We hope this Protect Maine update finds you and your family well and looking for opportunities to get out on the water whether it’s to make a living, go recreational fishing, boating, or swimming.
We have a lot of work ahead of us to continue to protect Maine waters and keep foreign owned corporations from owning the Maine coast.
Summer – the good, bad, and the ugly
Protect Maine is doing some work on the water that has revealed the potential breeding ground for campylobacter in oysters. Campylobacter is what caused multiple illnesses from Maine oysters last summer.
See the Department of Marine Resources statements: https://www.maine.gov/dmr/fisheries/shellfish/campylobacter
While DMR failed to notify Maine residents about the occurrence initially, we are hearing from people who ingested the oysters and got sick. Campylobacter in oysters, consumed raw, in some cases can be traced back to birds.
It’s simple, birds roost on top of floating black plastic oyster cages and defecate through the cages. And we all know that oysters are filter feeders! We started taking a hard look at whether Maine is in the same position it was last year with the outbreak, and this is what we found at just one lease site.
In addition, top culture oysters are required to have bird deterrents to stop exactly what we saw on the water. See. Page 4 of this lease amendment application.
It does raise the question --- is DMR capable of monitoring the many, many leases they are approving?
Protect Maine filed a Freedom of Access Request on December 02, 2024, asking for the data showing which aquaculture sites were visited from 2021- 2024. Projected costs were up to $1,000. We are still awaiting that information.
Top floating aquaculture can create a number of unintended consequences.
Protect Maine has said it before and will say it again – oyster cages on the surface of the ocean have a unique set of problems.
• Concerns have been expressed about navigation in the Damariscotta River when EMT’s couldn’t get through for a rescue. Listen here:
• Concerns have been expressed about the potential effects of top floating aquaculture eating the food once shared with the wild harvest. A local wild harvester and small aquaculturist expressed his concerns at a DMR hearing.
• And there is a very real concern, evidenced by the number of illnesses last summer after consuming raw farm raised oysters that precautions are not being taken to stop birds from defecating on the oyster cages.
• Finally, here is a good example of why farmed oysters thrive in their more natural habitat on the bottom. The Chesapeake Bay which is making a comeback due to oyster reefs. Protect Maine is an advocate for bottom culture over top culture. Read more here.
Towns
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation is continuing to make good progress fighting industrial scale aquaculture. We have several additional towns who are now very close to passing moratoriums and ordinances on the Maine coast. As these communities decide to take control of their future we will update you with that progress.
A little summer fun
On another note – look for our “Sammy the salmon” at some of the state fairs this summer. Sammy will be there to hand out literature and talk about sea lice on farm-raised salmon. More to come
As always you spreading the word is tremendously helpful. If you can donate, that would be helpful as well.