Communities and Economies

​​Maine’s first coastal communities and ways of life were established by indigenous people. Through centuries of change and conflict, coastal communities have relied on the seasonal bounty of our diverse coastal ecosystems for survival, cultural and spiritual heritage, recreation, and economic prosperity. From fish and shellfish to granite, salt, and a tradition of building wooden ships, these connections between our ecosystems and our economy have evolved over time. Today, they include the generation of electricity from hydropower and now ocean renewable energy, as well as aquaculture farms and new non-food uses of marine species in technology and commercial products. Tourism, recreation, and the arts have remained important economic drivers and cultural assets.

Including coastal islands, Maine’s shoreline stretches for 5,300 miles, yet only about 12% supports public shoreline access. The vast majority is held in private ownership, including much of the infrastructure that supports marine and coastal industries. Working waterfronts and other infrastructure are vulnerable to conversion to residential and other private uses. Year-round residents in Maine’s coastal communities often struggle to find housing, afford their rent or mortgage and property taxes, and pay their bills in the face of increasing costs. Growth and change in coastal industries and other economic drivers have also changed workforce needs and job opportunities.

Demographic changes have accelerated over the past three decades, and were exacerbated by the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, often resulting in conflict around shared uses of coastal assets, increased demands on the coastal environment, and impacts on vulnerable populations. Inclusive and adaptive planning and management approaches are essential to provide flexible frameworks for shared and equitable uses of public assets. Efforts to support multi-disciplinary collaborations, build capacity for facilitation and community engagement, and create equitable access to diverse forms of information, educational resources, and decision-making processes are essential to build trust and avoid or manage conflicts as new challenges or opportunities emerge.

Our goal

Coastal communities are prepared to address current and emerging environmental, economic, and social/cultural challenges and opportunities using relevant scientific, local, and traditional knowledge and assets.

Our objectives

Participation in and collaboration with boards and committees

  • Town shellfish committees
  • Harbor committees
  • Planning boards
  • Regional, municipal, and nonprofit boards and task forces related to resilience

Municipal technical assistance

Facilitation training

Social resilience partnerships

Lincoln County social resilience projects

Southern Midcoast Collaborative

Jonesport – Beals Local Economy Project

Like many small, rural communities in Maine, the communities of Jonesport and Beals are in need of accurate local-level data and information to help guide local decision-making. However, many widely used data sources are either inaccurate or unavailable at the local level for small communities. In 2022, the Towns of Jonesport and Beals began working with multiple partners including Maine Sea Grant to augment the data that are available to improve local decision-making. The project was funded by a grant from the University of Maine MARINE program.

Maine Climate Action Plan

Maine Sea Grant supports research that addresses various recommendations in the newly updated (Nov. 2024) Maine Climate Action Plan. For more information about Sea Grant funded research in topics related to resiliency and adaptation to ecological change, refer to our research database. Maine Sea Grant staff were involved in various working groups of the Maine Climate Council and our Marine Extension Team continue to help connect Maine residents, industries and municipalities to efforts that foster resilience.

Governor’s Office for Policy, Innovation, and the Future’s Climate Plan webpage

Resilient Maine CRRC project

Several university of Maine programs are part of the Resilient Maine project, a 5-year statewide initiative launched in 2024 by the Governor’s Office of Policy, Innovation and the Future with funding from NOAA CRRC. The project strives to protect Maine’s communities, environment, and working waterfronts from extreme storms, flooding, and rising sea levels. Maine Sea Grant’s roles include 1) working with the UMaine team to support research and education about changes in coastal processes and application of engineering solutions, and 2) supporting Maine’s working waterfronts through technical assistance, informational materials, and conferences, workshops and training opportunities, in partnership with the Maine Coastal Program and the Maine Working Waterfront Coalition.. The Resilient Maine team at the University of Maine includes:

Storm Response Convenings

Coastal Access

Accessing the Maine Coast

Working Waterfronts

Signs of the Seasons

Since 2010, Maine Sea Grant and UMaine Cooperative Extension have worked with state and regional partners to develop and coordinate Signs of the Seasons, a community science monitoring program that engages people of all ages in observing the timing of seasonal life cycle events (phenology) in 22 common plants and animals in their backyards and community green spaces. 

By documenting the timing of seasonal biological changes in plants and animals in their communities, Signs of the Seasons participants help to advance research on the local impacts of global changes in weather and temperature patterns. The program helps to improve participants’ understanding of ecology and ecosystem science, as well as the physical processes that drive changes in weather and climate. 

The program provides training for participants to learn protocols for making phenology observations and entering them into an online database, where it is used by scientists, resource managers, economists, and others working to document and respond to the impacts of ecological change.

Signs of the Seasons website on University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Partnership development and facilitation

  • Climate change adaptation providers’ network
    In order for coastal communities to successfully adapt to changing environmental conditions, it is helpful for municipal staff, resource managers, planners, and other practitioners to have opportunities to communicate, identify mutual goals and activities, and learn from one another at local, state, and regional scales.

