Saving Seafood

MAINE: Maine Governor Janet Mills signs bill placing limits on salmonid aquaculture

June 27, 2023 — Janet Mills, the governor of the U.S. state of Maine, has signed a bill limiting salmonid aquaculture introduced in the wake of American Aquafarms’ failed bid to establish a facility in Gouldsboro, Maine.

The bill, L.D. 1951, An Act Regarding Marine Finfish Aquaculture, places limits on the stocking density of salmonid aquaculture operations. The bill was sponsored by Maine Senator Nicole Grohoski and co-sponsored by Maine House Minority Leader Representative Billy Bob Faulkingham, and passed through committee in late May before quickly passing both the House and Senate before being signed into law by Mills.

Cooke Aquaculture Vice President of Public Relations told SeafoodSource that the shift made all the difference.

“We appreciate that Maine legislators and the governor took a consultative and science-based approach to finalize the bill at a stocking density in the lease area of up to 30 kilograms per cubic meter,” Richardson said. “Previous bills (up to 22 kilograms per cubic meter) presented to the Maine Marine Resources Committee would have negatively impacted rural coastal jobs and restricted a producer’s ability to introduce new technologies and innovative equipment which otherwise enables aquaculture farms to operate even more sustainably.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

A federal bill would ban wind power development in key fishing area off Maine coast

June 26, 2023 — U.S. Rep. Jared Golden has introduced a bill that would bar commercial offshore wind energy development in a key fishing area along the coast of Maine.

The bill would prevent the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management from potentially hurting the fishing and lobstering industries in Maine, said Golden, D-2nd District. The legislation would ban wind energy development in Lobster Management Area 1, which is the zone closest to shore and stretches along the entire coast of Maine. The bill also would launch an assessment of how federal agencies like the BOEM and the National Marine Fisheries Service study the effects of offshore wind development and engage with industry groups.

Maine has a long, complex relationship with such attempts to harness the power of distant sea breezes to generate electricity.

There are currently a variety of plans across the state to create both public and private offshore wind farms. The Governor’s Energy Office wants to lease a site 45 miles from Portland in the Gulf of Maine to create the nation’s first floating offshore wind research site.

A developer also is working with University of Maine researchers to build a commercial-size floating wind turbine off the coast of Maine. And the Governor’s Energy Office is thinking about turning a portion of Sears Island, off Searsport, into a center for assembling and servicing wind turbines.

However, the attempts all require a massive build-out of the state’s infrastructure. Wind turbines would have to float in the Gulf of Maine because the waters are too deep to allow the structures to be anchored to the seabed. And an attempt to build a commercial-size floating wind turbine project might be scrapped because it’s too large, complicated and expensive.

Read the full article at the Press Herald

Court hands lobstermen a win

June 27, 2023 — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a ruling on June 16 overturning a lower court’s ruling that would have required the lobster fishery to eliminate virtually any risk—no matter how minute—that North Atlantic right whales could become entangled in lobstering gear.

“Maine’s lobstermen and women have long demonstrated their commitment to maintaining and protecting a sustainable fishery in the Gulf of Maine,” said Gov. Janet Mills in a joint statement with the state’s federal delegation. “Today’s decision vindicates what the Maine lobster fishery, and the countless communities that rely on it, knew all along—that their practices support the conservation of the gulf ecosystem for generations to come.”

Read the full article at Penobscot Bay Press

MAINE: Maine Governor Janet Mills signs bill placing limits on salmonid aquaculture

June 26, 2023 — Janet Mills, the governor of the U.S. state of Maine, has signed a bill limiting salmonid aquaculture introduced in the wake of American Aquafarms’ failed bid to establish a facility in Gouldsboro, Maine.

The bill, L.D. 1951, An Act Regarding Marine Finfish Aquaculture, places limits on the stocking density of salmonid aquaculture operations. The bill was sponsored by Maine Senator Nicole Grohoski and co-sponsored by Maine House Minority Leader Representative Billy Bob Faulkingham, and passed through committee in late May before quickly passing both the House and Senate before being signed into law by Mills.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: State suspends Nordic Aquafarms’ permits for Maine-based RAS

June 23, 2023 — The U.S. state of Maine suspended two permits essential to Nordic Aquafarms’ planned salmon recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in Belfast, Maine, U.S.A.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection, in a decision announced on 21 June, suspended both the Site Location of Development Law and Natural Resources Protection Act Permit and its Air Emissions License for the facility, the Republican Journal reported.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: Maine congressman’s bill to block wind power from Lobster Management Area 1

June 23, 2023 — Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, introduced a bill in Congress that would block commercial offshore wind development from Lobster Management Area 1, and require a new study of how federal agencies are conducting environmental reviews for potential wind projects in the Gulf of Maine.

