Virginia Coastal Zone Management - Summer/Fall 2008

Watermen and Working Waterfront - Preserving a Place for Virginia’s Coastal Heritage

By Shep Moon, Virginia CZM

The term ‘watermen’ is used in only two places in the world - on the Thames River in England and in the Chesapeake Bay region. At various times of the year watermen may also identify themselves by their catch or their gear with names such as `oyster tongers’, `crabbers’, `clammers’, `pound netters’ or `scallop dredgers’. Regardless of which name is used, Virginians who make their living on the water continue a time-honored livelihood and culture that began hundreds of years ago and that still helps define our coastal heritage.

An Economic Cornerstone
Watermen are an important component of many local economies. According to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, 45 counties and cities in Virginia have substantial economic dependency on the seafood industry. This includes not only the watermen that harvest the seafood, but the processing plants, wholesalers, retailers, and restaurants that rely on this harvest. There are also indirect economic benefits to those who build or repair boats, sell ice or run marinas.

Struggle and Decline
Watermen are known to be fiercely independent and adaptable to changing circumstances. But today they face an increasingly long list of challenges and their numbers are rapidly declining. Precise employment figures aren’t available since most watermen are simply reported as “self employed.” Other indicators of the number of watermen in Virginia, however, show a steady decline. According to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, for example, the number of crab licensees reporting harvests declined by 33 percent between 2003 and 2007. There is also a shift toward “part-time watermen” as long-time watermen turn to other endeavors to earn a living.

Regulatory harvest restrictions designed to manage seafood stocks depleted by pollution, disease and over-harvesting, can limit the catch and income of watermen. Higher expenses for fuel and gear also make it harder to turn a profit. And increasingly, simply finding an affordable place, or sometimes any place at all, to dock workboats, process seafood and provide support services for these activities, has become difficult as more “working waterfronts” are displaced by private residential and recreational development. The loss of these traditional waterfronts is primarily the result of the tremendous demand for waterfront property and the resulting skyrocketing waterfront land values, real property taxes and marina slip fees. The issue is drawing more attention as watermen, and often the general public, are excluded from small family run marinas that have been converted to private waterfront developments.

Steps Toward Preservation
Interest in preserving working waterfronts is not unique to Virginia, as rural and urban waterfronts across the nation face similar circumstances. In response, a national symposium, “Working Waterways and Waterfronts 2007”, was held in May 2007 in Norfolk to share local, state and national-level initiatives that address water access. Tom Murray, Marine Business Specialist with the Virginia Sea Grant program, helped organize the event with support from the Virginia CZM Program and a number of other sponsors. It drew 180 participants from across the country representing various levels of government, private advocacy groups, commercial fishermen and other water-dependent industries. Mr. Murray shared the key points raised during the symposium with Virginia Coastal Zone Partners Workshop attendees in Portsmouth in December 2007. He noted that a key outcome of the symposium was development of a structure for communicating among the diverse constituencies involved in working waterfront issues.

While the long-term plight of Virginia’s watermen remains unclear, efforts are underway to provide help. Based on the request of Governor Tim Kaine and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, in September 2008 the U.S. Department of Commerce declared a fishery disaster in the Chesapeake Bay due to the degraded state of the Blue Crab fishery. Through this action Virginia can receive up to $10 million in disaster relief for watermen and seafood merchants. The funds will be disbursed based on a plan being developed by the State which may include employing watermen for removal of “ghost crab pots” and other marine debris, planting sea grasses, or helping scientists with field research. The idea of using some of the funds to help watermen start oyster hatcheries and aquaculture businesses has also been discussed.

While threats to the viability of our working waterfronts remain, there is growing recognition of the problem and an expanding list of possible solutions. Nationally, coastal states and localities are using planning, zoning, land conservation and acquisition, tax incentives, public improvements and state and local regulations to help preserve their working waterfronts. In many cases these initiatives are the result of a coalition of groups with similar interests. In Maine, the Working Waterfront Coalition was formed with representatives from more than 140 industry associations, nonprofit groups and government agencies. The Coalition has been successful in attracting media attention to the issue of working waterfronts and in advocating for funding to keep these waterfronts from becoming private residential developments.

