Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Marine Research In Focus: Counteracting The ‘Myth Of Dry Feet’ In Dutch Planning For Flood Defense, Kristen Grant

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Coastal residents and towns need strategies to address climate change and its effects on sea-level rise, shoreline erosion, and coastal flooding. Extreme weather events can cause millions of dollars in damage and threaten coastal ecosystems and local economies. The Building a Resilient Coast project seeks to provide stakeholders with easy access to information to facilitate planning for climate and hazards impacts.

Connecting Rivers In The Penobscot Watershed, Catherine Schmitt

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Across Maine, communities and land owners are reconnecting rivers and streams by improving road crossings, fixing broken culverts, and removing dams and other barriers. There are many reasons for doing this work, including preventing costly repairs associated with flooding and washouts, enhancing water quality, increasing wildlife habitat, and restoring fish populations. Connecting Rivers explores some of the ways that streams connect inland lakes and forests and the sea. This second fact sheet in the series provides an overview of the motivations for and benefits of restoring fish passage, and includes a map of dam removals and other restoration actions in …

Penobscot River Restoration, Catherine Schmitt

Maine Sea Grant Publications

BETWEEN THE HEAD of tide above Bangor to where it widens into the bay at Searsport, the Penobscot River shifts from a flowing freshwater waterway banked by cedar and pine to a brackish, wave-lapped marsh with a rocky shoreline. In this estuary, salt concentrations fluctuate as the winds and tides push sea water and sediments back and forth. The estuary and the river that feeds it have taken on a new character recently, and have become an international example of watershed restoration. Despite two centuries of intensive timber harvesting and pulp and paper manufacturing, and the construction of hundreds of …

Public Shoreline Access In Maine: A Citizen’S Guide To Coastal And Ocean Law, John Duff, Liana James, Victoria Labate

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Getting to coastal waters in Maine can sometimes be a challenge, for despite the state’s 5,400 miles of mainland and island shoreline, only about 12% is in public ownership. Yet the public does have longstanding, although limited, rights to support traditional coastal uses along privately owned shoreline. In addition to the rights to “fish, fowl, and navigate,” members of the public have a variety of other means to secure access to shoreline areas and ocean waters. With more people attracted to Maine’s coastline for a variety of uses, it is important to understand the range of access rights that accommodate …

Connecting Rivers For Healthy Ocean Fisheries, Catherine Schmitt

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Across Maine, communities and land owners are reconnecting rivers and streams by improving road crossings, fixing broken culverts, and removing dams and other barriers. There are many reasons for doing this work, including preventing costly repairs associated with flooding and washouts, enhancing water quality, increasing wildlife habitat, and restoring fish populations. Connecting Rivers explores some of the ways that streams connect inland lakes and forests and the sea. This first fact sheet in the series focuses on connections between populations of migratory river fish (alewives and blueback herring) and groundfish (e.g., cod).

Rapid Response Plan For Management And Control Of The Chinese Mitten Crab, Northeast United States And Atlantic Canada, A. Eberhardt, J. Pederson, B. Bisson

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The Rapid Response Plan for Management and Control of the Chinese Mitten Crab is intended to guide efforts to mitigate the further introduction and spread of the Chinese mitten crab in the northeastern United States and Canada. Due to the unique challenges of invasive species introductions to marine and coastal ecosystems, the mitten crab and other existing and potential marine invasive species are more difficult and often more costly to manage or control than freshwater aquatic or terrestrial invasive species. These challenges include ecosystem connectivity across vast geographic areas, ocean currents and tidal influence, and shipping- and ballast-related vectors for …

Workforce Housing Design Charrette In York, Maine, Workforce Housing Coalition Of The Greater Seacoast, Maine Community Foundation

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast organized a workforce housing design charrette in the community of York, Maine. The event was held over a two-day period, October 15 and 17, 2014. The process included a site walk, community dialogue session, and design workshop, culminating in a design reveal on October 17, 2014. This, the Coalition’s fifth annual design charrette, produced conceptual designs for the development of workforce housing opportunities on the subject sites located in the U.S. Route 1 and Vacation Drive vicinity of York, Maine.

In Their Own Words: Fishermen's Perspectives Of Community Resilience, Teresa R. Johnson, Anna Henry, Cameron Thompson

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Maine’s fishing communities are experiencing the cumulative effects of fish stock depletion, state and federal regulations, coastal development and demographic changes, and rising fuel and energy costs.

