Originally published in the Ellsworth American
By Keith Kennedy
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation (PMFHF) stands firmly in its support of Maine’s heritage fisheries and small aquaculturists along Maine’s treasured coast. PMFHF is a relatively young nonprofit and has supported legislation that will protect Maine’s waters. Our philanthropy recently worked to raise money to provide COVID relief to lobstermen. Our board is comprised of longtime lobstermen and concerned citizens. Our membership is expanding beyond the lobstering community to people who recreate along the coast and small aquaculturists who are concerned with what is happening with regard to the recent increased number of proposed and approved larger and inappropriately sited aquaculture farms. These small aquaculture operators are generally Maine residents concerned they may be competing with large-scale and industrial aquaculture owned in some cases by foreign investors. We hear often from supporters that they feel the table has been set for industrialized aquaculture at the expense of Maine people. As currently written, the rules allow one company to lease up to a thousand acres of the Maine water. Waters that are currently serving all members of the public may become subject to a lease limiting public access and use. These leased waters may not revert back to the state when the user decides to sell to the highest bidder.
A good example of a large aquaculture project that concerns PMFHF is an in-water salmon farm recently proposed in Gouldsboro in the Frenchman Bay region that would be overlooked by Acadia National Park. Although the company proposing this project is named American Aquafarms, the investors are from Norway. PMFHF opposes this lease in cooperation with Friends of Frenchman Bay and others concerned residents of this iconic area.
PMFHF believes that as more Maine people learn that 95 percent of the many recently proposed aquaculture leases are approved by the state, they too will wonder what is going on along Maine’s coast. We believe that a long-term plan related to aquaculture for the coast of Maine is needed to serve all stakeholders rather than just industrialized aquaculture. Rules and regulations should be based on a level playing field for all who want to recreate, work and live along Maine’s coast. We do not believe that is the case currently.
The state has chosen aquaculture as a significant economic driver and it is part of the Governor’s economic plan. PMFHF questions instances in past regulatory development and lease approvals where the conversations were too narrow and included only those with a vested interest in a predetermined outcome of approved aquaculture with limited regard to environmental impacts and impact on the existing recreational and commercial fishing opportunities within and adjacent to the lease areas.
PMFHF believes that the following critical questions have not yet been answered and have been left out of the conversation: 1) Why is allowing aquaculture leases up to 1,000 acres necessary for any individual, corporation or business? 2) Why shouldn’t leases be transferred back to the state (just like a lobster license) instead of being transferred without a mandatory public hearing and possibly sold to the highest bidder? 3) Why is there not a better siting process, one that considers the input of all stakeholders and protects Maine’s water for all that use it?
The recent influx of aquaculture leases and their rapid approval rate is not good for Maine. PMFHF is urging the state to take a step back, bring all parties to the table and begin the framework that gives our beautiful coast the thought and consideration it deserves. Our concerns are the concerns of many. Aquaculture has the potential to be very positive for the state, but it can’t be at the expense of everything else on the water. However, large and poorly sited industrialized leases can hurt small Maine aquaculture operators and heritage fishermen trying to make a living along the Maine coast as well as public recreational opportunities. We have a chance to get this right. Let’s do the work now to save our Maine waters for all generations to come.
Keith Kennedy is director of Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation. He worked for more than 40 years as an environmental consultant. He lives in Freeport.