Sixteen Sheepscot River lobstermen have banded together to ensure they have waterfront access now and in the future. Before September, 2002, each relied on public access at the Wiscasset municipal pier, where they felt they might be ousted at any time. But during last summer, they formed the North End Co-op, pooled the additional profits gained by selling directly to wholesalers instead of a middle man, and in September, bought a wharf at the north end of Westport Island. Now, they are secure in knowing access is protected for them and for future generations.
In Tenants Harbor a different project which improves access is underway. There, the Miller family is enlarging their fishing wharf and dredging the tidal area next to it to provide better access for the seven family members who fish and any others from the younger generation who decide to follow in their footsteps.
These projects that improve and protect fishermen’s access to Maine waters were made possible in part through loans from Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), headquartered in Wiscasset, with five additional offices in Maine. CEI’s Waterfront Property Loan Fund, which offers loans of up to $300,000 depending on the location, is earmarked for projects that “strengthen Maine’s marine industries by maintaining and enhancing Maine’s working waterfronts.” The low cost financing helps private pier owners pay for dredging, pier maintenance, repair and environmental upgrades.
CEI has supported Maine fisheries in a variety of ways since its inception 25 years ago. The Fisheries Projects was the initial mission of the organization, says Elizabeth Sheehan, Fisheries Coordinator for the past eight years. “Our flagship project provided a loan to Boothbay Fish and Cold Storage,” she says, noting that the business still provides commercial fishing access today. The Fisheries Project now includes revolving loan funds for Maine fisheries and shellfish growers as well as working waterfront properties, and “Fishtag,” a collaborative research program. A recent report, “Preserving Coastal Access,” issued by CEI in December (WWF, Feb, 2003), made clear the need to maintain and protect Maine’s shrinking coastal access.
The nearly four-acre property purchased by the North End Co-op, whose members range in age from their 20s to 54, was owned by a couple who lived there and used it as a base for yachting several months of the year. Prior to that, the property was a working boatyard. As part of the deal, the co-op purchased the 15-ton travel lift used in the yard. The property contains one building large enough for boat repair, two other smaller buildings, a separate shower and bathroom, and two finger piers with a basin where boats can be lifted out of the water by the travel lift.
Presently, three members of the co-op store gear and boats on the property, but only one member, Scott Griffin, continues to fish in winter and moor his boat in the river just beyond the location. Like other members, Griffin formerly used a skiff to take bait and fuel to his boat and sold his lobsters at wharves in Boothbay or Five Islands or trucked them to other wholesalers. Now, he says, the process is much easier. A dealer picks up his catch at the co-op dock and he can load fuel and bait there.
Until something different can be arranged, members are still “chasing for bait and fuel wherever they can find it,” says Dana Faulkingham, president of the co-op. A committee is working on alternatives for obtaining bait and marketing the catch, and a second committee is looking into ways to improve the dock facility, such as building a refrigerated bait room, installing fuel tanks, and extending the pier space so members won’t have to wait in line to off-load lobsters after a day’s fishing. Members also have to decide how they will apportion the property for gear and boats storage.
The key to creating a thriving co-op, believes Faulkingham, whose 25-year-old son Jason is a co-op member, is hard work by everyone, but especially the younger people. “I preach every meeting that the young people have to keep this going,” he says. “They have to pay attention and work hard to really make it happen.”
For the Miller family in Tenant’s Harbor, the issue was improving a wharf that has been owned by Carlton and Anne Miller since 1974 and recently was passed down to their sons. Seven family members, including Carlton, his sons, Dan, Hale, Tad, and Peter; plus Dan’s son, Jed; and Peter’s son, Josh, fish from the wharf. The Millers also own the Cod End, a seasonal restaurant and seafood market run by Anne Miller. The Cod End is on a pier with deep water access. Because of the “V”-shaped design of the wharf, with the Cod End pier on one side and the fishing wharf on the other, and congestion when the Cod End is open, it isn’t practical for the fishermen to use the existing deep water access..
The men have had access to fuel, parking, some space to store gear and bait and moorings in the harbor, but, what they haven’t had is around-the-clock access for their seven boats. From mid-tide to low, no large boats have been able to approach the tidal area that surrounds the fishing side of the wharf.
All these years the Millers have worked around the tidal location. Some of them used to groundfish and go out for shrimp; now, they all fish for lobster and sell their catch to a wholesaler over the wharf. When the tides haven’t been favorable, says Hale Miller, they have had to get up at midnight or one or two a.m. to load bait or gear onto their boats or bring in catch. As his brother Dan puts it, the limitations have been “darn inconvenient.”
With financing obtained from CEI and Key Bank, the Millers, who have a business together as Millers’ Wharf, are dredging the harbor next to the wharf to provide full access. They are expanding the wharf 10 feet to the east and 10 feet to the west (not out into the harbor) and shoring up pilings in the dredged area.
Hale Miller notes that the project will help the seven men run a viable business, and that it also makes it possible for them to pass down the property in better condition for the next generation.
CEI Fisheries Coordinator Sheehan, who worked with the Millers and North End Co-op, and with other similar projects, says in January, after publication of “Preserving Coastal Access,” she received 14 inquiries for fisheries related projects, most aimed at maintaining piers and acquiring access. “We’re very committed to working on preserving waterfront and waterfront access and being involved in waterfront issues,” she says, noting that their financing can play an important role in helping preserve the estimated 25 miles of working waterfront left along Maine’s 7,000 miles of shorefront property.
For further information about CEI’s “Maine Fisheries Project” programs, visit their website at www.ceimaine.org/fisheries/finance.