Originally published in The Quietside Journal by Lincoln Millstein
CUTLER, Maine, Dec. 18, 2021 - Mikael Roenes, the Norwegian who wants to build two massive fish farms in Frenchman Bay, must be licking his chops.
The state of Maine showed once again this week its ineptitude at enforcing oversight of the burgeoning aquaculture industry. The Department of Marine Resources announced it was backing out of a wild salmon restoration project intended as a disciplinary action for violations by Cooke Seafood, which has the only in-water fish farm permit in Maine.
Two years ago the state came up with a novel way to discipline Cooke for, among multiple violations identified by state regulators, exceeding fish density limits, failure to provide complete annual stocking notices on time and failure to properly sample for sulfides in facilities it operates off the coast of Maine.
Its “consent agreement” called for $156,000 from Cooke to fund a new, state-led program that would have raised 900 native Atlantic salmon in ocean net pens in Franklin, then deliver them to the Machias River when they reached adulthood.
The project was modeled after a successful one in Canada’s Upper Salmon River, also funded by Cooke. Fundy Salmon Recovery (FSR) released more than 600 endangered Atlantic salmon into the Upper Salmon River in Fundy National Park in 2018.
Except this is Maine where enforcement is, well, not the highest priority.
It was a sketchy plan from the start where the state played the role of licensor and licensee. It called for the DMR to lease the acres of water needed and then give itself a permit. Cooke would have managed the herding of the salmon up the river. With the Cutler project canceled, Cooke is now out of the penalty box.
QSJ has reported other soft stances on enforcement by the DMR.
On Nov. 27 QSJ unveiled emails of a high ranking DMR official who decided not to pursue underwater videos of the die-off of 116,000 salmon at Cooke’s Black Island fish farm last summer so that DMR wouldn’t have to investigate it further.
Marcy Nelson, chief of aquaculture at DMR, wrote, “Cooke is not collecting videos for us at this time. Although we have the authority to ask for videos, there was concern in the past about it being contrary to the MEPDES permit should we start collecting that information and potentially having to then take action.”
In other words, DMR would rather not know about potential violations because it might have to do its job.
QSJ recently obtained another email showing the DMR commissioner out of the loop for almost 10 days after the massive die-off. It wasn’t until the manager of the boat assigned to clean up the dead fish alerted Patrick Keliher on Aug. 23 did he learn of the news. The following is a scan of the actual email exchange.
View email in the original article here
“DMR has a huge void in its leadership,” said Crystal Canney, executive director of Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation. “DMR was about to approve its own lease for salmon net pen aquaculture. Thankfully, the town of Cutler stopped it. This is a significant problem for the state. It's time for the Governor to take a hard look at industrial scale aquaculture leases like the one proposed for Frenchman Bay. How could a project of that scale possibly be handled by DMR leadership if the commissioner couldn’t even handle a 4-acre salmon aquaculture restoration project?”
The state certainly postured as a tough hombre when it announced in 2019 that staff inspections at multiple Cooke facilities found Cooke violated the terms of its permit. It then imposed the stocking of wild salmon at Cutler by Cooke as a disciplinary action.
Except that DMR did virtually no advance work at this fishing village (population 505) at the head of the Machias River to make sure things were copacetic.
Indeed they were not. Cutler residents had concerns about the impact on its incumbent fisheries, navigation, aesthetics and jurisdictional authority. Cutler administrator Teresa Bragg said despite multiple overtures, the DMR was not responsive.
Then DMR representatives showed up on Dec. 9, took questions, and on Dec. 13, it made the decision to close the project.
Jeff Nichols, DMR spokesman, stated, “After meeting with Cutler’s Select Board and Harbormasters on Thursday, December 9th, the DMR Bureau of Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat made the decision to withdraw its application. This meeting was not required per regulation, but as the applicant, the DMR Bureau of Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat is committed to ensuring the understanding and support of stakeholders, especially those who live and work near a proposed site. During the meeting, the DMR Bureau of Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat staff learned that, while the community was supportive of the approach to restoring Atlantic salmon intended by the proposed lease, concerns included the impact on fishing near the proposed site and the use of a nearby boat launch to manage the net pens, which could impact use by local fishermen. As a result of the input received during the meeting, the Bureau has withdrawn its application and is considering options for the future of this project.”
So no one from the state anticipated these concerns before the state attorney general and the Department of Environmental Protection entered into its consent agreement with Cooke and issued its public statement in 2019?
Where does that leave us?
“This proposed experimental lease was intended to cultivate Atlantic salmon as part of the Bureau’s Salmon for Maine’s River project to support restoration of this endangered species,” Nichols replied. “DMR remains committed to this project and will continue to pursue conservation aquaculture to raise Atlantic salmon in the marine environment. At this point, it is too early to say exactly what the Bureau’s plans are for sustaining this project however we will be reviewing options in the near future.”
In other words the project is dead.
Dwayne Shaw of the Downeast Salmon Federation who endorsed the project on behalf of indigenous peoples with a stake on preserving wild salmon, said the state “bungled the project.”
He is a stakeholder who watched the train wreck from the beginning. He was kept in the dark about the wild salmon in the pens off Franklin, Maine and whether they will be euthanized. Like Cutler, he feels like he’s uninformed.
Meanwhile, Cooke is a free bird, having paid its fine and no longer encumbered.
Shaw raised the question of whether these consent agreements are the best instruments for enforcement.
As part of the project the state received a $1 million grant from the federal government as part of its “sea run” program. About $100,000 of that has been spent, Cutler officials were told.
“The Bureau is doing an accounting of money spent to-date and will work with funders to identify a path forward,” Nichols said.
Meanwhile, Mikael Roenes, a convicted felon who is not unfamiliar with the dark alleys of rules-bending, is awaiting his application for a 20-year permit to operate two massive salmon fish pens in Frenchman Bay. He wants the chance to run a business here. Wonder how many others are looking at the state of Maine with its dim light of enforcement?