In Virginia, localities and regional authorities have taken a variety of steps to preserve working waterfronts. The Virginia CZM Program has provided support for localities to preserve working waterfronts through better planning. The CZM-sponsored York River Use Conflict Committee, for example, has recommended that Gloucester County develop a policy for the protection of working waterfront infrastructure. The committee, facilitated by the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission, has discussed the concept of a “no net loss” policy for working waterfronts, developing an inventory of working waterfronts, and developing a zoning district to help preserve them.

The Virginia CZM Program also assisted the Village of Oyster in Northampton County in developing a “Community Vision” report which emphasizes protection of their working waterfront. The report was adopted as part of the county’s comprehensive plan and a Rural Waterfront Village Zoning District has been proposed for Oyster which would limit uses along portions of the waterfront (map above).

The zoning district already applies to the county’s other designated waterfront village, Willis Wharf, and could also be used in other communities with strong ties to the water if conditions warrant in the future. The goal of establishing the district is to maintain the compact traditional form and uses of existing rural waterfront villages and to discourage new residential development within the working waterfront areas of these villages. The county’s comprehensive plan also recommends protecting the ability of watermen to store and maintain fishing gear in working waterfronts.

Virginia localities have also taken steps to help maintain working waterfronts by investing in public infrastructure. The City of Poquoson has supported improvements to the city-owned Messick Point Landing. The Landing provides access to the Back River and lower Chesapeake Bay for recreational boaters and watermen alike. The city, with support from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Virginia Port Authority, funded public improvements at the landing including channel dredging and construction of a parking area, restrooms, boat ramp and commercial boat pier. The pier has 26 slips and can accommodate boats up to 40 feet in length. The city is also inviting development proposals for the remainder of the site that would support and complement the existing waterfront uses and expand opportunities for seafood processors and wholesalers in the area.

Nationally, there is hope for some assistance through a working waterfronts amendment to the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA). If passed, the “Keep Our Waterfronts Working Act of 2007” would add a section to the CZMA requiring the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to establish a working waterfront grant program.

The proposed program is modeled after the CZMA Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program. It would initially provide competitive grants to coastal states to develop plans to preserve and expand access to coastal waters for commercial fishing, recreational fishing, or other water-dependent coastal-related businesses. Once the plans are approved, states would be eligible to apply for funds to implement the plans, including acquisition of, or improvements to working waterfronts.

A wide menu of actions is available to preserve working waterfronts and to help the watermen who depend on them. An important first step, however, may be to simply recognize the problem and seek the support of local, state and federal legislators to protect this important part of our coastal economy, and heritage, before it is too late.

Learn More About Preserving Working Waterfronts

Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin, Spring 2007 -
Virginia Sea Grant Program - http://vims.edu/adv/pubs/bulletin/Spring%2007.pdf

Access to the Waterfront: Issues and Solutions Across the Nation (Sea Grant and CZM Program collaborative) -
http://seagrant.umaine.edu/documents/pdf/07access.pdf

Working Waterways and Waterfronts 2007 (conference proceedings) -
http://wateraccessus.com/index.html

Soundings Trade Only, June 2008 - “On the Waterfront: Good Things are Happening” -
http://tradeonly-digital.com/tradeonly/200806/

Village of Oyster Vision Plan -
http://deq.virginia.gov/coastal/description/2002projects/12-11-02.html

Learn More About Working Watermen

Books -

Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen and Crabs of the Chesapeake Bay by William W. Warner

An Island Out of Time by Tom Horton

The Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay by John Hurt Whitehead III

Websites -

Watermen’s Museum, Yorktown, Virginia -
http://watermens.org

Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia -
http://mariner.org