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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 3
November 2009
ME working waterfront program helps build new Isle au Haut pier
ISLE AU HAUT, ME – Work has begun on another of the growing list of projects designed to preserve working waterfront in the state of Maine, this time to replace Isle au Haut’s 50-year-old pier with a brand new structure that is 60% larger and will be equipped with a new mechanical hoist and ramp for accessing adjacent town-owned floats.
Early in October, the Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program (WWAPP) announced that it had issued a final award of $150,000 to the town, which is located five miles south off Stonington.
In exchange for accepting the grant, the town agreed to place its municipal pier and landing under permanent restriction for use as a commercial fisheries access point for local lobstermen.
The project also has received about $500,000 in grants from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development and the Maine Department of Transportation’s Small Harbor Improvement Program and in matching funds provided by the town. Prock Marine is doing the work.
According to Steve Shaffer, former second selectman and liaison for the project, more than half of the community’s 40 year-round residents rely on lobstering for the majority of their income.
“The pier and property is a lifeline,” he said. “The award from the WWAPP will help us afford the construction of a larger pier that will enhance its utility to fishermen and to the townspeople. At the same time, the property will be accessible forever by commercial fishermen according to the terms of the restrictive covenant.”
Lobstermen aren’t the only ones who rely on the dock. It is the sole commercial access to the island and the only place that the Isle au Haut Boat Company, the primary ferry service, has public access year-round.
The Maine Sea Coast Mission vessel Sunbeam, which offers church services and “telemed” services providing doctors’ appointments through closed-circuit TV, also uses the dock. So does a larger ferry that travels to the island to deliver supplies and construction materials.
The WWAPP is funded by a citizen-approved bond issue and administered by the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and the Land for Maine’s Future Program, aided by Coastal Enterprises Inc. and the Island Institute.
DMR Commissioner George Lapointe remarked that, with few employment alternatives available, it was more important than ever to ensure that island fishermen have permanent access to the waterfront on which they depend.
“Maine has a strong interest in maintaining strong and vital offshore island communities,” he said. “Through this investment, we hope that fishing will be as much a part of Isle au Haut’s future as it has been their past.” /cfn/
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