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In a recent opinion piece in Working Waterfront (June 18), Richard Qualey argued that the Maine intertidal zone between high and low tide should be universally accessible to the public. Qualey is one of the Archipelago lawyers representing plaintiffs in the 2021 so-called “Moody Beach” case ( https://www.ourbeaches.me/). Some of the plaintiffs in this “beach” case are in the business of harvesting/processing intertidal seaweed known as rockweed.
I think focusing attention on beach access is a classic distraction away from the plaintiffs’ desire to have unfettered commercial access to Maine’s underwater rockweed forest, an essential habitat for hundreds of small animals and numerous marine species that are the basis of our fisheries.
The current state of the law, which has held since 1647, is that the intertidal zone is privately owned but subject to public trust rights to fishing, fowling, and navigating. In a 2019 decision, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court reiterated that the intertidal zone is privately owned, and that rockweed harvesting is not “fishing” (Ross v. Acadian Seaplants). Rather than supporting Maine’s fishing industry, commercial extraction of this seaweed severely alters the nursery and shelter formed by the rockweed forest that is a habitat for many of Maine’s commercial fisheries (cod, pollock, alewives, striped bass, and many others).
We can only hope that the Maine Judicial Supreme Court declines to overturn a unanimous decision the court made only five years ago, for the good of Maine’s commercial fisheries and all the statewide economic activity that our fisheries generate.
David Porter
Co-founder
The Blue Hill Peninsula Rockweed Forum
Brooklin
