This was originally published in the Boothbay Register.
Dear Editor:
As a generational lobsterman and a board director for Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage for several years, I saw the rebuttal from the Maine Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) defending the department’s work around industrial scale aquaculture.
Like so many things the devil is in the details – and in this case MDMR is cherry picking lease numbers to make a case for the department doing its job.
Let me give you an example.
The department claims it is approving aquaculture leases now at a rate of 83%, down from what we have witnessed through 2023, which showed approvals in the mid 90s. The department has chosen to count a refusal to allow a lease to expand as a denial in that number to bring its percentage down. The real number in 2023 and so far in 2024 is 93% excluding lease expansions. At the point of an expansion someone already has a lease. Protect Maine has only included decisions on whether to grant a lease not modifications or expansions of existing leases in its calculations. We also do these calculations at the end of a year not mid-year, so our numbers capture exactly what is happening, not piecemeal.
Let’s look at the Department’s own website https://www.maine.gov/dmr/aquaculture/maine-aquaculture-leases-and-lpas/aquaculture-lease-decisions
Looking at the long-term figures beyond this year - the leases as of Nov. 01, 2024, number 207 approvals and 20 denials (counting active leases WES BC and JOHN NB3 as approvals, not denials) and that gives a 91% approval rate.
Why is any of this important? As we watch the department promote industrial scale aquaculture along the coast of Maine – playing with fuzzy math to get the outcome you want is an untrue picture of what is going on in the water. MDMR should remember when you are serving Maine people that spin for the sake of a spin does a disservice to everyone.
Protect Maine gets it – MDMR is chaffing at the attention these leases are getting. Protect Maine also understands industrial aquaculture was unchallenged for decades. We support small scale owner operator aquaculture appropriately sited. That’s not what we are seeing along the Maine coast. Protect Maine believes everyone has the right to earn a living and recreate along the Maine coast. Let’s make sure we keep it that way.
Adam Ulrickson
Freeport