Lobstermen and State Officials Celebrate Preservation Of Working Waterfront

For the Davis family, it is a day of celebration, with family, friends, and all the people that helped them protect their way of life.

"This was the proudest moment in the Davis family," said Wayne Davis. "Going through this program has been an inspiration and I would like to tell all the other fishermen that have a piece of property that are struggling that it can be done."

For Wayne, and his brother Bobby, it wasn't an easy decision to sell their rights to develop their family wharf, but thanks to the Land For Maines Future program, they got the money to pay off their mortgage, buy a new hydraulic hoist, and put in a new float for lobstermen to load and unload traps. The program allows them to keep their property as working waterfront forever.

"It's not just for me," Bobby Davis said. "It's what we're doing for the grandkids. It's like down the road if we didn't do this we're afraid it wouldn't be here."

And now the lobstermen who fish from Goose Cove know that they'll always have a place to load and unload their traps. State officials say that is critical in this time of intense pressure on the industry.

"I just think its the great opportunity for the heritage of Maine, and for the people of this area, and for the people all along the coast," said State Senator Dennis Damon.

According to the Island Institute, which also provided a 30,000 dollar grant towards this project, Maine has more than 5300 miles of coastline and only 20 miles left of working waterfront.