2011 was notable, among other reasons, for the release of reams of data from the 22nd U.S. Census. For purposes of understanding how we are doing as a nation, or as a state or as a group of communities, such as the Maine islands, there is nothing that even comes close to this authoritative compilation. The first U.S Census was undertaken in 1790 by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and compiled every 10 years since. Like everything else, the census has gotten more complex with each passing decade as the country adds more categories of information to collect. In 1880 the increase in census information was so substantial that it took almost 10 years to publish the results. Thankfully, the Census Bureau has become much more efficient in the decades since, and now we get the final results within a year.
For the past six months, a small group at the Island Institute has been busy analyzing a blizzard of data from the islands and compiling information into a status report we call Island Indicators. The goal of the publication is to provide objective answers to the question of how the islands of Maine are doing and how the islands relate—for better or worse—to the rest of Maine, or the country for that matter.
In other words, are the islands half full or half empty? As usual, the answer, like the question, is a bit of a mixed metaphor.
First of all, Maine is grayer and whiter than virtually any other state in the country, and the islands are generally grayer and whiter than Maine as a whole. The median age of all islanders is higher than Maine as a whole (Maine has the highest median age of any state in the country), but there is a startling difference between islands. Frenchboro currently has the youngest median age of any island community—27.2 years—followed by Islesford, which are the only two island communities with a lower median age than the nation as a whole thanks to mini baby booms in those two communities. Both of these islands have made it a long-standing priority to attract young families to their communities through innovative affordable housing strategies, and it seems to be working. The two oldest communities with the fewest children are Great Diamond and Great Cranberry.
Although Maine is still quite poor, economically—we rank 31st in the country in median income—it is a surprise to discover that 11 of 15 year-round island communities have a higher median income than the state as a whole. This is news. The 2006 Island Indicators report noted that nine of the year-round island communities were below the state median in income. This improvement in income most likely results from a confluence of two factors. First, although the islands have gotten grayer, part of this trend has resulted from native and summer islanders, having earned a living elsewhere, returning in significant numbers to island communities for their retirement years. Although the graying demographic places extra strains on local emergency and medical resources, this group of islanders also brings additional experience and income to their island communities.
A second factor involved in the improved economic situation of islanders undoubtedly results from the continued increase in lobster landings. We know from Maine Department of Marine Resources figures that although islanders represent less than one percent of Maine’s population, islanders hold nine percent of the state’s lobster licenses. This means that lobstering is at least ten times more important to the islands’ economy compared to Maine’s other coastal communities. To add a little specificity, almost half of the population of Frenchboro currently holds a lobster license; followed by Matinicus where almost 40 percent of year-round islanders have licenses. Swan’s, Isle au Haut and Vinalhaven follow with 33 and 29 and 25 percent of residents, respectively, with lobster licenses. Not surprisingly, due to their proximity to the mainland, the percentages of residents with lobster licenses on Islesboro, Great Cranberry and Peaks are much lower.
The economics of the lobster industry have gotten more precarious in recent years, as we have reported previously in these pages. During the past decade, the price of lobsters has dropped by one percent in real dollars, while fuel prices have increased by 116 percent, and bait has increased by an astounding 163 percent. These are figures for the industry as a whole, but are likely to be even higher on islands. So what keeps any lobstermen in business? Answer: an increased harvest. Many lobstermen have made up in volume what they have lost from the squeeze of rising fuel and bait and flat or decreasing prices of their landings.
But what do these figures actually mean? Here, the numbers are arresting. Lobster landing data is not available by individual islands (where there is often a single dealer, which if figures were disclosed, would compromise confidential business information), but is available for groups of islands. In 2010 the islands collectively landed over 12 million pounds of lobsters worth over $40 million. Among the six Penobscot Bay island communities, the seven million pounds lobsters landed were worth over $21 million. Among the three Casco Bay island lobster communities of Chebeague, Long and Cliff, some 3.8 million pounds were landed worth almost $11 million. Given these numbers, you could say that without a viable lobster fishery, many island communities would be deeply impoverished—or radically different—than they are today.
The last bit of information that deserves special mention is to focus on how the islands stack up educationally, compared with the rest of Maine. To begin with, more island residents have college degrees (33 percent) than mainland residents (23 percent). Fewer island residents are without a high school diploma than mainland residents (12 versus 15 percent). From data recently collected through the Island Institute’s scholarship program, we know that island students achieve at or above the Maine state average on standardized tests. We also know that the graduation rate for island high school students is higher than the average in Maine—and has been virtually 100 percent in recent years. Finally, an increasing number of high school graduates from the islands are going to college.
There is a treasure trove of richly detailed additional information in the remainder of this report (available here), which I do not have space to mention here. But in summary, the picture that emerges from the trends we have analyzed is that, although the Maine islands continue to have real challenges, with aging populations and declining school enrollments, more limited employment opportunities, and more expensive housing, food and transportation costs, there are also some very important bright spots. For the islands, the one silver lining in the cloud of the Great Recession is that housing costs on islands are less unaffordable than at any time in the past decade. The lobster industry is, if not thriving, at least healthy and sales are robust.
But perhaps the single most important thing islanders have done during the past decade is to have invested successfully in the education of their students, and this among all other factors, bodes well for their future.
Philip Conkling is president of the Island Institute.