    To help address this need, Maine Sea Grant and University of Maine Cooperative Extension worked with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and other partners to develop and lead the Maine Climate Change Adaptation Providers (CCAP) Network. Formed in 2010, the group now includes more than 100 professionals from dozens of organizations representing local, state, and federal government, universities, research institutes, and nonprofit organizations. 

    With a goal to improve communication and collaboration across practitioners and support coastal communities’ adaptation and resilience to the impacts of extreme storms, sea level rise, heat, drought, and other related ecological and economic conditions, the group shares best practices and collaborates on mitigation and adaptation projects, funding proposals, training, and events. 
    To find out more about the CCAP Network, explore coastal community resilience resources, or get involved in CCAP activities, please visit the CCAP website. 
  • MOCA

Ocean Renewable Energy (ORE)

Buoy Maine

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a disruption in economic activity and standard business practices that reverberated through Maine’s coastal communities. Travel bans put in place to protect public health affected the tourism economy, which in turn had impacts on the restaurant and seafood sectors in Maine and across the country. In response, the National Sea Grant Program provided competitive Rapid Response Funding to Sea Grant programs for projects that addressed new or ongoing challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the communities that Sea Grant serves. 

Taking inspiration from the Big Gig partnership, Maine Sea Grant received some of these funds to develop the Buoy Maine pitch competition. Buoy Maine, designed in collaboration with numerous partner organizations, focused on funding projects that would strengthen coastal and marine seafood and tourism related industries, highlight the Maine Brand and experience, build coastal community resilience, and help Maine’s coastal businesses redefine operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Applicants submitted written project proposals, and Buoy Maine invited fifteen of those projects to pitch their ideas to an independent panel of judges at a virtual pitch event. In addition to sharing their pitches, selected applicants received advice and one-on-one coaching from business experts, providing them an opportunity to develop skills and connections to benefit their business ventures into the future. Buoy Maine awarded ten projects with up to $14,000 in funding in November 2020. For more information, please visit our Buoy Maine web page.

Coastal Housing

Facilitation Skills Training

Resilient Maine

Several university of Maine programs are part of the Resilient Maine project, a 5-year statewide initiative launched in 2024 by the Governor’s Office of Policy, Innovation and the Future with funding from NOAA CRRC. The project strives to protect Maine’s communities, environment, and working waterfronts from extreme storms, flooding, and rising sea levels. Maine Sea Grant’s roles include 1) working with the UMaine team to support research and education about changes in coastal processes and application of engineering solutions, and 2) supporting Maine’s working waterfronts through technical assistance, informational materials, and conferences, workshops and training opportunities, in partnership with the Maine Coastal Program and the Maine Working Waterfront Coalition. The Resilient Maine team at the University of Maine includes:

  • Downeast Fisheries Partnership
    Maine Sea Grant extension staff participate in and support the work of the Downeast Fisheries Partnership (DFP), which formed in 2014 to strengthen Downeast Maine communities by restoring a strong and resilient ecosystem and regional fisheries economy. The DFP is composed of nonprofit partners with expertise and experience working with and to support fish, fishermen, fisheries, food systems, and community economics.
  • Maine Offshore Wind Research Consortium
  • Navigating the New Arctic – NNA Lobster Network
    Maine Sea Grant supports lobster research that increases our understanding of the impact of ecological change on industry and the people who rely on lobster to make a living.  One example, in which we collaborate with the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute, the School for Marine Sciences, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and other institutions, is the capacity and facilitation we provide to the multi-partner NSF-funded project called Rapid Arctic change and its implications for fisheries and fishing communities of the western North Atlantic.
  • DMR Management Plans
  • Seaweed Council
    Maine Sea Grant’s seaweed aquaculture extension specialist, Jaclyn Robidoux, serves on the board of the Maine Seaweed Council, and works closely with the Council board and membership to help support efforts to maintain sustainability and resilience in the seaweed aquaculture and wild harvest sectors. In partnership with the Council board, wild harvest and cultured seaweed industry members, and researchers at the University of New England and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Robidoux is leading an effort to document and formalize industry best practices for seaweed harvest and culture in alignment with UN Sustainable Development goals. The goal is to reinforce long-term stewardship of seaweed resources and highlight sustainability efforts to the public.  

    “The Maine Seaweed Council was formed in 1993 by a group of seaweed harvesters, business owners, researchers, and consultants to address growing concerns within the seaweed industry in Maine. These concerns included managing seaweed natural resources for fairness and sustainability, training new harvesters and those looking to start seaweed businesses, and educating the public as well as law makers and resource managers about the benefits of seaweeds for human and animal health and use in agriculture.” (from the Maine Seaweed Council website)
  • Tribal Convenings
  • Clam Management
  • Salt Marshes