March 8, 2022 — A grassroots group opposed to a proposed salmon farm in Frenchman Bay presented Gouldsboro selectmen last week with petitions signed by 100 local fishermen who also are opposed to the project.
Norway-based American Aquafarms proposes to lease two sites between Bar Harbor and Schoodic Peninsula to install 15 “closed pens” plus an operations barge at each site, with the goal of eventually producing 30,000 metric tons, or 66 million pounds, of salmon annually.
“This is going to take away more of our lobster fishing ground,” Jerry Potter of South Gouldsboro said in a news release.
Potter, 75, has fished in Frenchman Bay for his entire working life.
“We’re worried about disease,” he said. “And I’m very concerned it would pollute the bay and destroy the bay’s entire ecosystem.”