SEARSPORT, Maine — July 27, 2014 — Locavores who live in or visit the Pine Tree State can meander along the Maine Beer Trail, sipping their way from one microbrewery to the next. They could eat their way from lobster roll to lobster roll along the coast or farm hop to see where their food is grown.
There is another type of trail to add to the Maine mix: the Downeast Fisheries Trail, which showcases the state’s fisheries heritage, from salmon farming to lobster fishing to the crucial sardine canneries of yore.
“A trend in travel is that people want to connect to the real thing on the ground,” Natalie Springuel of Maine Sea Grant, the coordinator of the trail, said recently. “They want to connect with local people. They want to know how they make a living. They want to know how to lobster, and how to pull up a trap. They want really concrete experiences to understand a place on a deeper level, and then they want to taste it at the end. So yeah, I think the fisheries trail provides a deeper understanding of a place and its people.”
The trail was first developed in a much smaller form in Washington County in 2000, featuring just 14 sites. But several years ago, a number of organizations there decided to revive it and expand it to foster tourism. The trail was broadened to include Hancock County and a little bit beyond.
The Downeast Fisheries Trail includes nearly 50 sites, ranging from historical societies and small fisheries museums to places such as the Cherryfield Cable Pool, where Atlantic salmon fly fishermen would flock every year.
“The project has really focused on celebrating what exists and pulling it together,” Springuel said. “One of the things that has been so neat about the project is that it has sparked incredible collaboration between the fishing industry and the tourism industry — two industries in Maine that don’t often talk. That’s been really great.”
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