AUGUSTA (AP) – Three weeks in advance of a statewide vote on tax policy in coastal communities, the Island Institute on Tuesday released a study touting the value of Maine’s working waterfronts.

According to an executive summary of “Saving Working Waterfronts: Mapping the Maine Coast’s Economic Future,” just 25 miles of Maine’s 5,300-mile coast would be categorized as working waterfront.

Yet, the analysis contends, “every inch of that tiny percentage is now critical to retaining the fishing jobs that keep a $758 million piece of the coast’s economy afloat.”

On Nov. 8, voters will be asked whether to approve a constitutional amendment that would authorize tax assessments of waterfront land used for commercial fishing activities to be based on the land’s current use.

Advocates of the proposed amendment note that similar tax standards are already on the books.

“Current use tax relief is already available to owners of farmland, properties preserved as open space’ and land used to produce timber,” the analysis released Tuesday said. “For property tax purposes under the proposed change, waterfront land used for or that supports commercial fishing activities’ could be valued for its current use, as opposed to its development value.”

A group known as the Campaign to Save Working Waterfront Jobs was formed during the summer, promoting current use taxation to benefit fishermen.

“Working waterfronts are the very foundation of this state’s coastal heritage and economy, and they are under threat as never before,” the Island Institute analysis said.

“Sky high property prices and rocketing property taxes are pushing fishing families into the woods. Wharf ownership is increasingly a birthright, not something the average person can aspire to. Working families need tax relief to stay in their homes; they need affordable financing to purchase some of the very places where they earn their livings.”

The proposed constitutional amendment was forwarded to the voters by the Legislature on March 8, when the vote in the House was 143-0 and the Senate vote was 34-0.

The measure was put forth by the Joint Select Committee on Property Tax Reform that was chaired by Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, and Rep. Richard Woodbury, an independent from Yarmouth who sponsored the original resolution.

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