A pilot programme to protect access to the state’s working waterfront has been overseeing by the Maine Department of Marine Resources (MDMR). There are several organizations and agencies involved in the programme to provide better waters for commercial fishermen.
MDMR’s Working Waterfront Access Pilot Programme has been using $2 million in funding from a 2005 bond measure to support groups wishing to “purchase, preserve and protect strategically significant working waterfront properties that support commercial fishing activities.” And for this seminar was held last week to explain the processes of the programme to fishermen or landowners.
Maine has 5,300 miles of coast out of which only 888 points are accessible that support commercial fishing activities, informed Natalie Springuel of the Working Waterfront Coalition. She also said that 66 percent of the 888 access points are privately owned and are at risk of being sold, and lost as working waterfront. She told the main problem is that once waterfront property is converted to residential, it becomes very unlikely it will ever be converted back.
The Islan Institute’s research reveals that only 81 access points “have the qualities of a ‘prime working waterfront’ by providing adequate parking, all-tide access and on-site fuel availability.” Jeff Kendall of Maine Revenue Services and Jackie Robbins, an assessor for the town of Vinalhaven, came up with an idea of working waterfront tax laws that can provide relief to property owners who have working waterfront on their land.
