As supporters of Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation, you expect as much information as we can gather about how industrial-scale aquaculture is impacting the coast of Maine.  Over the next few weeks, we will be uploading documents that we have paid for, but are free to you, to shed some light on what decisions are made about our coast.

black island die off 2021

In August of 2021 more than 116,00 salmon died at the Black Island Net Pens owned by Cooke Aquaculture. According to the Department of Marine Resources (DMR)  it was due to low oxygen levels. In November of 2021, DMR renewed Cooke Aquaculture’s lease for another 20 years at the site.  As you will read for yourself in the emails obtained by Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation – the commissioner didn’t even know the die off happened. If 116,000 cows died in Albion – we would hope that the commissioner of Agriculture would have been the first to know about it. The emails obtained were used as exhibits for non-renewal. Multiple lobstermen and women testified against the lease. Of note, while the die off happened in August – DMR chose not to dive beneath the net pens until months later – just before the renewal when they gave the site a clean bill of health.

Calf island

As you may remember, there was a die-off at the Cooke pens in Beals this summer (2024). The Department of Environmental Protection inspected the salmon net pens and found no issues hours before the substantial die-off. Town representatives are still seeking answers about how this happened and why the town wasn’t notified. Read the inspection reports here.

sand cove north