According to the information Maine’s working waterfront access program would receive $5.5 million if a bond bill proposed by Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree makes it through the State Legislature and is approved by voters. It is mentioned that the bond bill also includes money to preserve farmland and help create food processing for both the fishing and agriculture industries.
It is informed that Pingree’s bill is worth of $16 million. North Haven’s Pingree said that this bill provides a comprehensive approach to protecting and promoting agriculture and fishing in Maine in these economic hard times. Rob Snyder, the Island Institute’s vice president of programs, opined that over the last four years the Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program has established itself as an integral part of working land preservation on our coast with properties spanning the coast from York to Beals Island.
Pingree also said that Maine does not have sufficient processing capacity for seafood, particularly lobster, and does not have sufficient organic slaughterhouse capacity to support our current livestock population. The MFC and the Port Clyde lobster co-op have already completed a program using funding from the state’s working waterfront program.
