From left, Merle Webster, Dan Ohno, and Dennis Warren chatted with other lobstermen during a cocktail hour at Warren's wharf on Aug. 18. The cocktail hour is a near-daily tradition that has been happening for years; most of the people who stop by are lobstermen or members of the Vinalhaven Lions Club.
Frankie Thompson picked up his grandson Scotty, 6, after coming home from work on Sept. 3. Every afternoon when Frankie comes inside after working he picks up Scotty and says, "I love you the very, very, very mostest." To which Scotty always replies, "I already know that!" Jean Thompson said she is especially grateful that lobstering has allowed her sons to stay on the island and raise their children near her and Frankie.
Jean Thompson put a piece of steak on her husband Frankie's dinner plate at their home on Sept. 3. Jean and Frankie have been married for over 40 years. Both grew up on the island and have lived there almost all of their lives. Every day when Frank comes home from work they have a cocktail together before dinner.
A woman walked down Main Street through a thick fog in Vinalhaven. The island's Main Street faces a direct threat from rising sea levels. Even the most conservative estimates predict that islanders will lose one third of the buildings there in the next 30 years.
Walt Day waved at a passing lobsterman as he headed back into Carvers Harbor after hauling on July 6.
Tanner Lazaro (right) laughed while Frankie Thompson poked fun at Tanner's fellow sternman Jadon Jackomino as they went out past the three-mile line, into federal waters, on Sept. 1.
Taza Watt turned over a lobster to see if it was a female on July 22. Lobsters, which fuel the nation's second most valuable fishery, are sensitive to temperature, preferring the chilly North Atlantic to southerly waters.
Maine 
