While the U.S. Trump administration is trying to push large-scale industrial aquaculture, communities in Maine are pushing back.
Numerous communities in the state have signed a moratorium on industrial scale aquaculture. The moratorium notes that developers have expressed an interest in developing industrial-scale aquaculture within Maine’s coastal waters, “which is on a scale larger than previously achieved in North America.” It puts a hold of 180 days on any potential development while the town considers the legal, social and environmental ramifications.
The kind of development they’re talking about, the moratorium said, would put undo pressure on communities’ infrastructure and the local environment and are not in alignment with the state’s aquaculture leasing statutes and rule.
“As a result, the siting, construction, and operation of Industrial-Scale Aquaculture Development within the Town has the potential to pose a serious threat to the health, safety, and welfare of the Town and its residents and visitors,” the moratorium said. Additionally, it risks “the displacement of traditional public and commercial uses from Maine’s coastal waters, including lobstering and other heritage fisheries, water-based recreation, and other public trust uses.”
Said Lubec resident John Delaney who helped lead efforts to enact an ordinance: “The people of Lubec have sent a clear message on their thoughts about large-scale aquaculture sites in our local waters. The downsides of coastal salmon farms have been well documented.”
So far, according to the organization Protect Maine, nine communities have signed the document. In an article in the Booth Bay Register. Afterward some communities created more permanent ordinances. The town of Beals voted in a permanent ordinance that regulates and controls industrial scale finfish and other types of aquaculture operations ‘to ensure that Beals waters stay clean and that traditional fishermen do not lose access to their waters.’
Cushing Harbormaster Austin Donaghy said, “The town and the working waterfront feels there needs to be some constraints around industrial scale aquaculture. We are watching what is happening in the Damariscotta River where leases are now being sold to foreign companies. Our community wants a say in what goes in our waters.”
