Good Afternoon,
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation (PMFHF) kicked off its second annual fundraiser this weekend with a concert featuring the Chebeague Island band Turd Pollock. The band is comprised of lobstermen and women, and once again they donated their time and talents with a concert off a floating dock near Chebeague for this year’s fundraiser. Last year, Protect Maine, with the help of the band, raised $50,000 for covid relief. All the funds raised were sent directly to lobstermen and women in Maine. This year we are raising money for scholarships for the children of lobstermen and women, small aquaculturists and commercial fishermen. The money will be distributed in the form of $500 scholarships for those attending an accredited college, university, or community college. Details on how to apply and how the grant program works can be found at Protect Maine's website. The fundraising will run through November 1st, 2021, and grants will be awarded before the end of the year. Protect Maine has secured a matching grant up to $25,000. To donate click here. And click here to watch a clip from the concert.
Protect Maine wants to share an article that involved the President of Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation Rock Alley. The piece written by Ellen Shell of the Boston Globe was the cover story of Boston Globe magazine last week. It outlines the important issues around the rules and regulations in Maine that have set the table for industrial-scale aquaculture and the concerns from small aquaculturists, lobstermen and women and those who are concerned about the future of the Maine coast. You can read the article on our website here: https://www.protectmaine.com/pmfhf-news/boston-globe-magazine-are-sprawling-fish-farms-coming-to-swallow-maine
Highlights:
Excerpt: Rock Alley, president of the Maine Lobstering Union, lives and lobsters in Jonesport, 66 miles from Frenchman Bay. A near 50-year veteran of the sea, he says ocean-based finfish farms threaten not just his business, but his and the state’s very identity, by hastening the decline of the lobster industry already put at risk by sea warming. “There is no good in any of this,” he says. “The DMR says they’ll protect the water, but there is no enforcement, it’s just pitiful. We want to see generations of lobstermen survive, but if we hand out aquaculture leases to anyone who asks for one, the only place you’ll see a lobsterman is in the movies.”
Excerpt: Jon Lewis worked under Keliher and recently retired after 23 years at the department as a scientist, diver, and most recently director of the Division of Aquaculture under the Bureau of Policy and Management. He believes Rock Alley is basically correct: with only five full-time equivalent employees, the department’s ability to fully enforce regulations or comprehensively inspect most aquaculture installations is limited.”
Excerpt (Sara Redmond): For Redmond and many other Mainers, the question is not whether to farm aquatic plants and animals, but how to do so in a way that sustains both the state’s iconic coastline and its fiercely proud and independent way of life. Answering that question has pitted sustainable aquafarmers like Redmond against large industrial-style farms for finfish like salmon that, many Mainers believe, threaten the very core of the state’s seafaring heritage.
Protect Maine is part of the umbrella group that is working to keep finfish aquaculture out of Frenchman Bay. A Norwegian company is working through the approval process and we will keep you updated on how you can participate. The largest lease holder for finfish aquaculture is Cooke Aquaculture which has over 600 acres of leases throughout Downeast Maine.
While Protect Maine opposes large-scale industrial aquaculture, we support small aquaculturists who work the Maine waters with an owner–operator model and smaller leases. We have concerns about large leases in Maine and will continue to update you as appropriate. If you are interested in seeing what is happening with aquaculture hearings you can go here: DMR upcoming aquaculture hearings. If you are interested in what has already been approved you can go here: DMR lease information. Other ways to participate can be found below.
Have a great week.
Best,
Crystal Canney
Executive Director
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation
207-615-5968
protectmaine@gmail.com
Facebook
Opposition groups
Please join one of these groups for the latest information and to support their role as leading opponents of the American Aquafarms’ proposal.
Friends of Frenchman Bay http://friendsoffrenchmanbay.org
Friends of Eastern Bay www.friendsofeasternbay.org
Friends of Schoodic Peninsula www.facebook.com/salmonproposal/
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation www.protectmaine.com
Key agencies
Maine Department of Marine Resources
Patrick Keliher, Commissioner
21 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
www.maine.gov/dmr/aquaculture/index.html
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Jay L. Clement, Senior Project Manager
Maine Project Office
442 Civic Center Drive, Suite 350
Augusta, Maine 04330
jay.l.clement@usace.army.mil
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Melanie Loyzim, Commissioner
17 State House Station
28 Tyson Drive
Augusta, Maine 04333-0017
www.maine.gov/dep/contact/index.html
Governor and Congressional Delegation
Governor T. Janet Mills
1 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
207-287-3531
www.maine.gov/governor/mills/contact
U.S. Senator Angus King
202 Harlow St., Suite 20350
Bangor, ME 04401
Phone: (207) 945-8000
www.king.senate.gov/contact
U.S Senator Susan Collins
202 Harlow Street, Room 20100
Bangor, ME 04401
Main: (207) 945-0417
www.collins.senate.gov/contact
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden
6 State Street, Suite 101
Bangor, ME 04401
(207) 249-7400
https://golden.house.gov/contact
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree
2 Portland Fish Pier, Suite 304
Portland, ME 04101
(207) 774-5019
pingree.house.gov/contact/
State Legislators who represent towns on the bay
Hancock County
State Sen. Louis Luchini
P.O. Box 1311
Ellsworth, ME 04605
(207) 664-4699
Louis.Luchini@legislature.maine.gov
Gouldsboro, Hancock, Sorrento, Sullivan, Winter Harbor
State Rep. William “Billy Bob” Faulkingham
P.O. Box 121
Winter Harbor, ME 04693
Cell: (207) 460-6967
William.Faulkingham@legislature.maine.gov
Bar Harbor, Lamoine, Mt. Desert
State Rep. Lynne Williams
13 Albert Meadow
Bar Harbor, ME 04609
Cell: (207) 266-6327
Lynne.Williams@legislature.maine.gov
Trenton
Rep. Nicole Grohoski
P.O. Box 1732
Ellsworth, ME 04605
Cell: (207) 358-8333
Nicole.Grohoski@legislature.maine.gov
Town governments
http://www.barharbormaine.gov
https://www.gouldsborotown.com
http://www.hancockmaine.org
http://www.lamoine-me.gov
http://sorrentomaine.blogspot.com/p/town-office-info.html
https://sullivanmaine.org
https://www.trentonme.com