“What we’re seeing is a fundamental transformation of the fishing industry,” said Seth Macinko, a former fisherman who’s now an associate professor of marine affairs at the University of Rhode Island. “Labor is getting squeezed and coastal communities are paying the price.”

The Department of Marine Resources this week renewed a 20-year lease for Maine’s only finfish farming operator, and, in doing so, drew attention to its own weak enforcement regulations.

BAR HARBOR — American Aquafarms has appealed a recent decision by the Maine Department of Marine Resources to terminate two lease applications for a proposed salmon farm in Frenchman Bay.

In less than 10 minutes Monday night, the handful of voters at Cutler’s special town meeting passed a moratorium on industrial-scale aquaculture, halting any local approvals on large aquaculture projects for the next 180 days.

As more and more marine interests demand space on Maine’s coastline, the question arises of how to govern and manage all of these interests to best ensure that the waterfront has room for everyone and can be used sustainably.

At their town meetings on June 27, residents of Machiasport and Cutler will consider placing a 180-day moratorium on industrial-scale aquaculture developments, in order to then consider the creation of municipal aquaculture ordinances.

Letter calls into question whether aquaculture roadmap, in part directed by the Maine Aquaculture Association, is simply a promotional tool for large scale industrial aquaculture.

Maine's seafood haul in 2021 reached an all-time high value of $891 million.

According to recently updated data from the Maine Department of Marine Resources, 2021 was the most valuable year in the history of Maine's lobster fishery.

East Coast Seafood Group’s Chief Executive Officer, William Blais, confirmed late Friday that the company had sold to American Aquafarms its Maine Fair Trade Lobster property in the Gouldsboro village of Prospect Harbor.