Legally, federal fisheries managers must minimize adverse economic impacts of fishery regulations on fishing communities, yet too often data with which to do this are insufficient (Ingles and Sepez 2007). For example, National Standard 8 of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the federal legislation governing the management of marine resources in the U.S., requires that managers “take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities” and “provide sustained …

Workforce Housing Design Charrette In Berwick, Maine, Workforce Housing Coalition Of The Greater Seacoast, Envision Berwick

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast organized a workforce housing design charrette in the community of Berwick, Maine. The event was held over the two-day period of October 14 and 16, 2015. The process included a site walk, community dialogue session, and design workshop, culminating in a design reveal on October 16. This, the Coalition’s sixth annual design charrette. This produced conceptual designs for a mixed-use development that includes workforce housing for the charrette focus areas at the Prime Tanning and Estabrook School sites in Berwick, Maine.

Financial Tools For Working Waterfronts, Coastal Enterprises, Inc.

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Across the nation there are financing tools in play that have a proven track record in addressing working waterfront and waterway issues, and some that could be used for that purpose, but haven’t been to date. The Financing section is meant to be a central inventory of summarized information about these tools, with links to learn more about each program or benefit.

The Tiff Over Tif: Extending Tax Increment Financing To Municipal Maritime Infrastructure, Samantha Culp, Thomas T. Ankersen, Marissa Faerber

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Harbors, inner harbors and their navigational connection to the streams of maritime commerce are the economic and cultural lifeblood of most waterfront communities. Oddly, this connection has often been disregarded in the development and financing of municipal plans. Working waterfront communities need to find new and creative means to finance or co-finance improvements to their maritime infrastructure. One such means is through redevelopment planning and the financial vehicle known as Tax Increment Financing (TIF). Typically associated with dry land, TIF allows the incremental increase in property taxes from a base year to be captured from a defined geographic area and …

The Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit: Executive Summary, Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Florida Sea Grant, Island Institute, Maine Sea Grant, National Sea Grant Law Center At The University Of Mississippi School Of Law, Urban Harbors Institute At The University Of Massachusetts Boston, Virginia Sea Grant

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Working waterfronts and the waterways that connect them define the culture and character of many of our nation’s coastal communities, large and small. Working waterfronts provide a space for water-dependent businesses to exist and support important jobs in our nation’s coastal zones, and as such represent an important component of the U.S. economy.

The Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit was developed by a subcommittee of the National Working Waterfront Network with the generous financial support of the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Project Team involved staff from seven partner institutions: Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Florida Sea Grant, …

Working Waterfronts And The Czma: Defining Water-Dependent Use, Terra Bowling

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Water-dependent businesses, including marine transportation companies, seafood processing plants, commercial fishing, and charter boats, require infrastructure located on or adjacent to water to maintain their operations. The working waterfronts necessary to support these industries, such as slips, dry-docks, ramps, loading and unloading facilities, and warehouses, are often at risk of displacement by non-water-dependent uses like restaurants, hotels, retail, or residential housing. Traditional working waterfronts and the businesses that rely on them can be preserved, in part, through the incorporation of water-dependency definitions and requirements into state and local laws, regulations, and policies.

History, Status And Future Trends Of Working Waterfronts, Urban Harbors Institute, University Of Massachusetts, Boston

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Working waterfronts have been important to the U.S. economy and culture from the earliest days of this country’s founding. The origin of many coastal communities is strongly linked to the advantages afforded by their shoreside locations. This report provides a brief history of working waterfronts, describes their major industries, and identifies significant drivers of past changes and future trends.

Despite their long histories, many working waterfronts have been, and continue to be in various states of transition. Changes in technologies, national interests, economies, and environmental conditions impact the way people use and value these places. While the exact future of …

Best Practices For Working Waterfront Preservation: Lessons Learned From The Field, Maine Sea Grant

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit seeks to engage and educate working waterfront stakeholders by helping to draw connections between abstract tools and concrete on-the-ground examples of successful implementation. The Tools in Action Work Group compiled a collection of 19 case studies of communities and states from around the country that demonstrate the implementation of a variety of tools for sustaining working waterfronts. Providing models of how tools have been used previously can be extremely helpful, especially as successful initiatives often utilize multiple tools.

