Growing up in Wiscasset, Preston Dunning swam regularly around the remains of the Hesper and Luther Little.

As of Feb. 1, the 1987 Wiscasset High School graduate minds the harbor from the sewer treatment plant to the Old Ferry landing. Dunning is Wiscasset’s new harbor master, paid $7,500 a year for a range of duties.

He can patrol the Sheepscot River in the town boat, help on search and rescue calls, enforce state boating rules and, although he can’t arrest anyone, he can, in some cases, detain them until Wiscasset police or the Maine Marine Patrol arrive.

There is much more involved, including a public relations aspect. He’ll be fielding boaters’ questions in the harbor master’s office next door to the public restrooms. The office has a walk-up window from its prior use as a train ticket window.

Dunning washed dishes and made deliveries for Sarah’s Pizza when it was in Boothbay Harbor; and he worked at the full-service Texaco gas station Wiscasset used to have.

The part-time harbor master job is not Dunning’s first public service for Wiscasset. He’s an emergency medical technician with Wiscasset Ambulance Service and president of its nonprofit, fundraising arm, the Wiscasset Ambulance Attendants Association.

Serving runs in the family. Dunning’s late uncle Lee Dunning Jr. once ran the transfer station and his aunt, Wiscasset Public Library Director Pam Dunning, is a former selectman.

He took the harbor master job because he saw there was a need, he said. Daniel Bradford resigned last year but had been staying on until a replacement could be found. Plus, Dunning said, he’s drawn to the water. He knows a lot of fishermen, is trained in small craft navigation, used to own an 18-foot Boston whaler, and is working on buying a 16-foot, open-bow boat.

“I’ve done tons of striper fishing out here. So I know the water out here and have spent plenty of time on the water out here.

“So it just seemed to be a next step,” he said about the job.

In March, the town is sending him to three days of training at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine; the training is required within a harbor master’s first year, Dunning said. It will get him a basic harbor master certification, and it fits with his outlook of being an adult learner.

“I’m always looking for knowledge. And the more I know, the more I want to know,” Dunning said inside his office Friday.

Outside, the river glistened. The stretch of waterfront near Wiscasset Yacht Club was mostly quiet, with about one vehicle at a time coming and going and the occasional bird calling.

Between commercial fishing and recreational use, the river is an important piece of Wiscasset’s economy, Dunning said. It could be more so, if there was a place for boats to refuel and if the waterfront had showers or other amenities besides the restrooms, he said.

Without those, he said, “We don’t have a real big draw (for) some of the more expensive boats to come in to town ... We don’t have some of the things there are at other docks, so I’d like to see some of that stuff.”

He isn’t sure where the money would come from for the amenities, but he hopes to help however he can any time the town looks at new state or other options for projects, like the boardwalk or walkway idea the waterfront committee explored in 2015.

In the near term, Dunning plans to initiate the wireless Internet access he said has been budgeted for the waterfront; and he plans to update the map of the mooring field.

“That’s going to be something that I need to get on right away. Knowing where the moorings are located, that kind of thing is pretty important.”

Looking around, Dunning said he will be bringing in first aid supplies to the harbor master’s office. “It’s a good idea to have something here just in case,” he said.

Contact Dunning at 207-380-3502.