Lubec Residents Push Back on Industrial Scale Finfish Farming

While Lubec residents earlier this month narrowly adopted a local aquaculture ordinance in response to two salmon farm lease renewal requests, whether the ordinance will be legally binding and whether the town has the capacity to administer it are questions that have not yet been determined. Voters approved the ordinance 94 to 81 at the August 6 annual town meeting that drew a large crowd. The close vote may be partly reflective of changing demographics in the Quoddy area, which for decades has been fairly accepting of fish farming.

Ecological Consequences of Oysters Aquaculture

The source, an article from the Journal of Fisheries & Livestock Production, examines the ecological repercussions of oyster cultivation, an extensive global industry employing various techniques. It highlights how improper farm design or management can lead to environmental harm, despite the economic benefits of oyster farming. The paper reviews several negative impacts, including competition for phytoplankton, alterations in seabed topography due to biodeposition, the introduction of invasive species and diseases, adverse effects on the benthos, and habitat modification impacting seabirds. Ultimately, the article proposes solutions such as proper site selection, effective farm management, integrated culture methods, and robust pest and disease control to mitigate these environmental challenges and promote sustainable oyster farming practices.

Maine’s ocean potential is vast if science leads the conversation

Making a living on Maine’s ocean is indeed a tough job. Just ask anyone in the traditional fisheries — lobstermen and women, clammers, and marine harvesters of all sorts. It’s dirty, physical work. 

The ocean is the next battleground for so many projects including large-scale industrial aquaculture, offshore wind, and climate change. Embedded in all these conversations is what we want to produce and how we want to do it in our oceans. What are the impacts from any and all of these proposed projects? Maine likes to create task forces, but rarely does it let science or long-term data reviewed by marine industry experts – meaning those people who make their living on the water, lead its decision making.

June 2025 Update

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. 

A Family Oyster Farm is Caught in a Bitter Fight Over Maine’s Waters

Business grew quickly after Dan Devereaux and Doug Niven started their oyster farm in Brunswick a decade ago. They sold 10,000 oysters in their first season. Three years later, they were growing 25,000 a year to sell at the local farmers market, with so much demand they aimed to grow them by the millions in the coming years.

Today, Mere Point Oyster Co. employs 10 people year-round and 10 more in the summer, shipping its products to high-end, award-winning restaurants.

The farm has become a shining example of what Maine’s aquaculture industry says it can do for the state. With approval from state regulators, the family-run business has expanded and provided new economic opportunities, demonstrating what it says is a responsible alternative way to sustainably raise food on Maine’s coast.

But the operation has been controversial almost from the start, taking fire from neighboring landowners and wild seafood harvesters who have expressed concern about its impact on the environment and the ability of vessels to navigate through its growing areas, as well as what they characterize as the industrialization of the ocean.

Another View on Aquaculture Conflicts

Yes, please, let’s have an honest conversation about aquaculture (as the op-ed by Benjamin Ford of the law firm Archipelago argued in the April/May issue of The Working Waterfront).

Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage agrees—it’s time to have an honest conversation about aquaculture, so everyone benefits. It’s essential to everyone who makes a living on the water, everyone who recreates on the water, and everyone who is part of the wild harvest and small aquaculture community.

An honest conversation about aquaculture has been something Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation has been advocating since its inception. There are, however, roadblocks with those who want only their agenda and are unwilling to listen or change.

If we are going to get real, neither the Maine Aquaculture Association nor the lawyer who represents large aquaculture projects want to have a conversation about what is best for all Maine stakeholders, reducing aquaculture conflicts and supporting local town decision making.

Federal Court Strikes Down Unlawful Permit Allowing Industrial Fish Farming in Ocean Waters

Seattle, Washington— Today, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington vacated, or set aside as unlawful, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' approval of Nationwide Permit 56 (NWP 56), a 2021 decision authorizing industrial finfish aquaculture structures in federal ocean waters for the first time across the country. In October 2024, after several years of litigation the Court ruled that the Corps had violated several core environmental laws in approving NWP 56, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Rivers and Harbors Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. Following further remedy briefing, today's decision ordered that based on those violations of law the permit is vacated.

"This is a crucial victory in the battle for the future of our oceans," said George Kimbrell, legal director for Center for Food Safety and counsel for the plaintiffs. "We are gratified that the Court has ordered that NWP 56 is null and void. Industrial aquaculture has an abysmal track record globally of damaging the environment and local communities. It has no place in U.S. ocean waters."

Cooke is not minding its Maine pens

Forty-three years ago, anglers from five fish and game clubs in Washington County formed the Downeast Salmon Federation. Today DSF employs 12 staff and conducts a variety of conservation activities to recover all species of sea-run fish in Maine.

Over the years, DSF has taken positions on many fisheries, land use, and watershed management matters. As part of our position on the practice of farmed salmon aquaculture in our coastal waters, we are issuing a call to action.

This comes after close examination of the facts and the documented impacts.

As with other industries in the region that have the potential to impact wild fish, privately operated salmon farms must be subject to careful and ongoing review. It is well understood that activities in Maine’s waters must be regulated to some extent if the natural bounty of the sea, in the form of wild fish, is to continue to provide for current and future generations.

Recently, new evidence has been brought to light showing that Cooke Aquaculture, the sole operator of all salmon farms in Maine, has again violated its Maine Department of Environmental Protection permits. This company has repeatedly demonstrated an unwillingness to play by the rule of law.