## Facts

- Kenneth W. Ross, Carl E. Ross, and Roque Island Gardner Homestead Corporation owned upland coastal property in Maine, including the adjacent intertidal soil.
- Rockweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) grew in the intertidal zone and was physically attached to the intertidal soil on the owners’ property.
- Maine recognizes private fee ownership of intertidal soil by the upland owner, subject to a limited public easement historically described as “fishing, fowling, and navigation.”
- Acadian Seaplants, Ltd., a commercial seaweed harvester, cut and removed rockweed attached to the owners’ intertidal land without obtaining permission.
- The owners sought declaratory and injunctive relief to stop Acadian from harvesting rockweed attached to their intertidal land.
- The trial court entered summary judgment for the owners, declaring attached intertidal rockweed to be the owners’ private property; Acadian appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether rockweed attached to privately owned intertidal soil belongs to the adjoining upland owner or is held by the State for public use.
2. Whether harvesting attached rockweed falls within the public easement in the intertidal zone for “fishing, fowling, and navigation.”
3. Whether state regulation of rockweed harvesting implies a public right to enter private intertidal land and remove attached rockweed without landowner consent.

## Decision

- The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed summary judgment for the owners.
- The court held that rockweed growing in the intertidal zone and attached to the intertidal soil is the private property of the adjoining upland owner who owns the intertidal soil in fee simple.
- The court held that attached rockweed is not held in trust by the State for public use and may not be harvested by the public as a matter of right.
- The court held that the public easement for “fishing, fowling, and navigation” does not include a right to harvest attached rockweed.
- The court recognized that harvesting may be regulated by the State but concluded that regulation does not confer public ownership or authorize entry and removal from private intertidal land without consent.

## Legal Principles

- In Maine, the intertidal soil may be privately owned in fee simple by the upland owner, subject to a limited public easement.
- Natural products physically attached to privately owned land are generally treated as part of the landowner’s property absent a clearly established exception.
- The public easement in Maine’s intertidal zone is narrowly confined to historically recognized uses (“fishing, fowling, and navigation”) and is not expanded to cover extractive activities by analogy.
- “Fishing,” for purposes of the intertidal easement, does not include harvesting attached marine plants such as rockweed.
- State regulatory authority over coastal resources does not itself determine title or create a public right to take resources from privately owned intertidal land without the owner’s permission.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that attached intertidal rockweed is a private natural product of the upland owner’s intertidal land and that neither the public easement nor general public-trust arguments give members of the public a right to harvest it without the landowner’s consent.


Ross v. Acadian Seaplants, Ltd., 206 A.3d 283 (Me. 2019)