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PORTLAND, ME - Three recent developments have allowed the Gulf of Maine Aquarium to turn a major corner and proceed with plans to build a research laboratory in the heart of Portland's busy working waterfront.
First, the aquarium took title to the port's Naval Reserve Pier in mid-July - a feat that was five years in the making and required an act of Congress and the help of US Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME).
Next, the aquarium gained approval from the Portland City Council on July 15 for a zoning waiver that will allow the organization to construct a three-story 50'-tall building on the Naval Reserve Pier to house its Gulf of Maine Research Laboratory. The city council waiver was key because city zoning restrictions within the central waterfront zone limit building height to 35'.
In yet another remarkable happening, the aquarium received a $500,000 grant from the Massachusetts-based Sudbury Foundation in early July to launch the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, which will be part of the research lab. The money will allow the aquarium to carry out an international search for the institute's first executive director.
On a different funding note, the aquarium also received a $140,000 grant from the Silicon Valley-based Christensen Fund back in May to expand the aquarium's Vital Signs program, which teaches K-12 students about aquatic environments through handheld computers and other communication technologies.
According to aquarium officials, the Vital Signs program supports the aquarium's collaborative research with fishermen and scientists on herring, lobsters, and groundfish.
Location controversy
The Gulf of Maine Aquarium has been a partner or facilitator in numerous important marine research projects over the past several years that have involved the commercial fishing industry.
Given its solid history in this department, many fishermen believe the aquarium could play a pivotal role in organizing and pursuing future projects through a high-powered research laboratory.
What has made the project so controversial is its location. The Naval Reserve Pier is on Commercial St., which parallels the harbor's prime working waterfront. It's also adjacent to the Portland Fish Pier, where the Portland Fish Exchange and numerous important industry support services are based.
While many fishermen were willing to accept the notion of a research laboratory smack in the middle of the waterfront's hub, many were convinced that city approval for the laboratory would turn out to be the "foot in the door" for approval of the actual aquarium, which has very little - if any - industry support.
What's the problem?
Two issues sum up the industry's opposition. The big one is parking. Commercial St. is already congested. Many worry that fishermen would have an impossible time reaching their boats, maneuvering fish trucks, and toting around gear if there were hundreds of additional vehicles - filled with aquarium visitors - clogging the main waterfront access road.
The second is that fishermen there are working - repairing gear, taking out fish, and provisioning boats. The idea of having aquarium patrons gawking at them day in and day out, as though they were part of one of the aquarium's displays, is unappealing to many.
So, while the aquarium's research laboratory is a separate entity from the future fish display aquarium, many industry members have felt they needed to fight both facilities to stop the aquarium, even though the aquarium's research role has many fans.
Plenty of fishermen don't even mind the idea of an aquarium. They simply don't want it sited in the middle of the working waterfront.
Aquarium proponents, however, argue that support for the commercial fishing industry will increase because of the aquarium. Once people are exposed to real working fishermen and are given facts about how the industry operates, they'll be better armed to make good judgment calls when barraged by anti-industry propaganda.
Land transfer
Both facilities - the aquarium and the research lab - have long been proposed to be built on the Naval Reserve Pier. Failure to acquire the site from the Navy would have been an enormous blow to the aquarium organization, which is why Maine's congressional delegation was called upon for help.
As it turned out, the aquarium agreed to build a brand new $2 million naval reserve training building at the Brunswick Naval Air Station, which the Navy accepted in exchange for handing over the Portland waterfront property. Completion of this deal moved both aquarium projects past the conceptual stage.
The week the transfer became final, Snowe, who is working with Collins to secure the $2 million as part of the Senate appropriations process, said, "With a groundbreaking for the ... research laboratory scheduled soon, we'll open new doors for Maine's fishing industry - hopefully identifying new and successful collaborative fishery research strategies with the introduction of a new, national-caliber research institution to southern Maine."
Aquarium President Don Perkin's has worked for years to combat the controversy around the projects and has formed many alliances within industry.
"We look forward to working with the city and the fishing community to develop a research facility that will make a unique contribution to Portland's working waterfront," he said.
While the research laboratory is now on its way to being built, more city approval and fund-raising are needed before construction could begin on the aquarium itself.
