Working waterfront
We’re fighting for an important economic goal
Annually, harvesters remove only 2% of the seaweed along the Maine coast. Natural forces like birds, marine animals, tides and ice remove about 40% annually. Two percent doesn’t sound like much, but for many hardworking Maine people it pays the bills. “Made in Maine” is part of our brand, which is respected throughout the world.
Obviously it’s not just beachgoers, bodysurfers and bocce players who are entitled to use the intertidal lands. What we call The People’s Lawsuit (www.OurBeaches.me/lawsuit) also seeks to protect a critical part of Maine’s marine resource economy, like the working people who harvest rockweed responsibly and sustainably. Check out this video on this page if you’d like to learn more about this important contribution to Maine’s economic vitality.
Rockweed has been sustainably harvested in northern Europe for centuries, according to Dr. Brian Beal, a professor of marine science at University of Maine at Machias. He says that in Midcoast Maine, where the harvest has taken place for just 40 years, there have been no negative effects on fisheries or on the local ecosystem.
The economic value of the intertidal zones --- and everybody’s right to make a living --- is exactly why lawmakers centuries ago moved to protect “fishing, fowling and navigation.” That narrow definition must be modernized. Restoring everyone’s right to access and use of these lands is critically important. To learn more, visit these companies and organizations: