On a sunny August day at noontime, over 150 lobstermen along with their families, neighbors, state officials and working waterfront activists gathered at the Davis Wharf in Goose Cove, Tremont to celebrate the first working waterfront easement placed on a commercial fishing wharf by a Maine fishing family.
It was one of the few conservation celebrations along the Maine coast in recent memory where the parking lot and roadside were dominated by the sight of bumper-to-bumper pick-up trucks.
The goal of Maine’s Working Waterfront Access Program, funded by voters through the Land for Maine’s Future (LMF), is to acquire and permanently protect access along the Maine coast for commercial fishing purposes, said George LaPointe, Maine’s Commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources, as he saluted the vision of the Davis Family for the easement they placed on their wharf and property in perpetuity.
Under the Working Waterfront Access Program, individual families, fishing businesses, coops or towns can sell the development rights to the State of Maine and in exchange for forgoing the opportunity to have the land used for other purposes such as seasonal residential use at any time in the future. The Davis property is the last commercial fishing operation in Goose Cove on the “quiet side” of Mount Desert Island.
Robert Davis, who along with his brother Wayne, both of whom lobster fish from the wharf along with a number of other local lobstermen, spoke of the example his father, Edwin Davis, set for the family when he gave the property over to his two sons. “He could have sold this property and lived a comfortable life, but he didn’t. Without his unselfish generosity we would not have this wonderful shorefront. Now Wayne and I have done the same thing for all time.” Edwin Davis passed away in 1998, and after he retired from fishing, came down everyday to the wharf when his sons returned from hauling.
Under LMF’s Working Waterfront program, voters have approved $5 million in state bond funds to acquire the most valuable and rapidly diminishing parcels of working waterfront along the coast. According to a report published by the Island Institute in 2007, along Maine’s entire 5,000-mile plus saltwater coastline, “less than 20 miles of working waterfront access remains-less than one half of one percent of the total coast,” said Rob Snyder, one of the co-authors of the report, and the Island Institute’s vice president of programs.
The Davis property is one of 19 working waterfront projects funded by LMF along the Maine coast, the first project from an individual family.
According to Hugh Copperthwaite of Coastal Enterprises Inc. (CEI), who helped put the pieces of the complex transaction on the Davis property together, the appraised value of the covenant restricting uses on the property exclusively for commercial fishing was $720,000. LMF purchased this valuable covenant for $265,000.
Robert and Wayne Davis’ grandfather, Fred Davis, bought the Goose Cove property in 1947. Robert’s son, Matt and his young son, Ryan, who said he wants to be a fisherman someday, also attended the lobster roll lunch celebration prepared by the family. Matt Davis summed up his sentiment in a few succinct words, I want to thank my grandfather and father for not selling out.”
The Davis’ next-door neighbor, Louis Cabot, was asked to give the initial toast of the day. Shortly afterwards state Sen. Dennis Damon (D-Hancock) spoke. Damon is the senator who initially submitted the legislation for the referendum that recently changed the Maine constitution allowing for commercial fishing properties to benefit from property tax relief and established the working waterfront bond fund program.
Summing up the day, Wayne Davis said, “Fishing is a battle every day. But when I go to my grave, I’m going to look back and say I got something accomplished. Today’s the day I’ll remember. Today’s the day.”
Philip Conkling is the president of the Island Institute.