A new harbor plan proposal promises to strengthen the fishing industry and expand tourism. Waterfront workers worry it can’t do both.

Municipal leaders hope proposed changes to the New Bedford-Fairhaven harbor plan will strengthen the commercial fishing industry, repair maritime infrastructure — and expand tourism. 

The plan, which has been in the works for over a year, proposes expanding existing pier and wharf space, freeing up more space along the waterfront, and increasing shore power capabilities for vessels. 

Finding funding to repair state-owned waterfront parcels — like State Pier, parts of which have been closed for years — is also listed as a priority in the plan.

Officials from New Bedford and Fairhaven, including the New Bedford Port Authority, drafted the recommendations with input from public meetings, focus groups and “stakeholder interviews,” according to the document. 

It’s part of what the state calls “a voluntary procedure” that allows cities and towns to submit harbor plans to guide the state’s actions. New Bedford and Fairhaven created an earlier harbor plan in 2002 and amended it in 2010. 

A public hearing about the new plan is scheduled for Sept. 2. Community members can weigh in on the update in writing until Sept. 8.

“The plan sets a framework for how New Bedford’s working waterfront and economic opportunities will be preserved and shaped in the coming years,” New Bedford Port Authority executive director Gordon Carr said in a statement to The Light. “New Bedford is proud to have one of the strongest and most active Designated Port Areas in the Commonwealth.”

But public hearings and stakeholder interviews may not fully reconcile the plan’s dueling missions: to expand economic opportunities on the harbor without compromising the infrastructure that makes the port a full-service stop for commercial fishing vessels. The harbor plan recommendations also come at a time when waterfront space is increasingly scarce, largely due to the state’s delays rebuilding State Pier.

While many of the proposals are aimed at strengthening the commercial fishing and seafood industries, others tucked away in the sprawling 200-page document have some fishermen and shoreworkers wondering where they’ll fit in, if the recommendations are approved. 

One recommendation aims to bring more cruise ships into the harbor — which officials had discussed in the 2010 harbor plan update. It comes at a time when accommodating one cruise line has already displaced commercial fishing boats from limited dock space. 

Another recommendation aims to clear out certain boats from the crowded harbor by tightening regulations at the docks. The update also recommends planning ahead of potential federal permitting rule changes that could further shrink the city’s fishing fleet. 

Sustain fishing and add cruise ships

The vast majority of the recommendations included in the harbor proposal are centered around securing funding for the maritime industry and infrastructure. 

That includes continuing discussions with state leaders about repairing the severely neglected State Pier. Currently, the pier’s North Wharf — which state officials are hoping to repair by late next year — and parts of the South and East wharves are closed indefinitely.

Read the New Bedford-Fairhaven Municipal Harbor Plan ⇢

The proposed plan supports expanding non-industrial businesses along the state-owned dock in ways that don’t “deter or compete with maritime uses,” according to the document. The document recommends working with the state to “continue advancing development of… commercial uses.” Carr, of the Port Authority, told The Light that the recommendation is about the state’s process for the redevelopment of New Bedford State Pier. (Proposed designs unveiled in July 2025 include retail spaces and a restaurant, The Light reported.)

The western edge of the pier “can provide destinations for tourists and visitors along the street corridor, while allowing for an optimization of dock space for ferries, cruise ships, and ancillary industrial vessels,” according to the document.

Limited dock space has caused tension, since most of the State Pier has been closed since November, and other parts of the waterfront are either closed or being rebuilt. The proposed harbor plan recommends temporary berthing space at “vacant or underutilized sites, including through floating barge installations.” 

But while Port Authority officials figure out near-term berthing space, the update also recommends soliciting more cruise lines to the harbor in the mid-term. In addition to American Cruise Lines, which has relocated its landings to Pier 3, port officials are looking at a few other cruise lines as well. They include Pearl Seas, Ponant Cruises and Seabourn, according to the proposed update.

For some commercial fishermen, the expansion could mean losing more dock space.

“It seems this city, this mayor, they’re trying to bring in revenue in all these other ways like pushing the fishermen further and further out,” Tyler Miranda, a captain who runs three scallopers out of New Bedford, told The Light. “It kind of sucks to see it happening.” 

“We’re already stacked up,” Miranda added. “It’s pretty chaotic over there.” 

Fishermen are going to get the job done regardless of the hurdles, Miranda said, while acknowledging the work city officials have done to repair some of the docks along the waterfront. But he said he felt the limited dockage wasn’t being freed up for the commercial fishing industry. 

