1. Supporting Working
Waterfront Communities
GrowSmart Maine Summit 2012
Natalie Springuel
Maine Sea Grant College Program
College of the Atlantic
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609
207-288-2944x5834 nspringuel@coa.edu

2. 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

3. Modern homes, second homes…
Maps Developed by Maine Coast Heritage Trust as
part of their 2012/3 Strategic Planning effort

4. 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

6. “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.

7. Reactions to the
brochures have been
overwhelmingly
positive.

8. Want to get involved?
• Working waterfront brochures: nspringuel@coa.edu
• 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
Moosabec and Harpswell Project Partners: The Towns of Beals, Jonesport, Harpswell, and…
Maine Working Waterfront Coalition