(Portland, Maine) - Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation is announcing Jon Lewis, the former Director of Maine’s Aquaculture Division is joining PMFHF’s efforts to protect the ocean.
Lewis said, “I am joining this effort because too many aquaculture leases are being approved without the ability to adequately oversee and monitor those leases. Lease applications are growing quickly in both number and acreage requested which is leading to increased conflict along the Maine coastline.”
(Portland, Maine) – Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation (PMFHF) has been working with lobstermen and more recently small aquaculturists to protect Maine’s coast from industrialized aquaculture.
PMFHF will not support a project targeted for Frenchman Bay in Gouldsboro. The American Aquafarms project calls for two in water salmon aquaculture sites. Zach Piper, who lobsters in the area and has been outspoken around the issue, noted in a recent Bangor Daily News letter to the editor, “I hope before anything moves forward, that the Department of Marine Resources denies this lease. We need to take a hard look at this company and all the large-scale aquaculture rules that have been put in place so that out-of-state and out-of-country interests don’t own one of Maine’s greatest treasurers: our coast.”
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation is working on legislation to protect Maine’s waters for the heritage fisheries and those who recreate on the water. As many of you know, aquaculture leases of up to 1,000 acres can be held by an individual, business or corporation. Leases are still being approved at rate of 95%. At the heart of all of this is the indisputable fact that the ocean is a public resource in public trust and one industry should not, through its lobbying efforts, control this public trust. When the bill has a number we will forward it to you.
I am a young fisherman making my living for the last decade in Frenchman’s Bay. I recently attended a hearing by American Aquafarms, which is deceptive with its name for a starting point. The areas this Norwegian-backed company is proposing to turn into industrial aquaculture with two 50-plus acre leases for large fish pens, is heavily fished by lobstermen and has been for years. I am not a fan of foreign corporations making their money at the expense of Maine people.
Frenchman Bay sits at the foot of Acadia National Park. It is a beautiful and special place in Maine.
Now it also is a targeted site for fin-fish in-water aquaculture and there are so many questions that revolve around this potential lease which would be owned by a Norwegian company. American Aquaculture, funded through European investors, want to raise salmon.
In many ways, Rock Alley is a typical Maine lobsterman whose family has pulled traps in the waters off Jonesport and Beals Island for five generations. But Rock also describes himself as a fiercely independent person who will be there for his lobster industry whenever it is threatened.
As the president of the Maine Lobstering Union and the Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation, Rock, 63, spends almost as much time fishing as he does when he advocates for his fellow lobstermen and lobsterwomen in Augusta. “I’m not afraid to stand up to people.”
CHEBEAGUE ISLAND, Maine — A concert on the ocean off Chebeague Island on Sunday. The cause? Maine's lobster industry. The goal is to raise money for lobstermen who are hurting because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some fishermen are still working, but others are not. Market prices for lobster: "They're low. They're some of the lowest we've seen in the last decade," Crystal Canney with the Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation said.
Lobstermen in Maine have been hit hard by Covid-19. A concert on the ocean this weekend is planned to help.
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation (PMFHF) is holding a live concert on the ocean to raise money for Maine lobstermen on Sunday, August 02. The Covid relief fundraiser will be matched dollar for dollar up to $25,000 by the foundation.