The Maine Department of Marine Resources is cautioning coastal Maine towns to steer clear of state waters in their efforts to craft rules and standards to gain greater control over industrial-scale finfish farming on land or in the ocean. The state agency recently reiterated that it has “exclusive” authority to grant leases for fish farming in the state waters and part of the intertidal zone and asked to review any draft ordinances before they are put to a town vote.

Canada-based Cooke Inc. announced on 15 August that the company has reached an agreement with Tassal Group Limited to purchase the Australia-based aquaculture company.

“From a business perspective, Maine’s big selling point is a relatively clean environment and all of this diminishes that,” Don Kleiner, a Master Maine Guide who operates Maine Outdoors in Union, said of the discovery of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in deer, fish and other wildlife.

Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation added the selectboard of Roque Bluffs to its list of community concerned about the lax rules and regulations around industrial scale aquaculture along the Maine coast. Selectmen voted unanimously this month to adopt the moratorium until the community can develop its own ordinance.

“What we’re seeing is a fundamental transformation of the fishing industry,” said Seth Macinko, a former fisherman who’s now an associate professor of marine affairs at the University of Rhode Island. “Labor is getting squeezed and coastal communities are paying the price.”

The Department of Marine Resources this week renewed a 20-year lease for Maine’s only finfish farming operator, and, in doing so, drew attention to its own weak enforcement regulations.

BAR HARBOR — American Aquafarms has appealed a recent decision by the Maine Department of Marine Resources to terminate two lease applications for a proposed salmon farm in Frenchman Bay.

In less than 10 minutes Monday night, the handful of voters at Cutler’s special town meeting passed a moratorium on industrial-scale aquaculture, halting any local approvals on large aquaculture projects for the next 180 days.

As more and more marine interests demand space on Maine’s coastline, the question arises of how to govern and manage all of these interests to best ensure that the waterfront has room for everyone and can be used sustainably.

At their town meetings on June 27, residents of Machiasport and Cutler will consider placing a 180-day moratorium on industrial-scale aquaculture developments, in order to then consider the creation of municipal aquaculture ordinances.