Protect Maine has several news updates and some initiatives we will be rolling out through the remainder of the year.
Recently, we have had several inquiries about the increasing number of aquaculture leases people are seeing along the Maine coast. We have produced this chart which shows the growth from 2005 - 2025. The bottom line is - in that time frame 97% of the leases are approved at the Department of Marine Resources:
CYMI – Cushing
The town of Cushing voted in an aquaculture ordinance in March. The vote was
186-99. Protect Maine consulted when asked about the ordinance which was led by citizens in the community. As you know, Protect Maine supports 10 five-acre leases for a total of 50 acres. That said, we also strongly believe that each community has a right to decide what goes in their waters. In this case, Cushing chose ½ an acre. Some towns have chosen larger acreage than what Protect Maine recommends, and some have chosen less. Nine communities now have aquaculture ordinances.
ICYMI – South Bristol
Residents in South Bristol voted down a similar ordinance led by citizens in town who had concerns about what is happening in the Damariscotta River. While the ordinance didn’t pass, the concerns continue. And here’s why. Mook Sea Farm’s assets were recently sold to a Canadian pension fund with net assets of over $279 billion; it’s not a small organization but a big foreign company. A foreign company that now has its footprint in Maine waters. As we watch the consolidation of oyster and other bivalve aquaculture, it has a very familiar ring to it. It is reminiscent of the consolidation of the Cooke Aquaculture salmon pens in the Downeast area of Maine.
We asked our attorney to weigh in on what this could mean for the state:
“We are witnessing the quiet transformation of Maine’s coastal waters from a shared public trust into a privately controlled asset class. This is a familiar trend: Maine has long lived with the legacy of resource extraction by outside interests, from timber to minerals to groundfish: In every instance, local resources are extracted for distant profit, while the costs are borne by the locals who depend on these resources. When control of our coastal waters and marine resources shifts to corporate interests, we risk losing not only our economic independence, but our clean water and our tradition of local stewardship of a shared resource.”
- Aga Dixon, Drummond Woodsum.
ICYMI – Lubec
Cooke Aquaculture in the News for hitting the Lubec Pier
A U.S. Coast Guard investigation is underway regarding a pier collision in Lubec by Cooke Aquaculture. The pier, which was constructed with federal grant money, is now being repaired again only weeks after it was finished. To read more about the collision you can go here:
ICYMI -Machiasport
Cooke Aquaculture in the news for diesel fuel spill
In early April, Protect Maine learned of a diesel fuel spill on Finn Beach. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is now looking at the diesel spill from a Cooke Aquaculture boat. You can read more here. Protect Maine has filed a Freedom of Access request with DEP.
Protect Maine Updates:
Protect Maine has updated its ordinance in conjunction with lessons learned in other towns. To read the updated ordinance click here.
Beginning Sept. 1, Protect Maine will start an education series involving those who are fighting the good fight against industrial scale aquaculture.
In each newsletter, we will be providing links to concerning issues around industrial scale aquaculture. This week we are highlighting Florfenicol. This is a drug that has been banned in Tasmania but is still approved by the Department of Environmental Protection for use in Maine’s salmon net pens. The headline from The Guardian says it all:
“Regulator suspends permit due to ‘unacceptable risk’ antibiotic poses to other species …”
Read the article here: The article.
Florfenicol approval:
See all the drugs approved for use in salmon net pens in Protect Maine’s FOAA section here: DEP APPROVALS (page 2 & 3)
As always, we can only do this work with support from all of you. Please consider donating today at: https://www.protectmaine.com/donate