The Nation’s Working Waterfronts Subject of Portland Symposium

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Thursday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

September 8, 2010 UMaine in the News

Contact: Catherine Schmitt, Maine Sea Grant, 581-1434, catherine.schmitt@umit.maine.edu

PORTLAND, ME – Active waterfronts fuel coastal economies from Maine to Alaska, but demographic and financial changes threaten to transform America’s working shorelines. On Thursday, September 30, US Representative Chellie Pingree will charge working waterfront advocates with creating a national strategy for protecting and enhancing access for fishing, boating and marine industries as part of the Working Waterways and Waterfronts National Symposium on Water Access, September 27-30.

Building on the inaugural symposium in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2007, participants at the Maine conference will learn about the economic, social, cultural and environmental values of waterfronts, and the important role of water-dependent uses in sustaining coastal communities. Representatives from 21 states will present local and regional solutions for addressing water access challenges.

The tone for the conference—and charge for those attending to identify a national strategy for working waterways and waterfronts—will be set by Dr. Larry Robinson, deputy administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and by US Senator Susan Collins. Robinson, who is familiar with working waterfronts throughout the southeastern US, helps guide policy and program direction for NOAA’s conservation, protection and resource management priorities.

“Dr. Robinson will get the conference off to an exciting start,” said conference chair and lead organizer Natalie Springuel of Maine Sea Grant, noting that Maine was selected to host the second symposium because of the state’s leadership on working waterfront issues.

That leadership will be evident during a walking tour of the Portland waterfront on Tuesday, September 28. As reported by The New York Times, debate over what types of businesses belong on the Portland waterfront has heated up in recent months, a conflict that is familiar to coastal communities throughout the United States.

“The City of Portland is the ideal backdrop for designing a strategy to protect working waterfronts at the national level,” said Rep. Pingree. Both Pingree and Collins have sponsored bills that would create a federal funding mechanism for economically valuable waterfronts.

Other topics to be discussed during the three-day symposium include the effects of natural and human-made disasters on commercial fishing access along the Gulf Coast, integrating smart growth elements into waterfront planning, and waterfront
diversification.