October 22, 2019 — The state has granted two submerged land leases to Whole Oceans LLC, which will allow the Portland-based aquaculture company to begin underwater work on a salmon farm at the former Verso Paper mill site in Bucksport.
While the company owns the 104-acre site, the state owns the adjacent submerged land, so the leases are necessary for Whole Oceans to begin underwater work on the site. The leases, administered by the state Bureau of Parks and Lands, allow existing structures, like outfall and intake pipe, below the mean water line to be maintained and repaired.
The leases are in effect for the next 25 years, and under state law can be renewed.
Whole Oceans has a lease on 4,488 square feet of riprap along the shore and a little more for an outfall pipe. The total area of the submerged lands lease for While Oceans is 6,348 square feet, with some of that owned jointly with Bucksport Mill LLC. That portion covers a second outfall pipe that is used by both entities, according to Jim Britt, spokesman for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, which oversees the bureau.