Effort to connect residents, tourists to New Bedford waterfront
By JOE COHEN
Standard-Times staff writer
February 14, 2008 6:00 AM
NEW BEDFORD ? Port of New Bedford Director Kristin Decas unveiled plans Wednesday to reconnect residents and tourists with the city's working waterfront by improving access, going after new economic opportunities and offering new attractions, such as a weekend public fish market on a pier.
Ms. Decas acknowledged there are hurdles to overcome before all the plans come to fruition, and she said everything must be done in the context of maintaining a "working waterfront" that is a commercial fishing port. But within those parameters, she said New Bedford Harbor has the potential to be a major regional draw for residents and visitors similar to the high visibility harbors in Seattle and Baltimore.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting of the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce at the Country Club of New Bedford in Dartmouth, Ms. Decas said she and others in Mayor Scott W. Lang's administration are focused on new ways to tap the harbor and waterfront's potential.
Some things under consideration, she said, include bringing in more coastal freighters, increasing ferry service, adding to recreational boating facilities and making the harbor a recreation and tourism destination.
"You want people to take pride in a working waterfront, not be segregated from it," Ms. Decas said in an interview after her presentation.
The harbor already is a major economic force on the SouthCoast, according to Ms. Decas.
It provides employment to 3,700 people, handles 60 million tons of fish a year, receives freight from inside and outside the United States, serves more than two-dozen cruise ships a year, has eight marinas serving recreational boaters and serves as a base for ferry service used by more than 100,000 passengers a year.
Ms. Decas said there are multiple studies under way to understand how to best utilize the harbor. She stressed the first priority is to maintain New Bedford's standing as the number one port in the United States based on the dollar value of fish catch landed. The value last year exceeded $280 million.
But, she noted, "for the port to remain sustainable, mixed uses" will have to be considered.
Among the initiatives under way or being studied, she said, are:
* Remaking Route 18 from a highway-like road into a boulevard, with the goal of improving access and making it safer for vehicles and foot traffic to cross from the historic and residential districts to the waterfront;
* Linking the harbor more closely to marine research facilities in Woods Hole, UMass Dartmouth and elsewhere;
* Establishing the port as a facility for short sea shipping, which would step up freight operations, especially containers and other freight now moving along the Northeast's coast on trucks;
* Increasing the number of cruise ships that visit;
* Increasing ferry service, both by adding new destinations and expanding traffic on current destinations;
* Going beyond freight, cruise lines and ferry service at the State Pier, a facility operating at only 10 percent of capacity;
* Creating new marinas, improving recreational boating access and targeting the transient boating community;
* Utilizing parcels, such as the 95-acre Hicks-Logan parcel, for hotels, restaurants and other travel and entertainment, including possibly a casino; and
* Building a 3.5-mile-long walkway and bikeway atop the harbor hurricane barrier.
In addition, Ms. Decas said that much like farmers' markets, New Bedford has the potential to create a fish market that could operate on weekends and combine the commercial and non-commercial aspects of the port to everyone's advantage.
She recalled a childhood visit to Norway, where her family has roots, and seeing an active public fish market there. She also recounted visiting Seattle's fish market.
Ms. Decas said those experiences with highly utilized public fish markets are what make her enthusiastic about doing the same thing locally. "It is a cool opportunity," Ms. Decas said.
She said the economic viability of a fish market needs to be assessed, along with interest from the fishing industry. "We would need to find a site in partnership with the industry," she said, but the obstacles do not appear to be too great, and it potentially could happen as early as next year on one of the city or state piers.
Ms. Decas, who was put in her job by Mayor Lang, serves as both director of the Port of New Bedford and executive director of the city Harbor Development Commission.
She said the Lang administration operates with a forward-looking attitude. She said the city last year looked at starting ferry service between New Bedford and Woods Hole. Ms. Decas said the city received $75,000 from the state to conduct a study.
"Mayor Lang said 'no study, let's run it.' We set up a pilot project ? two trips a day ? for the first two weeks in August. Two thousand people got on the ferries ? they were at capacity," Ms. Decas said.
There still is not scheduled ferry service to Woods Hole, but the experience of actually operating a pilot program provided useful information and having a permanent ferry connection remains a goal.
Contact Joe Cohen at
jcohen@s-t.com
