Political Quotes

“Now, this is a clear example of what we call the public trust doctrine. This common-law document, which we adopted from the British ancestors, gives public access to this land between high and low waterlines for the purpose of ``fishing, fowling, and navigation.'' Now, unlike some States, Mr. Speaker, some property owners in Maine own to the low watermark of the tidal range, so this doctrine is incredibly important for the public to have access to our flats for these purposes. This bill that we are passing today codifies the unique ownership and public access rights of Maine fishermen on the intertidal who have worked on this for hundreds of years. Traditional harvesting is meant to include the harvesting of clams and worms, which are harvested by hand with a rake at low tide, and the collection of periwinkles. It also includes accessing intertidal areas by boat at all tides for the purpose of harvesting these species. Now, to be clear, the intent of this bill is for ``traditional harvesting.'' By doing so, this will ensure that our wormers, clammers, and others who live in the area will continue to be able to do what they have been doing for many, many years. Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate again Chellie Pingree, my compatriot from the First District who did a great job on this, our staffs, and the staff of the Natural Resources Committee. We extended ourselves, Mr.…”