Mainebiz

V O L . X X I X N O. I I JA N UA R Y 2 3 , 2 0 2 3 18 S O U T H E R N M A I N E An effort to save working waterfront in Yarmouth Boatbuilders, oyster farmers, and kelp growers working out of the same boatyard B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r F O C U S H alf a dozen years ago, Chad Strater started storing docks at a boatbuilding yard at 123 Even Keel Road on the Cousins River in Yarmouth. e yard was owned by brothers Jamie and Joseph Lowell, whose boat- building business, Even Keel Marine Specialties Inc., was rooted in a deep family background in the industry. Strater, a New Gloucester resi- dent, was co-owner of a small marine construction business, Coastal Maine Hardscape. Initially, he and a part- ner operated out of Freeport, offering landscaping services, then expanding to marine — making, installing, repair- ing and storing items such as residential docks and piers. "If you needed a spot to store your dock, we'd take it down and tow it to the yard," he says. In 2017, Strater leased space at the Lowells' yard, where the brothers also rented to boat shop Greene Marine, a handful of small shellfish farmers and the Yarmouth Rowing Club. en Jamie and Joe, going their separate ways, decided to sell the yard. e listing drew buyers interested in residential development, say Joe Lowell and his wife Megan. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Chad Strater, president of the Sea Meadow Marine Foundation, says it's important to preserve what's left of Maine's shrinking working waterfront. Working waterfront wanes In 2021, an Island Institute report, "The Critical Nature of Maine's Working Waterfront and Access to the Shore," made these findings: Of 5,000 miles of Maine coast- line, just 20 miles is available as working waterfront. Development pressures and rising shorefront property taxes are making it harder to retain that small portion. All of Maine's seafood crosses a working waterfront. This kind of working space is priceless. — Chad Strater Sea Meadow Marine Foundation

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