A bipartisan bill to help preserve working waterfronts across the U.S. was introduced in Congress last month, with Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Montross) signing on as one of the bill’s co-sponsors.

“As a lifelong fisherman, steward of our Chesapeake Bay, and member of the House Natural Resources Committee, I know that supporting our nation’s coastline is imperative to preserving our way of life in Virginia’s Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula,” said Wittman in a press release.

Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Maine Democrat, introduced the proposed legislation, which would amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to establish a task force to study the critical needs of working waterfronts and set up grant and loan programs to help preserve such areas.

The legislation affirms the economic and cultural importance of working waterfronts to communities and mentions such threats to working waterfronts as trade barriers and environmental changes. It cites sea level rise, extreme weather events...