Senate Passes Bill for Bar Harbor CAT Ferry Pilot Exemption

Senate supports measure.

Mar 11, 2026

A person climbing a ladder to enter a large ship, with several people observing from a balcony above, displaying emblems on the ship's side. — *Pilot boarding the CAT as it sails into Frenchman Bay. File photo: Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story*

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Choco-Latté Café.

Exterior view of Choco-Latté Cafe in Bar Harbor, ME, featuring outdoor seating and a colorful sign with the cafe's name and address.

AUGUSTA—An act meant to help Bay Ferries and The CAT with expenses incurred from having an onboard pilot received a split reception in the Maine State Legislature this week, finding support in the state Senate but not in the House.

The Senate passed the bill to be engrossed as amended on March 10 in non-concurrence. It now goes back to the House.

LD1477 bill had been introduced by Rep. Gary Friedmann (D-Bar Harbor) and Senator Nicole Grohoski (D-Ellsworth) in April 2025.

The legislators introduced “An Act to Provide an Exemption from Pilotage Requirements for Passenger Ferry Service Between Bar Harbor, Maine and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia,” which had originally been meant to exempt the high-speed ferry from the pilot requirements as it entered Frenchman Bay and docked at Bar Harbor’s ferry terminal.

Pilots are meant to insure the safety of certain large vessels as they come into Maine ports and are required by Maine law.

The initial proposed legislation received a divided report in May 2025 and was carried over from that year. It received its second divided report February 2026.

The act was amended this winter to instead ask for the state to pay the costs of the piloting service, which occurs (weather dependent) twice daily between May and November. Those costs are approximately $325,000 each year.

“Bay Ferries wants to underscore that the amended version of the bill is a compromise between the pilots and Bay Ferries. It recognizes the economic benefit of the CAT Ferry in Bar Harbor and Maine, including providing for 15 employees working at Atlantic Fleet Services, which is a locally owned and operated company that provides the ferry terminal services¸ and 15 Mainers working on the CAT itself,” said Dan Walker of Preti-Flaherty, which represents Bay Ferries.

The CAT receives a supplement from the Canadian government which allows it to run between the two countries. A recent study shows the economic benefit from the ferry service to the Nova Scotian economy and Maine’s.

“It also brings thousands of passengers to the coast of Maine every year. The total cost of LD 1477 is about 1% of the total subsidy that Nova Scotia provides to maintain this international maritime service connecting our countries,” Walker said.

The act was read on March 3 before the House. Representative Lydia Crafts (D- Newcastle) moved to accept the Majority Ought to Pass as Amended Report, which failed in a roll call vote with 39 yeas and 105, nays. Friedmann voted in favor. Holly Eaton (D-Deer Isle) voted against.

Crafts then moved for the House to accept the ougth not to pass, which was accepted. It was sent for concurrence (or agreement) with the Senate.

The act moved on to the Senate, March 5, and Senator Nangle of Cumberland moved to accept the legislation. That roll call vote carried with 23 yeas, 10 nays, and two excused. It was then adopted and assigned for a second reading.

A document detailing a committee amendment related to transportation, specifically an act to subsidize pilotage costs for ferry services between Bar Harbor, Maine, and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, including sections on appropriations and allocations.

The Bar Harbor Town Council had previously supported the original, unamended measure.

“The benefit is that this is an investment in maintaining this maritime highway open. It’s an investment in keeping open the the terminal in Bar Harbor…. There’s Mainers who work on the CAT. There’s 15 Mainers who work at the terminal. There’s five border patrol agents that maintain it. And then all of the other surrounding tourist business in Bar Harbor that benefit as a result of this, of the ability for people to go back and forth between the two countries,” Walker had said at a House Transportation Committee meeting earlier this winter.

The bill will now go back to the House in nonconcurrence, and there will be another vote by the House and opportunity to either concur with the Senate’s support of the bill or maintain their position opposing the bill. After the House vote, the bill will go back to the Senate for another vote there as well.

“Bay Ferries is very appreciative of the Senate vote,” Walker said.