About Us

How We Work

We Have Come Together to Address a Very Important Challenge

Downeast coastal communities of northeast of Maine are struggling.  They have relied upon hard work and high-quality natural resources since before our country was founded.  However, the Downeast natural resource economic base is not what it used to be.

Of its top three natural resource drivers, prices for its lumber and blueberries have fallen and many of the region’s

most important commercial and recreational fisheries have been in decline for decades. While the lobster fishery is still doing very well, accounting for 80% of the fisheries landings, the Downeast fisheries economy is both depressed and precariously balanced.

There is opportunity

With global demand for seafood high and projected to increase, and with cool, clean, waters fed by its winter snowpack and the cold coastal Labrador current, Downeast has the capacity to support a diverse set of highly productive, and highly valued fisheries.

Our Mission

On a mission to strengthen Downeast Maine communities by restoring a strong and resilient ecosystem and our regional fisheries economy.

What are we doing to address the challenge?

How We Work

A: Restore alewives and other river herring

B: Improve shellfish fisheries and the intertidal ecosystem

D: Strengthen DFP’s capacity for collective action

Through shared positions

Contact Downeast Fisheries Partnership