“BOEM’s decision not to remove one of the most lucrative and productive fishing grounds in the region from consideration for commercial offshore wind projects is just the latest in a series of unrelenting challenges to Maine fishermen,” Golden said in announcing the bill Thursday. “Prohibiting commercial wind development in LMA 1 protects Maine fishermen’s way of life and of making a living for their families and their communities, just as they have for generations.”

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has identified more than 9.8 million areas of federal waters in the Gulf of Maine for consideration as wind energy areas for future leasing to developers. The agency included LMA 1 “and areas closed seasonally or permanently to protect the North Atlantic right whale, as potential commercial offshore wind sites,” according to Golden. “Prohibiting offshore wind development in LMA 1 would help to avoid conflict with the New England commercial and recreational fishing industries.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Former American Aquafarms CEO sells processing facility, new owners exploring development options

June 23, 2023 — Former American Aquafarms CEO Keith Decker has successfully auctioned off the company’s facility in Gouldsboro, Maine, U.S.A. for USD 975,000 (EUR 895,000), the Ellsworth American reported.

Decker announced his resignation from American Aquafarms in early May and soon after announced the facility would be up for sale as compensation for USD 1.125 million (EUR 1.03 million) the company owed him. The company originally bought the 100,000-square-foot facility in 2020, with plans to use the facility for a closed net-pen salmon aquaculture operation in Frenchman’s Bay,  before legal efforts and permit trouble effectively ended the project’s hopes of getting off the ground.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Port facilities must be part of Maine’s offshore wind strategy

June 22, 2023 — Tony Buxton is a partner with Preti Flaherty. He represents New England Aqua Ventus and Pine Tree Offshore Wind, developing the Monhegan Project and the Maine Research Array, respectively.

Gov. Janet Mills’ Offshore Wind Initiative in 2021 negotiated a historic bipartisan legislative compromise to facilitate offshore wind development while protecting the Gulf of Maine from threats to fisheries and lobstering. The compromise banned offshore wind in Maine waters, mandated a power contract to enable construction and operation of the Maine Research Array and established the Maine Offshore Wind Research Consortium, all to protect our iconic Gulf of Maine resources, relying on both science and common sense.

The compromise continued Maine’s decades of preparation for offshore wind development to come to the Gulf of Maine’s vast and wind-rich federal waters over which Maine has no legal control. The paired objectives of resource protection and deliberate offshore wind development remain wise.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Better connecting the fishing and aquaculture communities in Maine and beyond

June 21, 2023 — While the ways that aquaculture can actively support commercial fisheries have been well established, there is nonetheless a tension between certain fishing and aquaculture communities. Though it can be easy to look at these two industries in a monochromatic way, aquaculture can open up brand-new opportunities for fishermen. Aquaculture farms represent another form of income for fishing families and can open up additional opportunities to employ those looking to get involved in jobs on the coast.

The tension between these communities can become prominent when certain perspectives are exclusively focused on, and National Fisherman fell into that trap with a recent article that only explored one perspective around the creation of a fish farm in Frenchman Bay, Maine. While the coastal community in Maine is a small one, it’s essential to contextualize the opportunities that projects like this can represent for hardworking fishermen who are considering expanding into the ground fishing, lobstering, and scalloping sectors of Maine’s state fisheries.

To provide that context, National Fisherman caught up with Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association. He fully detailed the opportunities that aquaculture can provide fishermen, clarified the current state of Maine state regulations on aquaculture farms, outlined why what was proposed at Frenchman Bay would have never been issued a lease in Maine and more.

Read his insights below but also feel free to get in touch to let us know how National Fisherman can continue to cover these topics in a more complete manner.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Federal judges: Data does not prove Maine lobstering endangers whales

June 22, 2023 — Maine lobstermen have secured a huge win in federal appeals court, thanks to a ruling over the long-debated belief that lobster fishing puts whales at risk.

Friday, a panel of judges ruled that data on entanglements in lobster fishing gear does not support the need for the new strict limits on where and how lobstermen could fish.

Those regulations, set by the National Marine Fisheries Service, were put in place under the authority of the Endangered Species Act to protect the 340 North Atlantic Right Whales whales left.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association says there is no evidence of Maine lobster gear ever killing a whale. There has been no documented entanglement of a North Atlantic Right Whale since 2004.

Read the full article at WTMW