Mission
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation is a statewide coalition working to protect Maine’s fishing heritage so all Mainers can earn a living and recreate along our iconic coast.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage is a statewide organization working on stopping industrial scale aquaculture. We support small owner-aquaculture that is appropriately sited within a community. We have led efforts at the statehouse with the passage of legislation.
We are passing ordinances in communities around the state, helping them take a stance on industrial scale aquaculture before it’s too late. The state of Maine has championed industrial scale aquaculture owned by foreign corporations. We say NO to industrial scale aquaculture.
Our mission is consistent – the ocean is a public trust which belongs to everyone. Protect Maine believes everyone has a right to work, play and make a living on the ocean
Why?
Fishermen and marine harvesters are losing bottom and fishing space to large aquaculture leases. Protect Maine supports small-scale owner-operator aquaculture leases but even some Maine companies are taking up hundreds of acres for their own benefit at the expense of others. DMR is approving leases in Frenchman bay for shellfish in the hundreds of acres. See who is getting these private benefits of a public trust.
The Maine lobster industry is under attack and yet it is one of the greatest economic drivers we have. Learn how important it is.
We are working to ensure proper state regulations are in place to prevent a rapid, unplanned expansion of aquaculture in Maine. Conflicts are arising up and down the Maine coast for the lobstering, marine harvesters and boating communities. We must find a way to co-exist without hurting the environment or fisheries that have been well managed and sustained for generations.
Tourism is one of Maine's greatest economic drivers. If we don't protect the environment we are undercutting the very reason many come to Vacationland. We can't allow Maine’s beloved ocean to be leased to foreign corporations. Maine is working to do just that. Learn more here.
We are non-partisan. Our loyalty lies with fishermen, lobstermen, marine harvesters, small aquaculturists, and the state’s citizens as we work to ensure that Maine will live up to the public trust doctrine, which asserts that the state holds land lying beneath navigable waters as trustee of a public trust for the benefit of ALL its citizens.