E-Books →When the Island Had Fish The Remarkable Story of a Maine Fishing Community

The book investigates the changing meanings of the notion of a "fishing community" and of community members changing relationships with the natural world and with international commerce. Through this broader lens, it sheds light on the way that species, including humans, are impacted by - and at moments contribute to - climate change, environmental degradation, and sustainable and unsustainable uses of natural resources.
When the Island had Fish also provides a meditation on America's past and future. Vinalhaven's fishing history is in every way America's history. It's a story of habitations by native peoples and European-American settlers, their use of natural resources, their communities and kin, and their efforts to find ways to live in a harsh environment. Anyone interested in creating a viable collective future will learn from reading about the Penobscot Bay fisheries and fishermen, and about Vinalhaven's citizens' expansive knowledge of craft, husbandry, self-governance and community independence, and interdependence.