By Wanda Curtis.
The town of Lubec was awarded a $19,650,000 federal grant to provide a year-round safe harbor for resident and visiting fishermen and recreational boaters. The total cost of the project is estimated at $19,689,750, with the remainder of the cost paid for by a $30,000 grant from the state Department of Marine Resources and a grant from the Butler Foundation.
Carol Dennison, chairwoman of the town’s board of selectmen and a member of the Safe Harbor Committee, said it will take at least four to six months, and possibly as long as a year for the contract with the federal government to be finalized.
According to the project description, funds will be used to construct a boat launch, breakwater, and wharf to accommodate 35 boats and to create a protected mooring field and sheltered boat launch. The wharf will have a two-way road to the end of the pier with two hoists to assist fishermen in getting their product to market safely and quickly.
The description also says the project was designed to “mitigate the inclement weather or winds coming from the north that have caused fishermen to die, boats to sink, loss of property, and many cases of hypothermia.”
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