For Immediate Release
June 25, 2024
(The Maine Coast) - The towns of Penobscot and Winter Harbor have passed ordinances regulating aquaculture activities. In Penobscot, the vote was unanimous to support the ordinance. The town spent several months considering the appropriate language for their community.
Penobscot - June 10, 2024
On June 18, 2024, the town of Winter Harbor also voted in an ordinance, based entirely on the Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation model. Again, it was a unanimous vote at the annual town meeting.
Winter Harbor – June 18, 2024
Four towns have passed ordinances regulating aquaculture – Cutler, Waldoboro, Penobscot, and Winter Harbor.
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation (PMFHF) is working with several more communities around a moratorium and an ordinance on aquaculture. The goal is that every community in Maine responds to the people of their community.
PMFHF Executive Director Crystal Canney said, “We are pleased to have provided the support these communities needed to design their own future as it relates to the heritage industries. We have leadership at the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) that is intent on selling the Maine Coast to the highest aquaculture bidders. Each community has chosen its own path. If you know Maine, you know that not every community is the same and a one size fits all approachdoes not work. If you understand this state, you also know that when the state pushes too hard, communities will push back if they feel they aren’t being heard or the agenda is not in a community’s best interest. Industrial scale aquaculture has had free reign, is loaded with lobbyists and money – but it will never outstrip the will of the people.”
Recently, home rule has been invoked, to create solar ordinances and manage the mining issue in Pembroke. A court case in Bar Harbor ruled that based on home rule, a community has the right to determine its own future. Protect Maine’s reasoning around the suggested language for an ordinance to address industrial scale aquaculture and the effectiveness of home rule can be found here.
To learn more about how home rule is being used in Maine:
Cruise Ship Court Ruling - Bar Harbor
Read Protect Maine's analysis of home rule.
Contact
Crystal Canney
Executive Director
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation
207 615 5968