“It seems like they keep taking it away and we don’t get it back,” Miranda said, with a nod to the cruise line relocation and State Pier closures. “It’s getting pretty jammed up now.” 

New Bedford Economic Development Council Director Derek Santos said it was important to maintain a “balance” between the existing waterfront industry and the potential new uses. 

“But the opportunity to bring more people into New Bedford is going to bring more customers, and that is something we very much support,” Santos said.

Finding space, clearing out ‘derelict’ boats

In another attempt to free up space along the waterfront, Carr said that a top priority was to remove derelict boats and boats that are not actively fishing. 

There’s “no single definition” for what a derelict boat is; instead, they’re governed by a “patchwork of local, state, and federal laws,” John Regan, New Bedford Port Authority’s director of policy and external affairs, said in an email to The Light. 

In 2026, the Port Authority has removed three derelict boats from the harbor, including one boat in such poor shape that it began taking on water, Port Authority counsel Blair Bailey said in a phone call. If officials can’t reach the boat’s owner, they put the vessel up for auction.

In all cases, Port Authority officials try for as long as possible to contact the owner before seizing a vessel, Bailey said, in most cases waiting “multiple years” before taking action. It costs roughly $15,000 to $20,000 just to scrap a vessel that doesn’t sell at auction, Carr added.

“We have what I would classify as an exceeding amount of patience,” Bailey said.

The recommendation doesn’t give details on how Port Authority officials are going to remove boats targeted under the proposal, only stating it would “develop protocols and enforcement mechanisms.”

Prepping for permitless boats

Officials are looking to “permanently remove” vessels left without federal fishing permits, if a “permit-stacking” proposal gets approved. Scallop boats can spend over 300 days at port due to fishing regulations, although the permit-stacking proposal could allow some vessels to spend more time at sea.

Some fishermen and industry advocates, including Mayor Jon Mitchell, have thrown their weight behind the controversial permit-stacking proposal, which would allow the owners of two or more vessels to “stack” multiple permits on one vessel. 

Proponents say that a permit-stacking rule would allow boat owners to retire their oldest vessels and free up dock space. Opponents worry that the rule would most benefit larger corporations and do little to help smaller, independent owner-operators.

A new federal permit-stacking rule could mean many boats in the New Bedford Harbor may be left without permits and targeted for removal under the harbor plan update proposal.

Mark Lareau, a shore engineer and former scalloper, told The Light the recommendation was “100 percent wrong.”

“Just because I don’t have the federal fisheries permit on my boat, I’m not allowed to tie up in New Bedford?” Lareau said. “I could own a boat looking for a permit.”

Port Authority officials are also looking to review dockage fees to “capture multi-permitted vessels” if the federal rule is approved. Lareau said he wonders how the Port Authority would enforce the proposed rule update for permitless boats.

“How easy is it gonna be to remove all of these boats?” Lareau said. “It’s gonna take time.”

Public input

Port Authority officials held four public meetings and two virtual drop-in sessions between early 2025 and this year to get community feedback during the harbor plan update’s inception.

Officials also created focus groups to gather input and recommendations. That included groups for tourism, recreational boating and community organizations. 

But they did not create a focus area specifically for commercial fishermen — and instead included them in “stakeholder interviews,” according to the plan.

That was intentional, after officials realized “that many commercial fishing and maritime businesses preferred not to discuss their operations” in a group setting, Carr said in a statement to The Light.

“Instead, they preferred private interviews where they could speak candidly and confidentially,” he said, adding that the move led to “substantive input without having their involvement or comments publicly attributed to them.”

The Port Authority reached out to representatives from 66 commercial fishing and waterfront businesses, most of whom chose to participate, Regan said in an email. Participants included Eastern Fisheries, the Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE), the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, Robert B. Our Marine Division, and Servedwell Hospitality.

Bailey stressed that the Port Authority continued to welcome participation and feedback.

Lareau, the former scalloper, acknowledged the vast number of moving parts that culminated in the harbor plan update proposal, but said he felt there could have been more communication.

“When it relates to the fishing industry, you kind of just did things on your own,” Lareau said about Port Authority officials.

A virtual public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 2 at 6 p.m. Public comments can be submitted in writing until Sept. 8. The plan could be approved by state officials soon after the public comment period ends. 

This article was first published on The New Bedford Light and republished here with permission.