Dear Commissioner Keliher:
Our groups represent a considerable number of lobstermen, other fishermen, recreational boaters, and those who live and work along the water both year-round and seasonally. We understand that there was a large die-off of farm raised salmon at the Cooke Aquaculture project off Black Island recently and have many questions that we feel need to be addressed. We remain concerned about DMR’s approval and monitoring process for leases within the state.
Federal fisheries regulators on Tuesday announced new rules for the northeast lobster industry. The rules, which are aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales, are more stringent and extensive than lobstermen and state officials had expected.
After long hours hauling traps off the coast of South Thomaston on Wednesday, Barry Baudanza hadn’t had the chance to fully absorb all the changes headed his way after federal officials announced new rules governing the lobster industry the day before, but he knew one thing right off the bat: “This was the worst-case scenario.”
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation calls on state and federal authorities to do all they can to change the decision handed down by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan today. The decision will close large parts of the Gulf of Maine to lobstering from Mt. Desert Island to Casco Bay from October to January.
More than 125 boats chugged across Frenchman Bay on Sunday to protest plans by American Aquafarms to place an industrial salmon farm in the bay off the coast of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.
Organizers of the “Save the Bay” flotilla said it demonstrates the depth of opposition to the proposed salmon farm. The parade of boats included working lobster boats as well as pleasure craft.
Originally published in The Boston Globe
I was chairman of a committee in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, which fought against the creation of a large fish farm in Linekin Bay.
Industrial aquaculture or bust? There’s a third, better option for Maine (“Lobsters are Vanishing. Can a Maine Way of Life Endure?” July 25). This story erroneously suggests that the state must either transfer public wealth — the ocean commons — to the aquaculture industry, or let its economy crumble.
Originally published in the Bangor Daily News
The American Aquafarms proposal to put an immense salmon farm near Acadia National Park adds an ironic twist to the term NIMBY — not in my backyard. In this case it applies to the developer, not the opponents.