Saving Seafood

Aquaculture proponents fly in to Washington DC to push for AQUAA Act

April 27, 2022 — Proponents of expanding America’s aquaculture industry began a three-day meeting with lawmakers and their aides in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, 26 April, in hopes of drumming up more support for a bill to create more opportunities for offshore fish farms.

The fly-in sponsored by industry coalition group Stronger America Through Seafood is the first since the COVID-19 pandemic began more than two years ago. The event is drawing representatives from a wide array of companies, including restaurant chain Red Lobster and animal feed producer Cargill.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

AquaBounty salmon eggs cited as reason for Maine’s rejection of American Aquafarms permit

April 22, 2022 — The Department of Marine Resources (DMR) in the U.S. state of Maine rejected American Aquafarms permit application for a closed-net salmon farm specifically because its source for eggs – AquaBounty’s hatchery in Newfoundland, Canada – did not meet the state’s criteria for a qualified source.

According to DMR spokesperson Edward Hardy, the agency “terminated the applications of American Aquafarms after the company failed to fulfill its legal obligation to demonstrate an available source of fish to be cultivated at its proposed salmon farms in Frenchman Bay.”

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

American Aquafarms loses bid for essential lease

April 21, 2022 — American Aquafarms’ planned aquaculture project in Gouldsboro, Maine, U.S.A. hit a major setback as the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) decided it would no longer process the company’s lease applications.

American Aquafarms has been working to create a closed net-pen salmon farm in Frenchman’s Bay in Maine. To that end, the company purchased the former East Coast lobster facility in Gouldsboro and named Keith Decker as its CEO as the company negotiated the permit process for its farm.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

New report sets broad goals for Maine’s aquaculture industry in the next decade

April 15, 2022 — In the last 8 years, Maine’s aquaculture harvest has more than doubled in volume and in value, and some predict that the state’s aquaculture exports could be worth as much as $800 million by 2025. A new report is recommending how that growth should be managed over the next decade. But critics say it’s too focused on expanding the industry, and gives short shift to other users of the ocean commons or the ecosystems that they all depend on.

The document sets broad goals for aquaculture’s next decade in Maine, starting with streamlined permitting for public water leases that “balances the rights of the applicant and the public.

And it identifies the potential costs of specific actions: $100,000, for instance, to support a state employee who would help applicants get through the permitting process and engage with host communities, $100,000 to integrate aquaculture into K-12 education, and a quarter million dollars to create a Maine Seafood Council to market both farmed and wild-caught seafood.

“It’s one tool that can be used along with the many tools the state has in thinking about the future,” said Gayle Zydlewski, who directs Maine Sea Grant, a federal-state program housed at the University of Maine that led a collaborative effort to create the so-called Maine Aquaculture Roadmap.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Gouldsboro considers aquaculture licensing ordinance

April 15, 2022 — The town of Gouldsboro’s attorney has drawn up a draft aquaculture licensing ordinance that would apply to all farming of marine fauna and flora — from Atlantic salmon to seaweed — and set standards and requirements for both land- and ocean-based ventures seeking to operate in or from the town. The incomplete, all-encompassing document requires further work before it can be presented at a public hearing and put to voters at a town meeting.

Many months in the works, Rudman Winchell attorney Tim Pease’s 23-page draft document Thursday evening was submitted to the Gouldsboro selectmen for their review. Pease will go through the proposed Aquaculture Licensing Ordinance in detail and answer questions at the Planning Board’s next regular meeting at 6 p.m. next Tuesday, April 19, at the Prospect Harbor Women’s Club. Pease and staff scrutinized existing municipal standards, policies and regulations concerning aquaculture development in Maine and beyond. In formulating the draft ordinance, they also were assisted in the process by and took into account much input from year-round and seasonal Gouldsboro residents as well as concerned citizens in neighboring Schoodic Peninsula towns.

