Facts and Figures
Population
The nine communities around Cobscook Bay are home to about 7,000 people. The population of Washington County, according to the US Census for the year 2000, was 33,941.
Types of Communities
Of the nine Cobscook Bay communities, one is the easternmost town in the U.S. (Lubec) and one is the easternmost city in the U.S. (Eastport). There are four other towns (Whiting, Dennysville, Pembroke, Perry), two unorganized townships (Trescott and Edmunds), and one Native American reservation, Sipayik (the Pleasant Point reservation of the Passamaquoddy Tribe).
Making a Living on the Bay
Many people in these nine communities are dependent on the water for making a living. Whether fishing or fish farming, shipping or tourism, marine related jobs are a mainstay of the Cobscook Bay economy.
Value of Commercial Fisheries
- An estimated 155,000 pounds of Cobscook scallops were landed in 2004-05 valued at $1 million. (Kevin Athearn, University of Maine at Machias, “Cobscook Sea Scallops: The Fishery and Markets”)
- Sea urchin landings sold in the Cobscook Bay area (Lubec, Dennysville, and Eastport) in 2002-03 were 1.5 million pounds valued at $1.9 million. (Maggie Hunter, Maine Department of Marine Resources)
Another way of illustrating the importance of commercial fisheries in the Bay is to look at the number of marine resource harvesting licenses issued by the State of Maine. These licenses reflect biological, social, and market realities that are unique to Cobscook Bay.
In 2005, 318 people from the nine towns around Cobscook Bay held 699 marine harvesting licenses.