This article was originally published in the Harpswell Anchor.
Written by J. Craig Anderson
Harpswell Aquaculture Working Group member Darcie Couture talks about a new map of commercial fishing activity during a meeting at the Town Office on Wednesday, Nov. 13. The group hopes to reduce conflicts between fishermen and state-issued aquaculture leases. (J. Craig Anderson photo)
Harpswell’s Aquaculture Working Group has created a new map of local commercial fishing areas, urging state officials to use it when evaluating applications for aquaculture leases to help avoid conflicts with fishermen.
However, a Maine Department of Marine Resources official told the group at a recent meeting that a locally generated map can’t be used as the sole basis for denying a lease application. Still, the official praised the effort and said the map would be helpful for planning and information purposes.
The Harpswell Select Board created the working group in May based on a recommendation from the town’s Marine Resources Committee.
The committee had sought a one-year moratorium on new aquaculture leases while it studied the effects of oyster farms and other aquaculture on wild shellfish, but the state Department of Marine Resources asserts exclusive jurisdiction over leases.
The working group’s mission is to gather input from various stakeholders, review state laws and policies regarding aquaculture, and make recommendations to the Select Board that promote equitable and sustainable water resource management. Its members include both fishermen and aquaculturists.
At a meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 13, working group members said they hope the state will refer to the new map when reviewing future applications, with the goal of avoiding areas commercial fishermen use.
The map was created with input from 20 licensed fishermen, including 16 lobstermen, and remains a work in progress, said working group member Darcie Couture, a local oyster farmer.
“Harpswell has been struggling with how to handle increasing pressure from aquaculture and make sure that it’s meshing alright with the existing heritage fisheries,” Couture said. “We thought it would be really helpful to lay out a map of where our commercial fisheries are.”
Amanda Ellis, director of the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ Aquaculture Division, attended the Nov. 13 meeting at the working group’s request. She said the department could consider the new map when evaluating lease applications but would need additional context, such as information about the fishermen who use a given area.
Ellis suggested that Paul Plummer, the town’s harbor master and marine resources administrator, show the map to lease applicants during the pre-application phase. Applicants for “standard” leases — the largest and longest-term leases — are required to meet with Plummer.
“There would be some point, depending upon the type of application, where they are talking to the town, and then the town could certainly use its discretion and point to this (map),” Ellis said.
Working group member Jerry Leeman III, a former trawler and CEO of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association, asked Ellis if the state would collaborate with Harpswell on creating new rules to require aquaculture lease applicants to honor local commercial fishing maps.
But Ellis said there would need to be changes in the law or regulations before the state could use a map like Harpswell’s as the legal basis for denying a lease application, or to require applicants for smaller leases to meet with local harbor masters.
“That structure doesn’t currently exist in law and rule,” she said. “If that’s something that someone was interested in pursuing, the avenue to do that would be to pursue either a statutory or regulatory change, depending on what you were thinking about doing.”
Harpswell currently has five standard aquaculture leases, along with three “experimental” leases, for smaller and shorter-term operations, and 100 “limited purpose” licenses designed for low-impact, small-scale operations, according to Plummer.
Working group member Matt Gilley, a commercial lobsterman, asked Ellis if the state would use Harpswell’s map as evidence in a lease evaluation, along with the required additional context. Ellis affirmed that such information would be considered along with other evidence.
Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, was among the meeting’s attendees. He said the new map is significant because it shifts the burden of proof onto lease applicants that their farm wouldn’t disrupt existing fisheries.
“If it’s on a map, it becomes factual,” he said, adding that keeping the map accurate and up to date will be critical to maintaining its credibility.
Belle suggested the map could help aquaculturists and fishermen team up against wealthy landowners who seek to prevent leases in unfished areas simply because they don’t want to look at them. He said gentrification, not aquaculture, is the working waterfront’s biggest threat.
Bailey Bowden, a consultant for Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage, also attended the meeting. Bowden said his group opposes large, industrial-scale aquaculture projects in Maine.
He questioned the fast pace at which Maine has been approving aquaculture leases, saying it doesn’t leave enough time to study their effects on ecosystems and traditional fishing.
“There doesn’t seem to be much caution when it comes to aquaculture,” he said.