The Port Clyde Fishermen’s Co-Op has recently awarded the fishermen of Port Clyde with a grant of $ 340,000 from the state to help pay for expansion of a fishermen’s pier. In this port more than three dozen fishermen and lobster men have been working together for a year to preserve the waterfront.
Deputy Commissioner David Etnier of the Marine Department of Marine Resources confirmed that the Land for Maine’s Future Board has approved the project and soon the amount would be given to the recipient. Etnier said that this award is the first of its kind paid under the bond for the working waterfront access programme. The co-op has decided to build a new concrete pier with this amount to help the local fishermen for a guaranteed access.
Gerry Cushman, 38, a third-generation member of the co-op and fifth-generation resident of Port Clyde, said, “We want to make sure that the local fishermen and lobster men always have a place of their own to fish.”
Actually the original award was to be $ 250,000 but the figure raised after an appraisal of the property’s worth. Willow Rheault of the Coastal Enterprise Institute, said that the award would help co-op to secure access for an even more diverse group of fisheries including the draggermen as well. His organization help administer the waterfront access programme under contract to Marine Resources.
According to Rheault the state waterfront access programme is first of its kind in the nation aimed at commercial waterfront properties.
