Potential environmental and economic impacts form the basis of a debate over how best to regulate kelp farming.

A small Hancock County town could join a growing number of municipalities along Maine’s coast that have enacted moratoriums on large-scale aquaculture operations.

In Maine, aquaculture enterprises are increasing faster than some prefer. In 2018, Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation began working to slow down what it believed was an industry expanding too fast. The group is now attempting to curb aquaculture expansion by seeking moratoriums from municipalities.

Roughly 200 people, including Gov. Mills and most of Maine's congressional delegation, attended a hearing in Portland to tell federal officials that proposed new regulations would do little to protect endangered right whales.

Based on the risks to water quality and sea life, an application for two 60-acre salmon farms off Bar Harbor should be rejected.

A US District Court judge in Washington, D.C., handed a victory Thursday to environmental groups and rejected a challenge to federal rules to protect North Atlantic right whales that was brought by New England lobstermen, who argued the requirements go too far and are based on flawed data, court records show.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources is cautioning coastal Maine towns to steer clear of state waters in their efforts to craft rules and standards to gain greater control over industrial-scale finfish farming on land or in the ocean. The state agency recently reiterated that it has “exclusive” authority to grant leases for fish farming in the state waters and part of the intertidal zone and asked to review any draft ordinances before they are put to a town vote.

Canada-based Cooke Inc. announced on 15 August that the company has reached an agreement with Tassal Group Limited to purchase the Australia-based aquaculture company.

“From a business perspective, Maine’s big selling point is a relatively clean environment and all of this diminishes that,” Don Kleiner, a Master Maine Guide who operates Maine Outdoors in Union, said of the discovery of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in deer, fish and other wildlife.

Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation added the selectboard of Roque Bluffs to its list of community concerned about the lax rules and regulations around industrial scale aquaculture along the Maine coast. Selectmen voted unanimously this month to adopt the moratorium until the community can develop its own ordinance.