The following is a brief synthesis of common themes that emerged during development of the case studies. …

The Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit: Final Report, Island Institute, Maine Sea Grant, National Sea Grant Law Center, Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Florida Sea Grant, Virginia Sea Grant, Urban Harbors Institute At University Of Massachusetts Boston

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Working waterfronts and the waterways that connect them are an important component of the U.S. economy. Working waterfronts provide critical access for water-dependent activities. They also create dedicated space for those engaged in tasks like cleaning and storing gear, loading and unloading materials or the day’s catch, and conducting related land-based operations.

Frequently, efforts to preserve a particular working waterfront from the threat of conversion to non-working waterfront use occur in a piecemeal fashion and on a parcel-by-parcel basis. In many cases, the rate of loss and conversion to non-working waterfront uses has outpaced community action to address the issue. …

State Funding For Ports: Selected State Summaries And Links To Resources, Alexander Boswell-Ebersole, Thomas T. Ankersen

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The maritime industry in the United States, which plays a significant role in the economies of coastal states and the nation as a whole, involves a diverse variety of working waterfronts, ranging from large commercial ports that facilitate heavy industry to small-scale, traditional working waterfronts. Moreover, in many areas of the country, the economic and cultural identities of local communities depend almost exclusively on traditional working waterfronts. Unfortunately, land use and economic policy shocks, such as escalating coastal property values and taxes, increasing demands for non-water-dependent land uses, and complex and time-consuming permitting processes, currently threaten many working waterfronts. Since …

Economic Analysis Of Working Waterfronts In The United States, Alan W. Hodges, Thomas J. Stevens, Mohammad Rahmani, Robert Swett

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Waterfront communities in the United States, whether rural or urban, recreational or industrialized, have been subject to economic, technological, ecological, and demographic changes that challenge their continued existence or development. The purpose of this study is to document the current status, contribution to regional economies, and future prospects of U.S. coastal communities in order help promote their long‐term economic prosperity. A review of the relevant literature on economic valuation of waterfront and ocean‐related economic activities found that previous studies usually evaluated only one particular economic sector or specific region. The present study attempts to provide a comprehensive evaluation of all …

Building A Resilient Coast: Results From Focus Groups And Surveys With Maine Coastal Property Owners And Municipal Officials, Kristen Grant, Holli Andrews

Maine Sea Grant Publications

This summary provides an analysis of information gathered in 2007 and 2008 during a two-year study conducted by Maine Sea Grant and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The results were generated from broadly distributed surveys and six focus groups attended by Maine coastal property owners, municipal officials and recreational waterfront users. Findings highlight the logical steps needed to build coastal communities that are more resilient to coastal storms, flooding and erosion.

Building A Resilient Coast: Maine Property Owner's Guide To Managing Flooding, Erosion And Other Coastal Hazards, Peter Slovinsky, Catherine Schmitt

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Originally designed as an online owner's guide for coastal property owners and municipal officials. Describes sandy beach, hard and soft bluff, and coastal wetland habitats, vulnerabilities to erosion, and actions that property owners and communities can take to improve the resiliency of coastal lands in the face of sea-level rise, waves, flooding, hurricanes, and climate change related hazards.

Building A Resilient Coast. Climate Variability And Coastal Community Resilience: Developing And Testing A National Model Of State-Based Outreach, Susan K. White, Kristen Grant, Kathleen Leyden, Esperanza Stancioff

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The Maine Sea Grant College Program, in partnership with the Oregon Sea Grant College Program, conducted a two-year NOAA-funded project: 1) to explore how climate variability and coastal hazards may be affecting our coastal regions and how these relate to coastal development in the two states; 2) to encourage and facilitate collaboration among and between decision makers and coastal property owners to determine and implement appropriate responses to climate variability on short and longer timescales; 3) to discover the barriers that targeted audiences in the states have to taking action to either prepare for or mitigate the effects of climate …

Access To The Waterfront: Issues And Solutions Across The Nation, Natalie Springuel, Kathlyn Tenga-Gonzalez, Beth Owen, Kristen Whiting-Grant, Susan White, Paul Anderson

Maine Sea Grant Publications

A tide of demographic and economic change is moving through coastal towns, harbors, and communities throughout the United States. As the various regions and states confront the resulting conflicts over access to beaches, shorelines, and waterways, they are recognizing the need to identify and share tools and solutions.

In December 2006, Maine Sea Grant, with support from Hawaii Sea Grant and an advisory committee from the National Sea Grant network and Coastal Zone Management programs, surveyed over 140 extension professionals, coastal managers, and other individuals to characterize the scope of coastal access issues nationwide and the effects on coastal communities, …