Proposed Dredging of Searsport Harbor Threatens Maine Lobster Industry

Editor's Note: This is the first post in a three-part series on environmental business issues facing Mid-coast Maine.

The last 200 years have left their mark on the Penobscot Bay and River in Mid-coast Maine, which show the effects of things like commercial fishing, dam construction, industrialization and logging. Although historical accounts from the Penobscot Indians tell of salmon runs so thick that people could walk across the river on the backs of fish, the Atlantic salmon was listed as an endangered specie in 2009. The recent removal of two dams on the Penboscot River restored access to 1,000 miles of fish habitat, while maintaining hydroelectric power production, and aquatic life is expected to increase.

The newest threat to the bay ecosystem is the proposed dredging of Searsport Harbor at Mack Point in Searsport, Maine by the Army Corps of Engineers. The plan is to deepen the port's entrance from 35 to 40 feet and widen it from 500 to 650 feet. This harbor is the second busiest in Maine and is located in Penobscot Bay, near the mouth of the Penobscot River. The proposed project would involve moving 929,000 cubic yards of material and relocating it further down the bay. This controversial $12 million project is supported by some who believe it will encourage regional economic activity and opposed by others for numerous reasons.

Two of the largest beneficiaries of the project are Sprague Energy and Irving Oil, foreign-owned oil companies that make heavy use of Searsport Harbor. Ships with drafts more than 35 feet must currently wait for high tide to berth, causing delays. Data from the Corps' Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center, however, estimates that making the channel deeper will reduce weight periods for only eight vessels each year.

Portland Harbor, Maine's largest port, also also has a channel depths of 35 feet. If the Searsport dredging project moves forward, the harbor will have the same depth as Boston Harbor, a far busier port.

“It’s very important that this port remain competitive,"  says John Porter, president of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce. "The shipping world has changed. The double hulls and other technological innovations, they protect our environment but they do need a deeper channel.”

Some plan proponents believe that the port could lose business to alternative means of transportation, including trucks if Searsport Harbor is not dredged. John H. Henshaw, executive director of the Maine Port Authority, says that, per ton of cargo, ships are the most environmentally friendly way to transport goods. 

Much of the support from the project comes from Bangor, which is up the Penboscot River from Searport Harbor. This town rose in importance from the logging industry in the 1830s and was the busiest logging port in the world for a short time. The fall of the logging industry and the associated mills was an economic blow for Bangor, and they do not benefit as greatly from some of the economic activities common to the coast, such as lobstering and tourism. Not surprisingly, the Bangor City Council officially supports the dredging project after an 8 to 1 vote.

"They think if we just dredge that these ghost ships will come back," explains Ron Huber, executive director of Friends of the Penobscot Bay, referring to the previously booming Bangor port. "They think, if you build it, they will come."

If bigger ships did come, Huber says there would need to be more infrastructure. "As you make things available for big ships, you would need to have much larger facilities. You could reindustrialize the upper bay. But World War II-era industrialization left a trail of waste behind." Huber believes these environmental issues should be mitigated first, especially since some of the waste would get stirred up from dredging the harbor.

Some of the most concerning waste in Penobscot Bay is from the former HoltraChem, a Penobscot River-front plant that ran from 1967 to 1982. The factory produced 23,000 pounds of toxic mercury every year for papermaking and other industries. This caused mercury contamination in the Penobscot River and Bay. Some parts of the bay were recently closed to lobster fisherman due to elevated mercury levels and dredging will likely exacerbate the mercury issue.

"The area [of Penobscot Bay] that they want to dig hasn't been dug out in 80 years or more," Huber says. "As a result, there is a  lot of mercury that has sunk down there. In fact, as they are digging up all the wastes of the whole industrial age, including from when the paper mills weren't as clean. They will then be dropping hundreds of thousands of tons of contaminated mud into the bay a few miles south, between Belfast and Islesboro. This double resuspension of this mercury is quite tricky."

With nearly half of all Maine lobster catches coming from the Penobscot Bay, dredging will have a huge impact on the lobster industry. The value at the dock was $157 million in 2012 for the area, and it is an important aspect of the coastal economy. If the dredging doesn't cause irreparable, long-term harm to lobster populations, the associated mercury contamination could tarnish the reputation of Maine lobster. The Local 207 of the Maine Lobstering Union and the two lobster councils that represent 2,100 area fisherman oppose the dredging.

Ultimately, whether to dredge Searsport Harbor comes down to what activities should be encouraged. Penobscot Bay attracts a lot of tourists and summer residents, and greater industrialization of the area will make it less appealing for tourists seeking a natural setting. The lobster industry will certainly be impacted, both by a decline in population and potentially reputation. The fish populations and associated wildlife will be hampered, despite the removal of two dams.

The desire for economic growth in a state that has experienced very slow growth since the economic downturn is understandable, particularly for poor inland communities that want to be connected to global markets. The dredging project would certainly benefit the companies doing the dredging work and likely Irving Oil and Sprague Energy, but it is unclear if the project will create much more than short-term jobs and environmental turmoil.

Is it worth paving, or in this case dredging, paradise?

Image credit: Friends of Penobscot Bay, courtesy of Project LightHawk

Sarah Lozanova is a regular contributor to environmental and energy publications and websites, including Mother Earth Living, Green Building & Design, Triple Pundit, Urban Farm, and Solar Today. Her experience includes work with small-scale solar energy installations and utility-scale wind farms. She earned an MBA in sustainable management from the Presidio Graduate School and she resides in Belfast Cohousing & Ecovillage in Mid-coast Maine with her husband and two children.