-ago We talked about how intimate encounter, the to follow we’d have a house and a memory of which had faded his vehicle family and ventured that into obscurity but which now we loved one another, then flowered into the fullness of with her we let go of our knees and a warm recollection which gaze and to stood up. We put our arms easily overtook both me and my typically dormant better wonder at his on each other’s shoulders and maneuvered a little to judgment. unsolicited be sure of our footing (the Unable to restrain enthusiasm… ledge sloped considerably). neither myself nor the fond With our eyes wide open, re-awakening, I burst forth to better enjoy the wonder nearly giddy with affection and good will. “You know,” I announced of the moment, we kissed. Her fingers to the regulars and pointing to her as were cold where they touched my she headed for the door, “that beautiful neck. So were her lips. My lips were woman was the first girl I ever kissed.” not cold. My heart or something that

felt like where it should have been leapt around somewhere in my chest, nearer my stomach actually. The kiss only lasted a moment. It was too exciting to sustain but we remained in close proximity and looked at one another cross-eyed. We rose and walked to the street holding hands and full of wonder. We stopped before crossing the street and I began to impart another kiss but just then my Uncle Vic drove by honking his horn to applaud my style. She turned her head to follow his vehicle with her gaze and to wonder at his unsolicited enthusiasm as I kissed her hair and part of an ear as it all passed through my lips. She gave me a warm look, a bashful acknowledgement or sorts. She touched my hand shyly then held it. I expect she wanted another kiss, but Uncle Vic had left us suddenly feeling awkward and self-conscious. She squeezed my fingers and headed home cradling my heart. It was all she could carry. I continued down the hill, across the bridge. People watching knew I was not the same boy who’d gone up the hill

earlier. I had no feet, for example and glided noiselessly by. And, of course, I had no heart for, as everyone knows, a young boy moving with no feet has had his heart stolen. I told my parents about our plans, about where we would live, the number of kids we expected and, finally, watching them closely, I told them about the kiss. They listened closely and seriously, God bless them and I knew I was on solid ground. I’ll never forget that afternoon, although it might not have been her after all. It might have been her sister. This story has been memorialized in an adorably illustrated (by Simon Deschamps) little book—My First Kiss—available at the Island Institute’s Archipelago store or by contacting the author at: philcrossman. vh@gmail.com. Phil Crossman lives on Vinalhaven where he serves on the select board.

26

The Working Waterfront . July 2021

Isolated microbes provide window into evolution Deep underground, impacted by radiation, life at standstill

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Because of their unique biology and isolation, t’s like something out of science fiction. Research “It was shocking,” Stepanauskas said. “They had led by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences the authors of the new study wanted to understand the same makeup, and so we started scratching our has revealed that a group of microbes, which how the microbes evolved. They searched other heads.” feed off chemical reactions triggered by radioactivity, environmental samples from deep underground and Scientists found no evidence that the microbes can have been at an evolutionary standstill for millions discovered Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator in travel long distances, survive on the surface, or live of years. The discovery could have significant Siberia and California, as well as in several additional long in the presence of oxygen. So, once researchers implications for biotechnology applications and mines in South Africa. Since each environment determined that there was no possibility the samples was chemically different, these discoveries gave were cross-contaminated during research, plausible scientific understanding of microbial evolution. “This discovery shows that we must be careful when the researchers a unique opportunity to look for explanations dwindled. making assumptions about the speed of evolution and differences that have emerged “The best explanation we have at how we interpret the tree of life,” said Eric Becraft, between the populations over their the moment is that these microbes the lead author on the paper. “It is possible that some millions of years of evolution. did not change much since their Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Magazine “We wanted to use that information organisms go into an evolutionary full-sprint, while physical locations separated during others slow to a crawl, challenging the establishment to understand how they evolved the breakup of supercontinent “Some organisms go and what kind of environmental of reliable molecular timelines.” Pangaea, about 175 million years ago,” into an evolutionary Becraft, now an assistant professor of biology at conditions lead to what kind of Stepanauskas said. “They appear to while ” said Ramunas the University of Northern Alabama, completedgrammatical, the genetic adaptations, be living fossils from those days. That very carefully, checking especially for spelling, and factual errors. Please payfull-sprint, close attention to Stepanauskas, Bigelow Lab’s senior research as part of his postdoctoral work at Bigelow sounds quite crazy and goes against to a and to all the details in physical, e-mail, and web site addresses. Please note that any colorsothers shownslow are merely Laboratory and recently published it in the Nature research scientist, the corresponding the contemporary understanding of d on paper. We make every to be 100% error free.author However, cannot held responsiblecrawl…” for errors once microbial evolution.” on thewe paper and be Becraft’s publishing group’s ISMEeffort Journal. postdoctoral advisor. The microbe, Candidatus Desulforudis What this means for the pace of ave approved this printout. Please check audaxviator, the appropriate box below, sign, and return to: “We thought of the microbes as was first discovered in 2008 by a team of scientists, microbial evolution, which often Boats, led Homes &Onstott, Harbors, Inc., 218 South Main St., Ste.they 300,were P.O.inhabitants Box 566,ofRockland, ME 04841 though by Tullis a co-author on the new study. happens at a much more accelerated isolated islands, like the finches that Found in a South African gold mine almost two rate, is surprising. Many well-studied 207-594-8622 • Fax: 207-593-0026 miles beneath the Earth’s surface, the microbes Darwin studied in the Galapagos.” bacteria, such as E. coli, have been found to evolve Using advanced tools that allow scientists to in only a few years in response to environmental acquire the energy they need from chemical reactions caused by the natural radioactive decay in minerals. read the genetic blueprints of individual cells, the changes, such as exposure to antibiotics. They inhabit water-filled cavities inside rocks in researchers examined the genomes of 126 microbes Stepanauskas and his colleagues hypothesize the a completely independent ecosystem, free from obtained from three continents. Surprisingly, they all standstill evolution they discovered is due to the turned out to be almost identical. reliance on sunlight or any other organisms. microbe’s powerful protections against mutation,

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The site where research discovered microbes that have not evolved. PHOTO: DUANE MOSER/DESERT RESEARCH INSTITUTE.

which have essentially locked their genetic code. If the researchers are correct, this would be a rare feature with potentially valuable benefits. Microbial enzymes that create copies of DNA molecules, called DNA polymerases, are widely used in biotechnology. Enzymes with high fidelity, or the ability to recreate themselves with little differences between the copy and the original, are especially valuable. “There’s a high demand for DNA polymerases that don’t make many mistakes,” Stepanauskas said. “Such enzymes may be useful for DNA sequencing, diagnostic tests, and gene therapy.” Beyond potential applications, the results of this study could have far-reaching implications and change the way scientists think about microbial genetics and the pace of their evolution. “These findings are a powerful reminder that the various microbial branches we observe on the tree of life may differ vastly in the time since their last common ancestor,” Becraft said. “Understanding this is critical to understanding the history of life on Earth.”

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