Waterfront businesses challenge 1,000

person/day limit

Some Bar Harbor waterfront businesses filed suit against the town in December 2022 to challenge the town's newly enacted 1,000 person per day limit on disembarking cruise ship passengers, claiming that it violates the US government's jurisdiction over maritime activity.

If allowed to stand, this limitation will impact cruise ship port calls beginning in March 2023.

Plaintiffs include pier operators BH Piers and Golden Anchor along with Bar Harbor Whale Watch - which gets much of its business from cruise ship passengers - and the nonprofit Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods.

Bar Harbor is Maine's most-visited port for cruise ships which brought around a quarter of a million passengers to the town in pre-pandemic 2019.