Working Waterfront
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The increasing loss of waterfront access across the nation’s coastline is hindering recreational boaters, commercial fishermen, and water-dependent businesses around the nation’s coasts. Working waterfronts (which consist of marinas, boat repair yards, fish piers, and charter fishing docks) are rapidly changing, now being used for private residential developments and non-water dependent businesses.
Waterfront property is being sold and converted into private spaces and second homes that no longer are the center of economic activity. In Maine, for example, only 25 miles of shoreline support over 26,000 fishing-related jobs and provide the access necessary to sustain an industry worth over $740 million, according to the Island Institute. The pressures that drive the commercial fishing industry from these vital pieces of infrastructure are mounting. Across the nation in different ports, the same story is being told over and over: fishermen can’t afford to live by the water anymore, they can’t afford to even keep their boats docked in the port, and in some cases have resorted to having to trailer their boats in by truck each day before they go fishing.
Rising real estate taxes tied to “highest and best use” assessments and escalating property values fueled by the public’s desire to live by the water are driving the conversion. Water-dependent businesses, such as haul-out service yards, seafood handling facilities, and boat builders, are losing access to the water as well. These losses compound the challenges that decision-makers at all levels of government face in trying to balance population growth, public services, and economic development with the demand for public access to, and on, the water.
It is critical for fishermen have ports and required infrastructure from which to operate, enabling access to ocean waters and fishing grounds. No other fact of life so fundamentally undermines fishing’s coastal way of life than the alienation of traditional access that underpins the local resource-based economies of fishing. Each port needs mooring space, facilities to maintain and repair vessels, gear and supply shops, open space to work on gear, fueling facilities, ice plant(s), cold storage facilities, fish buyers/auction space, fish processors, transportation for fish and fish products, as well as the Coast Guard and/or port security. Channel dredging and jetty maintenance are all important to allow for fishing vessels to move safely in and out of ports.
Waterfront land values are rising at astronomical rates –and taxes rising with them. It has been predicted that the coastside population will increase by another 20% by 2015 (Coastal Sprawl: The Effects of the Urban Design on Aquatic Ecosystems, Beach, 2002). While coastal watershed counties comprise less than 25% of the land area in the US, they are home to 52% of the total US population. It is predicted that average increases of 3,600 people a day will move to coastal counties, reaching a population of 165 million by 2015 (US Commission on Ocean Policy, An Ocean Blueprint on Ocean Policy, 2004).
Resources for the Protection of Working Waterfronts: Florida, Maine, Rhode Island, Washington, California (San Diego), Maryland.
The Working Waterways & Waterfronts National Symposium on Water Access 2010: September 27-30, 2010, Portland, Maine. Read more…
National working waterfront coalition launched
During the last week of September, the Working Waterways and Waterfronts Symposium brought industry, government and NGO representatives from across the country to Portland Maine to attend to issues of depleting public waterfront access and adjourned with the launch of a national working waterfront coalition.
Following two full days of dialogue addressing current trends in the nation’s working waterfront, the socio-economic changes faced by communities as a result of these trends, and models currently being used to preserve points of public waterfront access, the symposium concluded with a half day designated for the development of a national agenda for action on the issue.
Senator Susan Collins and Representative Chellie Pingree, who have each sought to establish federal grant programs that would aid in the preservation of working waterfronts through the introduction of the Working Waterfront Preservation Act of 2007 (Collins) and the Keep America’s Waterfront Act of 2009 (Pingree), both offered remarks at the symposium. According to Rep. Pingree, “Our fishermen, boat yards, marinas and all those who depend on access to the water need a strong national voice to protect the waterfronts and the jobs they provide. The progress we made this year to protect working waterfronts wouldn’t have happened without a diverse group of stakeholders-from fishermen to organizations concerned with the health of the ocean to the boat building industry. We need a national coalition to continue this progress at the national, state and local levels.”
This coalition model has been employed successfully in Maine to preserve points of access and restore wharves and other marine facilities for public use. While many coastal communities have benefited from this program and the work of the state coalition, members recognize that, as bonding for projects becomes increasingly difficult to secure at the state level, procurement of matching federal funds mean a better chance of preserving critical working waterfront and the heritage and vitality of working coastal communities.
In addition to recognizing a need for federal dollars to support local working waterfront preservation, there is a realization among states facing depleting public access that their struggles are common. There is a need for a unified response that draws on each the experience of local and state efforts to coordinate critical legislation and support new tactics aimed at addressing these issues.
“Maine continues to see its working waterfront access threatened by new development,” says Robert Snyder, executive vice-president of the Island Institute. “Meanwhile, working waterfront communities around the nation are seeing their access eroded. It is time for Maine’s leaders to build on our history of creating innovative approaches to securing access and lead a national coalition to support this work both here and around the country. There are times when, in order to do something for Maine, we must do something for the country. This is one of those times.”
-Amanda LaBelle, Island Institute
Current Legislation to Help Protect Working Waterfronts
H.R. 2548 and S. 533, The Keep America’s Waterfronts Working Act of 2009, is currently pending in Congress. The legislation would provide up to $150 million in matching grants and other support for states to develop working waterfront projects.
The Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program in the state of Maine has helped create nineteen wharfs owned by municipalities, families and cooperatives of fishermen which will remain protected for ongoing fisheries-related uses. The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) is providing over $5 million to help with purchase of access easements, rights of way, and development rights to preserve properties dedicated to commercial fisheries. According to the DMR, these wharfs support over 900 jobs, up to 16 million pounds of seafood each year and at least $40 million in income.
