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Editorial
Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 1
September 2005
Working waterfront measures need your vote
Maine’s commercial fishing industry is hanging on by a thread. This time, the threat isn’t overfishing or heavy-handed fisheries regulations. It is the loss of access to the water by working fishermen, a consequence of soaring waterfront real estate values.
Whether it’s for a vacation home or a condo complex, coastal property along the romanticized rocky shores of Maine has become a hot commodity over the last few years.
This increasing demand has set off a chain of events that is spelling real trouble for the fishing industry. Higher property evaluations are leading to huge tax bills that some property-owning families and waterfront businesses are struggling to pay. Between that pressure and the promise of a hefty check at the end of a water-view real estate transaction, it’s not surprising that people decide to sell.
But new property owners are unlikely to carry on the traditional practice of letting local lobstermen and fishermen use their wharves and beaches for coming and going to boat moorings, unloading catches, taking on gear, and the like. And since most waterfront access in Maine is privately rather than publicly owned, displaced fishermen don’t have many options.
According to various sources, the commercial fishing industry contributes more than $740 million annually to Maine’s economy and employs about 26,000 people. Yet fishermen rely on just 25 miles of the state’s 5,300-mile coastline to get to the water.
Preserving the working waterfront has been identified as a priority by just about everyone familiar with the problem – fishing associations, community development groups, and Maine’s State Planning Office to name a few.
United as the Working Waterfront Coalition, these groups worked hard to put the problem on the Legislature’s radar screen and managed to get lawmakers’ approval of two completely separate proposals: the current-use taxation constitutional amendment; and the Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program bond issue.
Now it’s up to every lobsterman, fisherman, clam digger, and shoreside worker in the state of Maine to take the next step – help get these measures approved by voters in November’s statewide election.
There are a number of things individuals can do, according to Rob Snyder of the Island Institute, who is a member of the Working Waterfront Coalition’s executive committee.
Fishermen can reach out and explain their fundamental dependence on maintaining access to the water – to their families and friends, not just along the coast but inland too. The current-use taxation option is already in effect for farmers and foresters. It should be extended to also help fishermen stay in business and that will only happen if inland voters see the current-use ballot question as an equity issue and vote to support it.
Fishermen can start attending town selectmen and planning board meetings and speak in favor of the current-use tax and bond issue proposals. Town leaders, naturally concerned about losing property tax money on valuable land, will need to be convinced that taking care of the working waterfront is a critical investment in the local economy and year-round vitality of their communities.
Fishermen can get out and vote. Maine issues more than 10,000 commercial fishing licenses each year. Every one of those license holders who registers to vote and goes to the polls to support the working waterfront preservation measures will make a difference.
Finally, fishermen can join the Working Waterfront Coalition to stay informed. To sign up or for more information, contact Snyder – phone (207) 594-9209 ext. 142 or e-mail <rsnyder@islandinstitute.org> – or Hugh Cowperthwaite at Coastal Enterprises Inc. – phone (207) 772-5356 ext. 120 or e-mail <hsc@ceimaine.org>. /cfn
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