Posted on December 6, 2021
The new report cites a lack of infrastructure, support, access, affordable housing and legal protections, as well as increasing risks from climate change.
Boe Marsh, head of Community Shellfish in Bremen, sees the value that the working waterfront brings to his small coastal town on a daily basis. As working waterfront access diminishes along Maine’s coast, he and others are desperate to protect it.
A new report commissioned by the Island Institute in Rockland is raising the alarm and proposing solutions.
According to the report, the lack of infrastructure, support, access, affordable housing and legal protections, as well as increasing risks from climate change, make Maine particularly vulnerable to losing its iconic working waterfronts.
It details the need for a broad, statewide strategy around protecting access before it’s too late.
The report, authored by fisheries consultant Merritt Carey, describes the need to protect existing access to working waterfronts as both urgent and critical – because once waterfront access points are lost, they generally don’t return.
“While we need to understand more comprehensively the overall economic impact of our seafood industry, we cannot wait for that data to act,” the report says. “Maine needs a statewide action plan to protect its working waterfront and access before it’s so diminished as to be irrelevant.”
ACCESS AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Maine’s “Blue Economy” is a vital economic engine for the state. Last year, the seafood industry netted $516.7 million in landings alone and contributed over $1 billion to the state’s economy.
The state has invested a great deal of money into further developing that blue economy, but according to the report, investment in protecting waterfront access to ensure that growth has not kept pace.
The loss of that access, it said, can set off a cascade of challenges.
For example, many commercial fishermen don’t have access to a working wharf. Instead, they unload their gear at municipal facilities shared by recreational users, often without the infrastructure fishermen need, such as loading docks, bait and gear storage, cold storage, commercial hoists, forklifts, and room to load and maneuver trucks. This means more time and effort managing gear for fishermen, and an increase in competing uses that municipalities must manage.
Just a few years ago, Portland Pier was dilapidated and unsafe for lobstermen to use, said Ben Conniff, co-founder and chief innovation officer at seafood seller Luke’s Lobster.
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE!
