Working Waterfronts

About Maine’s Waterfronts

Maine’s waterfronts are unique resources that offer social, cultural, economic, and environmental benefits. Maine Sea Grant has been working with local, state, national and tribal partners for decades to support efforts to sustain and protect access to and uses of working waterfront properties and infrastructure for their continued use by current and future generations. 

People need access to these waterfronts for different reasons. Many depend on access to the waterfront to earn their living, including members of the fishing and aquaculture industries as well as those working in waterfront tourism and recreation such as kayak tour guides and fishing charters. These are known as “water-dependent” uses because they would not be possible without direct access to the waterfront. Other supporting uses, such as refrigeration facilities and marine servicing and fuel providers, are considered “water-related.” Still other uses don’t require access to the waterfront, but benefit greatly from a waterfront location, such as waterfront restaurants and lodging. These are considered “water-enhanced” uses. 

For each of these types of waterfront users, the need for and benefits of waterfront access are clear. However, waterfront uses often overlap in time and space, sometimes creating conflicts, and making communication and collaboration essential to public and private waterfront management. For example, commercial fishing vessels may be trying to off-load their catch at a dock that is crowded with kayakers launching their boats. 

Maine’s waterfront infrastructure also faces unique maintenance challenges, especially in light of rising sea levels and increasing frequency and severity of flooding and storm events, such as those Maine experienced in 2023 and 2024. Facilitating communication and cooperation among waterfront users with these diverse needs and interests has been a focus for Maine Sea Grant since 2003.

Maine Sea Grant Supports Working Waterfronts

Maine Sea Grant works closely with local, state, regional and national partners to provide applied research, extension services, and technical assistance for working waterfront property owners, businesses, and municipalities who rely on waterfront services to support local commercial, recreational, and cultural activities. 

Maine Sea Grant’s support includes community engagement and facilitation related to waterfront planning and public decision-making, funding for research and pilot studies, and technical assistance to help individuals and municipalities identify and use the most relevant and timely information to evaluate their options and make decisions related to working waterfront infrastructure planning, manage shared uses of waterfront assets, and increase resilience to the impacts of coastal storms or other ecological or economic concerns. In all of these efforts, Sea Grant extension staff work in collaboration with partners to share resources, leverage expertise across communities or regions, and provide direct assistance help communities, businesses and property owners access the most timely and relevant information and decision-support tools, such as maps, models and other forecasting and planning tools. 

In 2024, Maine Sea Grant and partners at the University of Maine received funds to advance our work in coastal community resilience as a part of the State of Maine’s $69 million award from NOAA, through the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge grant program. The State of Maine launched the five-year Resilient Maine project in October 2024, and it includes funding for Maine Sea Grant to work with the Maine Working Waterfront Coalition and other partners to conduct a statewide inventory of working waterfront property assets, vulnerabilities, and needs, and to provide technical assistance for coastal communities related to flooding and coastal hazards, in partnership with the University of Maine Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the Maine Climate Science Information Exchange.

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