Imposed late last fall, Gouldsboro’s six-month moratorium on 10-acre-plus finfish aquaculture development is due to expire May 15. As part of their regular meeting, Thursday, April 28, Gouldsboro Selectmen are scheduled to hold a public hearing to determine whether to end or extend the freeze. Sources expect the Select Board to continue the ban for another six months.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

 

Japan investigating fishmeal substitutes for aquaculture feed

April 15, 2022 — Researchers in Japan are investigating alternative sources for aquaculture feed as the country’s growing aquaculture sector hits the limits of the country’s traditional supply of aquafeed.

The main materials for aquaculture feed – fishmeal and fish oil – remain a limited resource. Despite increased substitution of other ingredients in feed, like soy proteins, poultry byproducts, and fish-processing waste, aquaculture feed prices are increasing, in part due to Russia’s  invasion of Ukraine, which has dampened the global supply of wheat and other ingredients used in fishmeal production.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

MAINE: Mussel farm lease draws opposition

April 7, 2022 — Who has priority over the waters of Frenchman Bay — the public, lobstermen or aquaculture concerns? While the 120-acre salmon farm proposed by Norwegian-backed American Aquafarms has roused opposition, a separate proposed 48-acre lease site to grow mussel spat in the bay’s eastern region — aptly named Eastern Bay — is raising similar objections.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) held a public hearing on the proposal on March 28 and 29 both online and at Bar Harbor Town Hall.

Opponents say that if approved, the Acadia Aqua Farms proposal will unreasonably affect navigation, produce unreasonable noise and unreasonably affect existing flora and fauna, including a long occupied and beloved eagle’s nest on Leland Point. Acadia Aqua Farms holds that, as proposed, the project meets DMR requirements for aquaculture leases and would not cause unreasonable effects.

The word “unreasonable” is important because DMR criteria for granting aquaculture leases, codified in state law, is that the lease will not unreasonably interfere with ingress and egress of riparian owners, navigation, fishing or other uses, significant wildlife and marine habitats or public use or enjoyment within 1,000 feet of a public or conserved beach, park or docking facility. A project also must not result in unreasonable impact from noise or light.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American 

MAINE: Island towns asked to ban corporate aquaculture

April 4, 2022 — A nonprofit called Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation is asking the Island towns to pass a moratorium on industrial aquaculture. Gouldsboro has done it already to try to stymie a salmon farm in Frenchman Bay, and a handful of coastal communities are trying to block proposals for other large-scale fish and bivalve farms.

Crystal Canney, the foundation’s executive director, made her pitch in a Zoom presentation to Deer Isle town officials on March 24. She was joined by Jon Lewis, a consultant to the group who worked for many years as a scientist and diver for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

“Maine has opened the door for corporate and foreign money to buy our waters,” Canney said. “I’m concerned we’re going to sell the coast of Maine to foreign corporations.”

The state’s rules and regulations have set the table for corporate domination of Maine’s coastal waters, Canney said. She said Maine law allows a single entity to lease 1,000 acres in 10 increments for 20 years. Leaseholders can transfer the leases without a mandatory public hearing, she said.

Read the full story at the Penobscot Bay Press

Despite PR Aqua lawsuit, Whole Oceans renews site work on Maine RAS salmon farm

March 31, 2022 — Whole Oceans is beginning site work in preparation for construction of a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) Atlantic salmon farm in Bucksport, Maine, U.S.A.

The company, which is owned by Auburn, Indiana-based Emergent Holdings, first announced a plan to build the farm at the site of a former paper mill site at a cost of USD 250 million (EUR 203 million), with the initial goal of producing 5,000 metric tons (MT) of Atlantic salmon annually, and eventually expanding to produce up to 50,000 MT.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Innovation in aquaculture sector pushing seafood industry forward

March 30, 2022 — Aquaculture innovations will be the key to the seafood industry’s future, and the future of feeding humanity, according to a panel of experts from across the seafood industry speaking at the 2022 Seafood Expo North America.

The panel, “Transforming Aquaculture: The Future of Seafood Must Include Innovation,” was hosted by AquaBounty CEO Sylvia Wulf and featured representatives from both inside the seafood industry experts in food systems and nutrition.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource