Chris Hole watched in horror last month as the storm pummeled his family’s fishing business at Lookout Point in Harpswell.

It was Jan. 13, and the second of two powerful storms in less than a week leveled Henry Allen’s Seafood, a lobster wharf, wholesaler and retailer. Strong winds and high tides wiped out the dock’s seawall, drowned new refrigeration units and flooded buildings with waist-high water.

Guy Baker left his fish house on Bailey Island that day so he wouldn’t have to bear witness. When he returned, the building that had stood on the edge of Baker’s family property for more than 80 years had been reduced to a pile of rubble on the shore.

Farther up the coast in the Washington County town of Milbridge, all but the supporting structure of Chipman’s Wharf floated away at high tide during the Jan. 10 storm. Waves swept away thousands of dollars’ worth of fishing gear, equipment and bait that Chipman’s Wharf uses to run its commercial fishing dock, wholesale operation and seafood market.

Some members of Maine’s working waterfront are simultaneously working to rebuild in time for prime lobstering season to begin in late May and pondering how to protect their family businesses.

“We’re going through stages of grief. There were a lot of tears,” said Amity Chipman, co-owner of the Milbridge wharf. “It was almost like losing a family member. It’s always been a part of our life, for so long.”

The Jan. 10 and Jan. 13 storms battered Maine’s coastline with heavy rain, flooding, ocean swells, high tides and wind gusts of up to 60 mph. State and federal officials have been trying to get a better grasp of damage up and down the coast. The Maine Emergency Management Agency spent two weeks collecting details of the damage, and the state is now reviewing to understand the full scope. Nearly 1,200 businesses submitted damage reports from both January storms to MEMA that could help the state qualify for federal disaster relief.

The Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association said its preliminary reporting suggests 60% of Maine’s working waterfront was either severely damaged or destroyed. Harpswell, New Harbor, Gouldsboro and Stonington were especially hard hit. High tides ripped away entire wharfs and fish houses. Structural beams, fishing equipment and gear floated in harbor waters. Some buildings have been condemned.

Town officials estimate $10 million to $15 million in damage in Stonington, mostly to its private infrastructure, according to Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. In Corea Harbor in Hancock County, Keliher said, all of the waterfront’s 24 wharfs had been harmed in some way.

“The extent of damage is just staggering. It literally looked like a bomb had gone off,” he said. “Everything that you could picture being on a dock or associated with a working waterfront – all of that was in the water.”

A DESTRUCTION OF HISTORY

The last month has been a sobering time for Maine’s working waterfront.

“What really struck me was the look of shock or disbelief on the faces of the fishermen and the business owners,” Keliher said.

Hole took over Henry Allen’s Seafood, his family’s business, two years ago. The wharf at Henry Allen’s was built in 1960 by a relative. When a younger relative was preparing to sell the property, Hole stepped up to buy the business to try to preserve the working waterfront and save the wharf from being converted into residential real estate.

What he didn’t fully grasp was how much running the business would be about managing catastrophes.

Chipman’s Wharf was built in 2002 and doesn’t have as much history, but to the Chipmans, it’s no less meaningful. Jason Chipman proposed to Amity Chipman at the edge of the wharf. The fishermen who work there are like extended family.

Amity Chipman’s husband and children, in-laws, nieces and nephews were all devastated by the recent damage – but also quick to help. As the storm cleared, family, fishermen who lease dock space and community members worked together to salvage what they could, recovering 900 traps that were swept off the wharf and floating in the harbor.

Hole waded through waist-high water at high tide in the worst of the Jan. 13 storm, trying to protect whatever was still vulnerable.

For Baker, on Bailey Island, there was little to be done. He knew the storm would be a death sentence for his family’s historic fish house, and he couldn’t bear to watch. He took his daughter out to get lunch and waited for the skies to clear. When he returned, all that was left was scraps.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO REBUILD?

Hole, Baker and the Chipmans – as well as many others up and down the coast – have been thinking about what it will take to revive their businesses.

But as climate change persists and sea levels continue to rise, the frequency and intensity of storms will only increase, according to the National Weather Service, the National Climate Assessment and the Maine Climate Council.

