[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 180 (Wednesday, November 1, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5316-S5317]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. Reed):
  S. 3180. A bill to establish a working waterfronts grant program; to 
the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
  Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I rise today to introduce the Working 
Waterfront Preservation Act, legislation to help preserve access by our 
Nation's fishermen and maritime workers to the waterfronts in coastal 
communities. I would like to thank my friend Senator Jack Reed from 
Rhode Island, who joins me in introducing this legislation.
  According to the most recent data from the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, commerical and recreational fisheries are 
responsible for more than 1.7 million jobs in the

[[Page S5317]]

United States, $253 billion in sales, and $117 billion in value-added 
impacts. In Maine, our fisheries are one of our State's most important 
resources and are vital to our economy. A report of Maine's seafood 
sector as a whole, which included downstream contributors, found that 
in 2019, the sector contributed more than $3.2 billion to Maine's 
economy. Although the fishing industry is a significant economic 
contributor both nationwide and in Maine, it is losing access to the 
working waterfronts that are vital to the industry's survival.
  A working waterfront is defined as land that is used for or that 
supports commercial fishing, aquaculture, boatbuilding, or the for-hire 
recreational fishing industries. That may be a technical definition, 
but these areas represent much more to coastal communities. A recent 
study conducted by the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association sums it up 
perfectly: ``Working waterfronts are more than just a place of business 
for commercial fishermen; they are a hub of information, a collection 
of salty characters, a safe haven, a meeting room, a space for support, 
and they are well-deserving of both a place in Maine's history and its 
future.'' The importance of these areas cannot be overstated.
  In Maine our fishermen and women are losing access to waterfront 
property up and down the coast. In some coastal Maine communities, once 
thriving working waterfronts no longer exist. Recent interviews 
conducted by the Island Institute in Maine uncover that ``for all 
practical purposes, working waterfront access [in these towns] is 
essentially gone.'' The reasons for this are complex. In some cases, 
burdensome fishing regulations have led to a decrease in landings, 
hindering the profitability of shoreside infrastructure. In other 
cases, soaring land values and rising taxes have made the current use 
of commercial land unprofitable. Property is being sold and quickly 
converted into private spaces, which means that they are no longer 
available to support our fisheries.
  While this trend has been happening for decades--in 2006, Maine's 
working waterfront only took up 20 miles of Maine's nearly 3,500 miles 
of coastline--the recent demand for coastal properties has intensified 
this problem in Maine. We can help preserve these areas for the next 
generation of fishermen, boatbuilders, and maritime workers with 
dedicated investments. Currently, the primary mechanism for preserving 
Maine's waterfronts is through a State-run program called the Working 
Waterfront Access Protection Program. Since 2008, that program has 
helped preserve 34 waterfront properties. The legislation I am 
introducing today would help scale up that model program so that more 
communities can be assisted.
  There is currently no targeted, Federal assistance program to help 
the commercial fishing industry and other maritime sectors gain or 
preserve access to working waterfront areas. The Working Waterfront 
Preservation Act would create a $20 million program to help municipal 
and State governments, nonprofit organizations, and participants in 
maritime industries improve working waterfront property in our coastal 
States. Grants would be administered by the Economic Development 
Administration, and successful applicants would need to be endorsed by 
State fisheries agencies, which have the local expertise to understand 
the needs of each coastal State. In order to be eligible for a grant, 
recipients would be required to permanently protect an area as working 
waterfront, to ensure that it can be used for commercial purposes for 
decades to come, and to invest in the cost themselves.
  This legislation is crucial for the continued prosperity of coastal 
communities across the country. I urge my colleagues to join Senator 
Reed and me in supporting this important legislation.
                                 ______