WORKING WATERFRONT • June 18, 2024
In the words of former Chief Justice Saufley, under current Maine law, a member of the public is “allowed to stroll along the wet sands of Maine’s intertidal zone holding a gun or a fishing rod, but not holding the hand of a child.” Why? Because in 1986, the Maine Supreme Court held, in Bell v. Town of Wells, that by virtue of the 1641-1647 Colonial Ordinance, title to intertidal lands is held by the upland owner, subject only to the public’s right to use the intertidal zone for fishing, fowling, and navigation. What if the long-abandoned Colonial Ordinance was only ever intended to preserve the public’s right to use the intertidal land in a way that balances the upland owners’ interests in accessing the sea with those same interests shared by the public? That is what we will be arguing at the Maine Supreme Court in the latest case in this long running saga. This case isn’t about fishing, fowling, and navigation; it’s about your rights to access and enjoy the intertidal lands.