Working Waterfront Advocates to Convene in Portland This Week
Contact Catherine Schmitt, 207-944-1587
PORTLAND, Me – As waterfront advocates from around the United States convene here this week at a national symposium on working waterways and waterfronts, the City Council is considering whether or not to change Portland’s waterfront zoning, and Maine citizens are six weeks away from voting on a new $9.75 million bond that will provide $1.75 million for working waterfront preservation.
“The working waterfront part of the bond amount is fairly small, but essential to continuing the state’s efforts to secure commercial fishing access along the coast,” said Jim Connors of the Maine Coastal Program, which is a sponsor of the Working Waterways and Waterfronts National Symposium on Water Access. “We need this bond referendum to continue the Working Waterfront Access Pilot Program,” said Connors.
The state program is serving as a model for national legislation proposed by Senator Susan Collins (who will share a message to the symposium via video on Tuesday morning) and Representative Chellie Pingree, who will speak to conference attendees about Maine’s leadership on working waterfront issues and her work at the national level on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.
Larry Robinson, Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will provide the keynote address, also on Tuesday morning.
From Maine to Florida to Louisiana, Washington and California to the Great Lakes, communities are finding ways to reinvent and reinvigorate commercial and industrial shorelines, while investing in programs to ensure that those who depend on the water continue to have ready and direct access to America’s rivers, harbors, and ports. The Working Waterways and Waterfronts Symposium provides a forum for discussing the economic and cultural importance of these landscapes, and for designing a cohesive national strategy for preserving and enhancing working waterfronts.
The symposium is sponsored by Sea Grant, NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the Maine Coastal Program, National Fisherman, the National Marine Manufacturers Association and many other organizations.