Huge News: The American Aquafarms project appears to be dead in the water at least for now.
Island towns asked to ban corporate aquaculture
A nonprofit called Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation is asking the Island towns to pass a moratorium on industrial aquaculture. Gouldsboro has done it already to try to stymie a salmon farm in Frenchman Bay, and a handful of coastal communities are trying to block proposals for other large-scale fish and bivalve farms.
Aquaculture lease hearing draws strong opposition in Frenchman Bay
Rep. Williams' Letter to Governor Mills
The Cost of Aquaculture - More Oversight Needed
A recent article in The Guardian describes how a report shows that "salmon farming is wreaking ruin" on marine ecosystems. This has serious financial costs as well as environmental costs.
The article goes on to explain how salmon farms in Scotland have seen a 4x increase in fish mortality, with sea lice to blame for at least one-fifth of the deaths, and probably more. While producers bear the costs of things like fish mortality and treatments for sea lice, the report also shows that there is a wider impact on the world, particularly environmentally.
To the Editor: This is not small-scale aquaculture
Originally published in the Mount Desert Islander
To the Editor:
Acadia Aqua Farms. The name sounds so nice and cozy, as it was meant to. In reality, it is Acadia Aqua Industrial Park attempting to grab 48 acres – the equivalent of 36 football fields – in the heart of Frenchman Bay, making that acreage unusable for others.
Important Lessons
Dear Editor:
Last summer, some 116,000 salmon died mysteriously in the Canadian firm Cooke Aquaculture’s fish pens at Black Island, near Mount Desert Island. The same things that kill salmon kill other marine life, but state regulators don’t really know what killed all those fish. So the people of Maine will never know what collateral damage was done.
State 'bungles' salmon project, sowing doubts about its ability to regulate aquaculture industry
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.
Newsletter: Will you support PMFHF?
PMFHF is asking for your financial support in the upcoming year as we continue our important work to ensure that the coast of Maine which we all love is not sold to industrial-scale aquaculture.
World renowned author and anti-salmon farming activist Alexandra Morton to give special presentation for Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory
Frenchman Bay United, an umbrella organization representing five stakeholder groups – Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation, Friends of Eastern Bay, Friends of Frenchman Bay, Friends of Schoodic Peninsula and Save the Bay – is partnering with the MDI Biological Laboratory to bring Morton’s story and lessons learned to Maine.