By: Will Tuell
October 11, 2023
Machias Valley News Observer
Responding to the perceived environmental impact of large- scale commercial aquaculture and a feared loss of ocean-bottom, the Machiasport Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to move ahead with a moratorium on aquaculture Oct. 2, according to Town Clerk Marcia Hayward. The move comes after the board heard extensive testimony -- both for and against -- during a Sept. 25 public hearing, and gives the town up to six months to finalize an ordinance on future aquaculture activity in the seaside community.
“We had a lot of phone calls, the conference room was full [for the Sept. 25 public hearing], and both sides had an interesting conversation,” Hayward said in an interview Oct. 3. “They [Board of Selectmen] issued the moratorium last night [Oct. 2], and that’s for [up to] six months.”
Selectman Jeff Davis, a local lobster fisherman who supports the moratorium said in an interview Oct. 4 that he believes it is necessary because it gives the town “a place to start from” regarding aquaculture.
“Because without it we haven’t got a place to start from as far as any other land-based or any other aquaculture coming in,” he said. “It was an effort to give us six more months to give us what we thought we needed.”
“As the second largest employer in Washington County, we have serious concerns about the potential negative impact this ordinance will have on our Machiasport and area operations employees and their families and local small businesses in the community,” Frank Lank of Cooke Aquaculture, which has facilities on Small’s Point said in a letter to the selectmen following the hearing. “We are very concerned that the sections outlined in the moratorium ordinance will prohibit us from further investment in technological advancement and equipment; grow our operations and ultimately eliminate new population growth, local job opportunities, and reduce school attendance for the Machiasport area. Lastly, one of the most concerning, unintended consequences of this ordinance is that it has the potential to negatively impact people’s livelihoods and bring upon increased drug and alcohol substance use.”
Davis said that he and many other fishermen in the area are also concerned about the unknown environmental impact of aquaculture, a lack of answers from the state, and the potential loss of their livelihoods if the town does not reign in aquaculture now.
“People are concerned about the negative effects of aquaculture,” he said. “[One would be] too much nitrogen [into the water]. We don’t know long term because the state does not give us any of the overboard discharge [data]. We don’t see any of that stuff, we just know that there’s no eelgrass in the inner harbor, which there used to be, and now there isn’t. If our jobs as fishermen are somehow endangered by what they [aquaculture industry] do, we’d like to have some way of controlling what they do, so they don’t put us out of business too.”
Davis went on to say that town selectmen brought a moratorium extension to town meeting this summer, which was tabled by the voters, “but what they [voters] didn’t realize is that when they tabled that [extension] at town meeting, it killed it.” because under state law, moratoriums can only remain in place for up to six months unless they are extended before they expire. So, he explained, the selectmen are “starting over again” with the intention of getting the issue resolved once and for all. The town has until March 30, 2024 to pass an aquaculture ordinance before this latest moratorium lapses. It may also elect to extend the moratorium another 180 days if time is still an issue, however Davis seemed intent on resolving the matter over the winter.
“No, we’re going to get it done in this six month time frame,” he said when asked about the possibility of another extension. “So hopefully we get it done.”
Lank said in his letter to the town urging the board not to pursue a moratorium that doing so could have devastating consequences for the tax base, especially if a provision that would restrict Cooke Aquaculture’s ability to renew existing leases was part of the moratorium.
“In recent years we have invested millions to upgrade our Machiasport fish processing plant and are continually updating our technology and equipment to keep pace with the continual advancements in the seafood industry. We pay over $35,000 per year in commercial property taxes, which is used for the Town’s administrative work to maintain roads, provide fire services, and more. Without commercial taxation from industry such as ours, taxation pressure mounts on residential homeowners to make up shortfalls.”
Both Hayward and Davis said that before the selectmen voted to issue a new moratorium Oct. 2 that the board struck that provision regarding existing leases from the moratorium, so that it would, in effect, only apply to new or expanded leases for the next six months.
“Once they’ve agreed on an [aquaculture] ordinance, we’ll have to have a special town meeting,” Hayward added, adding that the town’s planning board has created a subcommittee to work on the new ordinance which also includes members of the public. Right now, she said, “They’re just trying to fine tune it.”
Article courtesy of Machias Valley News Observer. October 11, 2023.