By Sheila Dassatt
As I write this article, this is election day in our country. We have a lot at stake as a fishing industry and the outcome will be known as soon as you receive this publication. Our coastal communities have people that have been hired to look to the future and “save us” so to speak. How many people will listen to these folks and believe what they are saying about our fishing communities?
I have really struggled with this month’s article because there is so much going on that we are not totally aware of. For one, we have always sustained our heritage and families with our fishing. Yes, we are all small businesses, each and every one of us and it has always been that way. We are proud of our accomplishments, as stewards of the ocean, being able to support ourselves and help each other when in need. We are even proud of our boats and show that as we get them ready for a new season each year. Some of us have an opportunity to “show them off” at the boat races that happen in the summer. This is all part of our heritage and darn proud of it.
So now we have the experts saying that our “blue economy” is predicted to fail in another ten to twenty years. How encouraging is that?!
According to Charlie Colgan, a former state economist and director of research for the Center of the Blue Economy at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, “It isn’t going to happen tomorrow, but it is going to happen.” per Working Waterfront Publication.
What is being looked at for the future involves Fishing, tourism and recreation. We are looking at aquaculture and creating technology from the ocean such as pharmaceuticals and energy (wind power, electric fishing boats and ferries). This is what we are looking at according to the predictions of our future on the Maine Coast. Now the question is, will we fail or do “they want us to fail?”
I happen to believe that we are stronger than all of this as long as we don’t give in to all of these predictions and refuse to give up the battle. Just look at the Maine economy and how the lobster and fishing industry has such a strong economic impact on our state? This doesn’t just go away overnight. There is a lot of call for our lobsters and Maine is one of the last ones up the line of the Atlantic Coast that can say that we have the sweetest lobsters of all of the different types of breeds that are out there.
Halloween just passed, but I heard some pretty sad statements from our local folks about it. At one time, all of the kids were able to travel the neighborhoods and have a great time trick or treating. Now, most of the neighborhoods are “dark” and the locals either have a party in one place or travel the one or two neighborhoods that still have local folks living in them. If people were living in them year-round, they would be here to help the local economy, which takes in the grocery stores, the restaurants and the stores that we so depend on, like the hardware stores and parts stores. We would also know if a water pipe is leaking and wasting gallons of water. This is what is happening…
I have also researched that folks are being taxed out of their property. Now, if the towns confiscate the property, it can’t go up for bid any more, which would enable the families to possibly pool together and purchase it back from the town. Now, the legislature has a new law that says that these properties need to be sold by a real estate company. Did you know that? Someone in our legislative branch had to have created a bill to enable this to pass in Augusta. Please correct me if I’m wrong. I plan to find out.
With this being said, the local folks don’t stand a chance and the property can be advertised outside of Maine and it can become a mecca for the out of staters to come in and purchase the properties. After Covid, there are so many that have moved in because with today’s technology, they can work right from their picturesque porch. There is hardly any waterfront property for the locals to have their dock frontage for storing their traps and landing their boats. How much longer can we allow this to happen? Is there possibly a zoning issue or something in place to help us out with our working waterfront?
So what we are looking at is tourism and recreation is going to save our year-round communities. Do you think so? After the leaf season, half of Main St. is closed up solid and the one thing that gives us any relief at all is the fact that they’re not walking down the middle of the street any more with their ice cream. How much ice cream can you buy to help sustain a year-round community? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be sarcastic, but this is the black and the white of it. How many Main Streets look like this in the winter months along the Coast of Maine?
The property taxes are going up a huge margin each year and most of these places say aquaculture is the answer, but how does that work when they chase them all out? Where are the Norwegians now with their salmon farm in Belfast? Remember Nordic Aquafarms? Is there one in Bucksport or Jonesport? I don’t think so. So there isn’t much there any more to help the tax base of these towns. There is the absence of manufacturing in these communities now.
How about the folks that all want wind power but absolutely do now want it on Sears Island? But Mack Point is OK. Wait a minute, if this goes through, all of the meetings that we had years ago to protect the fishery in Penobscot Bay will be wiped out due to the dredging that they will have to do to accommodate all of this “progress.” Do you realize that the decision not to dredge had a lot to do with leaving well enough alone? There is mercury out there and in time, it will be buried under sediment and become very deep under the ocean floor.
We know because we were there at the time and fought to protect all of the terrain in the Penobscot Bay area. Let’s not open up a lying “can of worms.”
Most folks are not even aware of the progress that we made years ago, but we have been around long enough to speak for the well-being of our waterfront and fishery.
Please, ask questions about what is going on around you. I understand that you can’t believe everything that is posted in social media these days, but I am speaking the truth to you now. Please believe it and pay close attention to what is going on around you before it is way too late.
