What if Maine’s working waterfronts were gone?
In March 2024, three severe winter storms hit Maine’s coast, and Island Institute moved quickly to offer immediate aid to the working waterfront businesses most affected. Our Storm Response Grants succeeded in supporting 52 businesses across 30 communities. But as we listened to our grant recipients, there was one message we kept hearing: “We need more help.”
Coastal Maine is changing. Historic challenges, from rising seas and warming waters to soaring costs and regulatory changes, mean that year-round fishing communities are facing an existential threat. For more than four decades, Island Institute has partnered with island and coastal communities to find practical solutions to urgent problems. Today, we honor our responsibility to these communities with a bold new commitment—a Working Waterfront Fund.
Together We Can Keep the Waterfront at Work
Those who work on the water are the backbone of Maine’s seafood sector, a sector responsible for more than 33,000 jobs statewide. But working on the water is not only a source of income, it’s a way of life for rural communities and a source of cultural heritage and pride for our state.
In 2006 we conducted a landmark inventory project, mapping the coast to show that less than 20 miles of Maine’s 5,000-mile coastline remain as working waterfront. By our estimates, that number is now even lower.
Without innovation, adaptation, and support, our iconic working waterfronts could disappear.
Your support of our new Working Waterfront Fund empowers Island Institute to make impactful progress on:
ACCESS – We can preserve shoreside access by increasing the number of critical working waterfronts with property covenants.
INFRASTRUCTURE – We will protect and improve critical working waterfront infrastructure through climate adaptation.
ENERGY – We can promote and support working waterfront energy efficiency improvements and invest in renewable energy transitions.
DIVERSIFICATION – We will strengthen the marine economy through diversification of the fishery.
“It means everything to us to have access… If we were to lose our waterfront working waterfront, where would we leave from? How would we be able to do what we love to do?”
– Dan Rogers, Bottom Line Fisheries
Will you help Maine’s working waterfronts?
The fund isn’t a one-time fix. It’s a long-term commitment—made with the goal of keeping the coast working—and keeping communities rooted in the livelihoods that have shaped them over generations.
Make a contribution today to support the future of Maine’s working waterfronts.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Your support will help preserve and protect Maine’s working waterfronts for generations to come.
