PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 17, 2023
Comprising a mere 20 miles of Maine’s 3,500 mile coastline, the working waterfront underpins a fishing industry that brings in $1 billion of harvest and creates thousands of jobs throughout the state, from wharf to plate. And it’s an industry under threat from rising sea levels that threaten infrastructure, to warming waters that change the types of species in our ocean, to regulations that protect endangered right whales, and rapid increases in demand for coastal properties. A bill (L.D. 574) could expand protections for working waterfront property by giving land trusts the option to play a key role in efforts to preserve them. Broadening the definition of entities allowed to hold a working waterfront covenant to include land trusts would significantly expand the pool of potential partners who can hold a covenant and provide great benefits for our coast. ~ Nick Battista, Island Institute, and Pete Nichols, Midcoast Conservancy