The State of Maine is shopping its coastal towns to industrial fish farms, without the knowledge of local officials.

Center for Food Safety (CFS), on behalf of itself and nine conservation, tribal, and fishing organizations, filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington yesterday challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' nationwide permit 56, which authorizes industrial finfish aquaculture structures in state and federal ocean waters around the country.

Aquaculture opponents in Maine celebrated earlier this year when they helped convince state officials to block a proposed industrial fish farm in the waters of Frenchman Bay, right next to Acadia National Park.

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.