Maine moves to protect coastline Working waterfront projects under way

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ELLSWORTH – Maine’s coastline has been an attractive commodity for years, particularly to wealthy out-of-state buyers, but as shorefront acreage continues to be gobbled up, the state’s commercial fishing industry is feeling the squeeze.

A recent study by the state’s Working Waterfront Coalition revealed that of the more than 5,200 miles of Maine’s jagged coast, fewer than 25 are devoted to public fishing.

Additionally, of the more than 1,500 coastal access points from Kittery to Eastport, 66 percent are privately owned.

Jennifer Litteral of the Island Institute, a Rockland-based community development organization devoted to protecting the state’s working waterfront, said the numbers are troubling.

“More and more land along the coast is being bought privately and no one wants to share,” she said in an interview last week. “Most fishermen certainly can’t afford to buy coastal property.”

But Litteral stressed that many tools are in place to help preserve working waterfronts.

She and a group of other experts recently were hosts for a series of workshops in five coastal communities to help educate fishermen and women about some of them.

“No one tool is going to save the working waterfront,” Litteral said. “That’s why we’re taking a toolbox approach.”

One of the more successful options, the Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program, is starting to reap rewards.

Through funding from the Maine Department of Marine Resources and the Land for Maine’s Future bond, the pilot program has provided matching grants totaling $1.3 million to six projects.

Those projects will preserve about 7 acres of working waterfront but, more important, will protect 400 jobs and nearly 200 fishing boats.

Because of its success, the pilot program is soliciting another round of applications with the remaining $400,000, Litteral said.

The program also is expected to be continued for another three years if the $5 million proposal can make it through the appropriations process in Augusta.

Even though only six projects were chosen for the first round of the pilot program, Litteral said more than 100 fishermen and women voiced interest.

The application process is complicated, she said, but anyone interested can receive help from the Island Institute.

Another tool that will become available on April 1 is a current use tax for working waterfront property.

Similar to programs that already are in place for tree growth and farmland, the current use tax essentially acts as a tax break for fishermen and women who own coastal property.

“There is a definite need for current use. More than half of Maine’s acres already are enrolled as current use,” Jeff Kendall of the Maine Revenue Service said at a recent forum in Ellsworth, explaining how the working waterfront current use tax will work. “Out-of-staters have been driving values up, so this is designed to bring them back.”

Some who attended the Ellsworth forum were concerned about designating their land as current use, because the designation is permanent.

“What if I retire and want to sell my land?” asked one man.

Kendall explained that the program, available only to those who own land on tidal waters, has plenty of penalties built in.

Litteral, who worked on the campaign for the current use tax after if was approved in a December 2005 referendum vote, said creating the language was a delicate process.

“We had to all come out with something we agreed on,” she said. “I think the way it’s written [with the penalties] is going to be a stretch.”

The current use tax, however, can be used with any of the other tools available, Kendall said, and is not necessarily designed to help everyone.

Besides the Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program and the new current use tax, there is a host of other, smaller tools available for the state’s fishing community.

The State Planning Office offers two different types of grants, and three other grants are available through the Department of Economic and Community Development.

Other alternatives are offered through the Island Institute and Coastal Enterprises Inc., a Wiscasset-based nonprofit.

“We definitely have our hands in everything because we understand that it takes more than just one option,” Litteral said.

The working waterfront issue has even made inroads in Washington, D.C.

Earlier this month, Maine Sen. Susan Collins reintroduced legislation that would authorize $50 million in federal grants for the Working Waterfront Preservation Act.

“There is no targeted, federal program to help the commercial fishing industry gain or preserve access to waterfront areas,” Collins said in a statement. “At the same time, the pressures that drive the commercial fishing industry from these vital pieces of industry infrastructure are mounting.”

It’s unclear how much, if any, of that total will be approved.