Hole, Baker and the Chipmans know whatever is built or rebuilt can’t be a carbon copy of what was previously there. These structures will need resiliency to withstand increasingly fierce storms. They all plan to raise their wharves higher – though not so high that they can’t get to their boats in the water. Hole wants to use concrete to weigh his dock down. Baker is considering hydraulics that could adjust his dock’s height – though that would be expensive.

The Chipman family estimates a fortified rebuild will cost at least $400,000 to $500,000. Hole can’t fathom how much a rebuild of Henry Allen’s would run. He suspects the wood alone will cost $150,000, but other materials would be needed, and then there are the labor costs.

Baker isn’t planning to rebuild his family’s fish house to replace the one built by his great-grandfather Stanley Baker. But he does need a wharf for lobstering, and he expects that will cost at least $100,000.

He isn’t so sure that it will be worth it.

“Next year, the same thing could happen,” Baker said. “Even if you do rebuild, it’s hard telling that there’s not going to be a bigger storm.”

And because Hole, the Chipmans and Barker don’t have flood insurance – a type of insurance that, for now, is exceedingly rare in Maine and often not practical – they are on their own to cover the costs.

Baker is hoping that support from the state and federal government will make the process of rebuilding easier.

If President Biden issues a federal disaster declaration, relief money could go only toward public infrastructure pummeled by the storm. But coastal businesses impacted by the storms could apply to the U.S. Small Business Administration for low- or no-interest loans.

Gov. Janet Mills also wants to invest $50 million into a state climate change adaptation fund, as she announced during her State of the State address. That, too, would be focused on public infrastructure, but the governor wants to expand grant eligibility to privately owned businesses on the working waterfront.

A proposed bill still awaiting action would put $50 million into the Small Business Weather Emergency Relief program.

Because public funding likely is still months away, a group of fishing and working waterfront organizations have partnered to create the Working Waterfront Support Fund. The fund is a collaboration between The Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, Maine Lobstermen’s Association, Maine Marine Trades Association, New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association, Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance and Maine Lobstermen’s Union.

The seven organizations conducted their own surveys to estimate damage and see where help is most needed. Over 100 people have so far submitted damage reports to the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.

Monique Coombs with the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association would not disclose how much money has been donated to the fund but said the organizations are trying to determine how to get help to where it’s most needed.

“We’re not 100% sure yet, but all of the money that’s in that fund will be going back into the communities to help them clean up and build back in a way that’s resilient,” she said.

PRESERVING MAINE’S WORKING WATERFRONT

For now, Hole is working to make sure Henry Allen’s wharf will be ready in late spring, when many lobstermen will start setting their traps.

Fifteen lobstermen use his dock space and sell their catch back to Henry Allen’s Seafood, which supplies retailers, his own retail shop and food trucks. His wharf needs to be ready to carry the load of trucks hauling bait, traps and catch.

“It’s like time is the enemy,” Hole said. “The pressure is there. Those families are counting on me to get it done.”

Shortages of materials and specialized labor will make the rebuilding harder.

Business owners have to make a lot of calculations. Will they be able to get the help and materials they need in time? Is the cost to rebuild worth it? And what do they do if they aren’t ready when peak lobstering season begins?

Maine’s working waterfront dates back centuries. The state’s lobster fishery is one of the oldest ongoing industries in North America, according to the Department of Marine Resources. And it’s one of the best-known things about Maine, representing its culture and values.

“The working waterfront is not just a space for business … It provides a sense of place for a lot of fishermen and fishing families within a community,” said Coombs, with the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association. “And everybody knows Maine for its lobster, for the colorful buoys on the coast and the lobster boats in the coves. When’s the last time you saw a commercial about Maine, a political ad or a bank ad that didn’t have a lobster boat or some image of the ocean that was sort of lobster-focused? It’s just so iconic.”

All that history adds a great weight to the damage.

“But fishermen are incredibly resilient,” Coombs said. “They’re amazing problem solvers and they will continue to rise up to the challenge.”

When Hole took over the family business, he imagined that when he retired, the commercial fishing dock would still be operating. And he’s not ready to let go of that plan.

“I can’t see myself walking away. I have too much in this. I’ve been there my whole life,” he said. “So one way or another, we’ll get through it. We’ll build it bigger and stronger.”

Hole doesn’t see his prospects as sunny – but he’s set on rebuilding, no matter the challenges.

“There are not that many of these places left on the working waterfront – and that was before the storm,” he said. “To lose any more is a cultural hit.”

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