Overfishing may be the buzz word on the waterfront to explain the decline of many stocks of fish around Vineyard waters, but it isn’t heard often enough when it comes to explaining the loss of bait fish.

On Wednesday night at the Chilmark Public Library, a lone man stood before an audience of anglers and commercial fishermen to report the worst environmental tale needing to be told is the loss of one of the most valued forage fish in the ocean, which used to swim in abundance in these waters but is almost gone — menhaden.

Built on Stilts Slots

A few available performance slots for the Island’s dance festival coming August 15 to 19 and 23 and 24. Please e-mail Built on Stilts Director, Abby Bender, at shakes9999@yahoo.com or visitbuiltonstilts.org for more information. Theater, dance, improvisation and music are welcome. Final programming due by August 5.

Though hundreds will go to Menemsha to see the sunset this weekend, there is an even better event that follows afterward without anyone having to move.

Island Plan Forum

The next Island Plan summer forum, which will deal with the Vineyard’s built environment, will be held Monday, August 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Union Chapel on Kennebec avenue in Oak Bluffs.

The forum will discuss Vineyard buildings, neighborhoods, streetscapes and public spaces. At the forum, the Island Plan Built Environment Work Group will present its preliminary recommendations. Admission is free.

In 1954, Budd Schulberg wrote his Academy Award-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront. Now 94, the writer and playwright traveled from Menemsha to Scotland this week to see a new stage version of the classic film performed at the Edinburgh International Festival.

“I’m really looking forward to this,” Mr. Schulberg said over the phone before taking off for the week-long trip. In the background his wife, Betsy worried aloud about getting his heart medication on the trans-Atlantic flight.

Navy Ensign Brett A. MacLaren, the son of Navy Capt. Ron J. MacLaren of Oak Bluffs, recently completed the Navy nuclear power training unit course at Naval Nuclear Power Training Command, Goose Creek, S.C.

Ensign MacLaren received instruction about nuclear theory, chemistry, physics, reactor operations, safety and security. Upon completion of the course, he was designated a nuclear power operator.

Skip Petersen, a graduate of the Pratt Institute of Fine Arts, presents a gallery show of her work, which she defines as “abstract oil in very bright colors” — hence the title of the show, Brilliance.

The exhibition opens tomorrow, Saturday, August 2, at the Pebble Building of Featherstone Center for the Arts, with a reception from 4 to 7 p.m. The show will hang through August 13.

Island Insurance Agency

Hires Account Executive

Martha’s Vineyard Insurance Agency has added Carrie-Lynn Whitney to its sales staff at its Edgartown office.

Ms. Whitney, a 20-year veteran in the insurance industry, has joined the agency as an account executive. Most recently, she has been employed as a benefits consultant handling national accounts. She has relocated from Connecticut to Edgartown.

Sheriff’s Meadow: Tracking the Future

This has been a painful summer for the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, the venerable Island conservation organization that was rocked at the outset of the season by the revelation that two of its signature sanctuaries had been dug up by an Island landscaper who was transporting native plants to a private property on the West Tisbury North Shore.

Shine a Light

On an Island where the dire lack of low and moderately priced housing is a perennial issue, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission is right to require a public hearing on an affordable housing proposal from the developers of the Field Club in Edgartown.