Supporting Working Waterfront Communities GrowSmart Maine Summit 2012
Natalie SpringuelMaine Sea Grant College Program
College of the AtlanticBar Harbor, Maine 04609
207-288-2944x5834 [email protected]
Projections from ME State Planning Office
Maine’s coast is in transition…
…By 2050, the majority of Maine’s coast will be classifiable as
suburban/urban
Maps Developed by Maine Coast Heritage Trust as part of their 2012/3 Strategic Planning effort
Modern homes, second homes…
Result: Declining Working Waterfront Access
• Only about half of the 1,555 saltwater access points support commercial fishing activities/marine trades, with limitations.
• 66% are privately owned and are vulnerable to conversion.
• Of Maine’s 5,300 mile coast, only 20 miles support WW.
Mapping Maine’s Working Waterfronts, map by Island Institute
“This is not a promotional brochure.”
Project GOALS • Describe the characteristics of
working waterfront communities that residents value and want to protect.
• Inform “newcomers” about
what to expect and what to not try to change.
• Celebrate working waterfronts for what they really are: working communities reliant on the sea.
Maine Working Waterfront Coalition
Moosabec and Harpswell Project Partners: The Towns of Beals, Jonesport, Harpswell, and…
Want to get involved?
• Working waterfront brochures: [email protected]
• Tools and information about Maine working waterfronts and coastal access: www.AccessingTheMaineCoast.com
• Funds to protect Maine working waterfront lands: www.wwapp.org/
• Maine Working Waterfront Coalition: www.ceimaine.org/Fisheries • National Working Waterfront Network: www.wateraccessus.com/
• Third National Working Waterfronts and Waterways Symposium (March 2013, Tacoma Washington): www.workingwaterfronts2013.org