PMFHF Newsletter - Update on Opposition to American Aquafarms in Frenchman Bay

Good Afternoon,

Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation is actively working with 4 different groups in Frenchman Bay around opposing a large-scale aquaculture project.  As you may be aware, there is a proposal for two aquaculture leases totaling more than a hundred acres for in-water salmon pens at the foot of Acadia National Park. American Aquafarms, a company with Norwegian investors, is in the process of submitting its application to the Department of Marine Resources. The application to the Department of Environmental Protection is also in process because the project requires a discharge permit. We have been working with the lobstering community and others who are deeply concerned that the rules and regulations in Maine have set the table for industrialized large-scale aquaculture projects. Protect Maine has been talking about this for two years, and now it's coming to fruition. We know this won't be the last large-scale aquaculture project that wants to take advantage of Maine's clean, cold waters.

The following email was put together by the different groups opposing the Frenchman Bay project and we are a signatory on the bottom. It is a good document to let you know how you can be involved.  We need people to let elected officials know that it's not okay to sell Maine's oceans and large-scale aquaculture projects will hurt small aquaculturists, lobstermen and women and those who recreate along the coast. 

Best,
Crystal 

Crystal Canney
Executive Director & Spokesperson
Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation 
protectmaine@gmail.com
207-615-5968



Frenchman Bay United 

An update on the opposition to American Aquafarms

May 12, 2021

The opposition to American Aquafarms’ plans to build a massive industrial salmon farm in Frenchman Bay is growing larger by the day. We’ve got websites, videos, signs and lots more in the works. For now, here is a quick update on what is going on and how you can help.

Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

Thanks to everyone who participated in the “public informational meeting” on May 6th. Although the company wouldn’t let us see each other (we now know 173 people signed in), lots of good questions were asked and no one in the three-hour meeting expressed support for the project. 

What’s next?

  • Once American Aquafarms submits its wastewater discharge applications to the DEP, there will be a public comment period. We’ll let you know when that starts and ends.

  • Once the wastewater discharge application is accepted by DEP for processing, the public will have 20 days to request a public hearing, which is held at the discretion of the DEP. We need to let the DEP know that a public hearing is absolutely needed!

Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR)

American Aquafarms submitted its draft application to lease 120 acres in Frenchman Bay to the DEP in early March. The draft application still has not been posted on the DMR website, which means that DMR staff have not been able to review it or it has not yet been accepted.

What’s next?

  • Once the draft lease application has been accepted, the company will be required to host a “scoping session”, similar to the DEP’s public informational session, to explain the application and take questions. After that, the company will finalize its lease application and a public comment period will open. Stay tuned.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

The USACE must grant a permit allowing the company to place its massive pens and other structures in the waters of the bay. It also coordinates with other federal agencies that have an interest in the project, such as the National Park Service due to the proximity to Acadia.

There hasn’t been any public activity yet, but many individuals and groups have already written to the Corps to request a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), a comprehensive review that outlines the full impact of a proposed project on its surrounding environment. Unlike permits that look at individual impacts, an EIS evaluates the combined influences of a project.

Ways you can help

While the permitting process is getting underway, there are many ways to help:

  • Make sure you participate in all upcoming “scoping sessions” and public hearings.

  • Provide written comments on all applications once they are filed.

  • Write your state legislators, Governor Mills, Maine’s Congressional delegation and local selectmen. Your voice matters!

  • Write letters to the editor of local and statewide newspapers.

  • Talk to friends and neighbors.

  • Follow us on social media and share with your networks.

  • Consider making a donation to support this effort.

As a reminder, here are some of the key reasons why this project is bad for Maine and our bay:

It will end the balance that has existed for generations among the many users of the bay: the dozens of people who fish for lobsters, scallops and mussels; clammers; mussel, oyster and kelp farmers; year-round and seasonal residents; tourists and tourism businesses; researchers and educators; and recreational boaters. That balance and the health of the bay is now threatened.

It will take prime fishing ground from lobstermen and impact other fisheries, like scallops, shrimp and mussels.

This industrial development has no place in the waters off Acadia National Park, a key driver of Maine’s tourism economy and a crown jewel of the national park system. 

The company will be using experimental semi-closed pens that have never been used on a scale this large anywhere in the world. They could never build a project this large or pack fish so densely in pens in their home country of Norway. So, why here?

There will be water pollution from billions of gallons of effluent produced daily by fish waste and feed, more than 2000 times the effluent from Bar Harbor’s waste treatment plant.

There will be air and noise pollution from 40 diesel generators burning 3-4 million gallons of diesel fuel annually to power pumps and lights, plus light pollution at night from the 30 illuminated pens. A land-based incinerator will burn the sludge biproducts.

The likelihood of fish escapes, die-offs and disease that will impact other species and organisms.

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

News media

Bangor Daily News
https://bangordailynews.com/submit/

Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
https://www.pressherald.com/reader-services/letters-editor/

The Ellsworth American
news@ellsworthamerican.com
(350-word limit for letters)

Mount Desert Islander
news@mdislander.com 
(350-word limit for letters; 500 for op-eds)