| Maine's working waterfronts are estimated to have an annual economic impact of $740 million. |
Traditional fishing villages are at risk.
Along our nation's shorelines, fishing trawlers are often competing for dock space with leisure boats. Dockside businesses that support fishermen are being turned into restaurants and shops catering to tourists. Increasing property values are forcing those who have worked the water for generations to sell because they can't afford the property taxes. Long-established access to docks and water is often lost when private property changes hands.
Coastal resource managers in Maine are working hard to conserve their state's working waterfronts. One of the primary mechanisms for doing this, says Jim Connors, senior planner at the Maine Coastal Program, is the Maine Working Waterfront Coalition, "a very broad-based consortium of folks working together" to protect the last of the state's working waterfront.
Over the past three years, the coalition has successfully shepherded two policy initiatives creating tax breaks for waterfront property owners and a bond-issue-supported acquisition program.
Big Benefits
Of Maine's 5,300-mile coastline, only 175 miles is sufficiently deep and sheltered to support water-dependent uses, according to a 2002 study by the Maine Land and Water Resources Council. Residential, commercial, and industrial structures that may benefit from but are not dependent on a waterfront location already occupy more than half the ideal shorefront. Only 25 miles of Maine's coast is considered "working waterfront."
"That's relatively small when you think about the entire state coastline and the economic impact of all the jobs associated with what's landed out there," says Hugh Cowperthwaite, fisheries project coordinator for Coastal Enterprises Inc. (CEI), a community development nonprofit corporation and a member of the Working Waterfront Coalition.
Maine's working waterfronts are estimated to have an annual economic impact of $740 million.
Taking the Initiative
A legislative task force in 2002 directed the coastal program to document the loss of working waterfront and "get a handle on the statistics and facts of what was transpiring," Connors says. The coastal program hired CEI to conduct the initial survey, which showed that working access was slowly being lost.
In 2003, the coastal program and CEI held an initial meeting of people representing various organizations and industries involved in and concerned about working waterfronts.
"The initial idea," says Cowperthwaite, "was to get together and talk about what all we were doing and how things overlap. Out of that came the idea that we should form some sort of coalition."
Policy Needs
The group became the Maine Working Waterfront Coalition, and its membership grew from 12 to 140 people, including political leaders and representatives of commercial fishing interests, municipalities, and others concerned with helping preserve working waterfronts, including the Maine Sea Grant Program.
During the coalition's monthly meetings, two problems that required policy solutions rose to the top of the group's agenda—the issue of rising property taxes that make it financially difficult for fisheries-related businesses to retain working waterfront, and the loss of access for commercial fishermen resulting from competition for prime waterfront property.
"Basically, we had two initiatives that we ended up working on side-by-side all the way through the legislature," says Cowperthwaite.
Getting Political
Raising public awareness about the need for the initiatives was a primary goal of the coalition, Connors says. This included hosting public educational forums and conducting additional research into the economic importance of working waterfronts.
The coalition also formed a political action committee (PAC) to support the ballot initiatives during the election, and then to monitor their progress through the legislature.
"That was an issue for some folks," notes Connors. "Those of us that cannot lobby—Sea Grant and people like myself—did not participate in the formation of the PAC, or the campaign."
Connors adds, "One of the principles established in forming the coalition was that not every member would support every action, proposal, or idea."
Tax Program
The first successful initiative was for a current-use taxation program providing tax breaks to property owners based on the land's use as working waterfront.
"It wasn't a new idea," Connors says. The state has already provided similar programs to help protect farm- and forestland, and open space.
A referendum to change the state's constitution to allow the legislature to create a preferential tax category for commercial fishing activities made it onto the ballot in November 2005 and passed 73 to 27 percent. A similar initiative had been tried five years earlier and had been narrowly defeated.
Connors notes that the actual program is being created by the state legislature, and it will be a year before landowners are able to apply for the current-use tax.
Securing Access
The second initiative provides $2 million in public funds for a pilot program to preserve and secure working access, Connors says. The funds were part of a $12 million referendum on the November ballot for a land conservation, and farm and recreational boating access program.
The pilot program is "out on the street," Connors says, with the application period ending November 1. The state Department of Marine Resources will evaluate the proposals and select those to receive grant funding.
Everyone, from municipalities to private businesses to fishing co-ops, is eligible to apply, Cowperthwaite says. "Part of the grant agreement is that the property stays in commercial use in perpetuity. If the use is changed for whatever reason, the Department of Marine Resources would have first right of refusal if it's ever put on the market."
Defining Success
Persistence and working together were the keys to the group's success, says Cowperthwaite. Acquiring political support for the initiatives also was important.
He adds, "It hasn't been easy, but we have been successful to a point. We'll have to wait and see how these programs are utilized before we're able to claim success. That's the real test."
For more information, point your browser to www.state.me.us/spo/mcp/wwi/index/php/. You may also contact Jim Connors at (207) 287-8938, or jim.connors@maine.gov, or Hugh Cowperthwaite at (207) 772-5356, ext. 120, or hsc@ceimaine.org.
