The Harpswell select board has approved a so-called "right to fish" policy, in light of noise and odor complaints from residents about the town's working waterfront.
Selectman David Chipman said local fishermen pitched the idea to town officials.
The policy affirms the town's support for fishermen's right to harvest along the town's 216 miles of coastline, he said. And it reminds members of the public that state law generally protects commercial fishermen from nuisance complaints, as long as they're complying with best practices.
"It says that we basically stand on the side of the fishing community, that the smell is what it is," Chipman said. "Lobster boats need to start up at 4 o'clock in the morning; they go out at sunrise. And that is not anything that you can object to, as far as we're concerned."
The town has already partnered with the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association on educational materials that have been shared with local realtors. The materials detail what new residents should expect when moving to a coastal community and are meant to be shared with prospective buyers, Chipman said.
"People come with expectations of living in sort of an idyllic coastal community, without understanding that it's a working water community," said select board member Jane Covey. "So there's noise, there are smells, there are gear that fishermen keep on their property that does not meet their expectations of the environment that they're going to be living in."
Covey said she believes that most of the complaints have come from only a few people. And though Chipman said the town has been fielding complaints for years, he acknowledged that fishermen are feeling the pressure of gentrification.
"The whole working waterfront community feels as though they're being pressured to be quiet, to not smell, to change their ways, to, in some ways, being even squeezed out of town," he said.
"We're trying to make it known that this is what we are, and this is what we'll continue to be," he added.
Chipman said the new policy can't be enforced, so he believes that the town should eventually implement a "right to fish" ordinance, which a majority of Harpswell voters would have to approve at next year's town meeting.
