Saving Seafood

MAINE: Nordic’s Maine salmon RAS ambitions are dead, but local community’s debate over value of project lives on

February 10, 2025 — Nordic Aquafarms’ seven-year quest to build a major recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) salmon farm in Belfast, Maine, came to an end in January 2025, when the company announced it was cancelling its plans after Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled the firm did not legally own a parcel of intertidal land through which it needed to run pipes for the project.

The case was brought before the court by Belfast residents Jeffrey Mabee and Judith Grace, who argued that they were the rightful owners of the disputed land, which the company had previously attempted to purchase and then sought to claim through eminent domain.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: Nordic Aquafarms scraps embattled salmon farm in Maine

January 22, 2025 — Norway-headquartered aquaculture firm Nordic Aquafarms has abandoned its years-long fight to build a recirculating aquaculture system [RAS] salmon farm in Belfast, Maine, U.S.A.

“It’s a sad day for Maine’s economy and the outlook for aquaculture and any significant investment in the state,” Nordic Aquafarms U.S. CEO Brenda Chandler said in a release. “While a few may view this as a victory, we argue that this is a significant loss overall, not just for Nordic Aquafarms but for the community. The expanded tax base for Belfast was significant; new jobs for the area were significant; and Maine’s leadership in aquaculture-born solutions is also significant.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: Nordic Aquafarms loses bid to use eminent domain to secure land for Maine RAS

May 8, 2024 — Nordic Aquafarms has lost a key vote by the Belfast, Maine, U.S.A. city council, adding yet another roadblock to the company’s goal of building a salmon recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) in the city.

In a 5–0 decision, the Belfast city council vacated its 12 August 2021 move to use eminent domain to give Nordic access to a key piece of intertidal land. The vote followed an earlier meeting in April 2024 that saw the council vote to have Belfast City Attorney Kristin Collins draft an order of vacation, which was approved on 7 May.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US land-based aquaculture projects achieve permitting, funding progress

November 23, 2023 — Nordic Aquafarms has received a “notice of intent to issue” a major permit for its land-based recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) farm in Humboldt County, California, U.S.A., while across the country in Millinocket, Maine, Katahdin Salmon’s RAS project has received additional funding.

The California Coastal Commission voted 12-0 to move a wastewater discharge permit for Nordic Aquafarm’s project forward, which the company said is the final major permit between it and groundbreaking on the aquaculture facility. Nordic Aquafarms, which was originally planning to build a salmon farm, has since changed course to build a yellowtail farm on the site of the former Samoa Pulp Mill near the town of Eureka, California.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: Nordic Aquafarms asks Maine to suspend permits as it faces an onslaught of legal challenges By Chris Chase April 14, 2023

April 16, 2023 — Nordic Aquafarms has requested the Maine Department of Environmental Protection pause permit deadlines for its planned salmon recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in Belfast, Maine, U.S.A., as it continues to face several legal challenges.

In a release on 7 April, the company announced it is asking the DEP to suspend its permits to let multiple court decisions on property issues raised by project opponents play out. The company, which announced the large aquaculture project in January 2018 and originally said it hoped to have production start in 2020, has faced a barrage of legal challenges to its development.

Read the full article SeafoodSource

Nordic Aquafarms wins one court victory, faces another legal battle in Maine

September 9, 2022 — Nordic Aquafarms, which is seeking to build a land-based Atlantic salmon farm in the U.S. state of Maine, won a court victory on 1 September that ended a challenge to the permitting of its proposed recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) farm.

Waldo County Superior Court Justice Robert Murray ruled in favor of Nordic Aquafarms, quashing a request by nonprofit and project opponent Upstream Watch, to require an official review of the authorizations given to the project.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

4 years later, the 4 large fish farms planned for Maine haven’t started construction

December 27, 2021 — This year will be remembered in Maine, at least in part, as when interest in developing four large-scale fish farms on the state’s eastern coastline continued to intensify.

It also will be remembered by some as yet another year during which — nearly four years since plans for the first proposal were announced — none of the four separate projects began construction.

The projects are at various stages of the permitting process, with some being fully approved and others not yet having any permits. All have shied away from announcing specific timetables for when they hope to start to build.

Nordic Aquafarms

The biggest of the four proposals, and the first to be announced, is a $500 million land-based salmon farm near the Little River in Belfast. Nordic Aquafarms plans to produce more than 72 million pounds of salmon per year at the site.

The project received its final outstanding permit this summer, with local, state and federal authorities all giving the green light to move forward with construction.

But Nordic Aquafarms also has encountered fierce opposition, with critics fighting the company in court with a civil suit over the ownership of a strip of intertidal land that is instrumental to the project. This summer, the city of Belfast got involved by pursuing eminent domain in order to get the company an easement to cross the intertidal zone with its intake and outfall pipes to get to Penobscot Bay.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Nordic Aquafarms wins legal victory, moving planned farm in Maine a step forward

November 1, 2021 — Nordic Aquafarms, which has plans to build a large land-based salmon farm in Belfast, Maine, U.S.A., has won a “complete and total victory” in a court case brought against the company by project opponents.

Nordic Aquafarms has been embroiled in a court battle over the ownership of intertidal land adjacent to property the company purchased rights to in order to route inflow and outflow pipes essential to the operations of the company’s proposed recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Belfast, Maine plans to use eminent domain to end Nordic Aquafarms land dispute

August 6, 2021 — City councilors in Belfast, Maine, U.S.A. are considering the use of eminent domain to seize a piece of disputed property and end a protracted land dispute that has held up progress on a project planned by Nordic Aquafarms.

On 3 August, the council voted unanimously to pursue the takeover of an intertidal area that has been the subject of a court battle over ownership, Maine Public reported. The lawsuit over the intertidal area was first filed in 2019 by Jeffrey R. Mabee and Judith B. Grace, who allege that they are the true owners of intertidal land that Nordic plans to run inflow and outflow pipes through.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Nordic Aquafarms granted state permits for Maine RAS project

November 20, 2020 — Nordic Aquafarms Inc., the company planning a large salmon recirculating aquaculture system in Belfast, Maine, has been granted state-level permits via a unanimous vote by the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP).

The acquisition of state permits is the result of nearly two years of work on the permitting process, which was marked by interruptions from local opposition. Local opponents filed multiple objections to the permitting process, before the permits were found to be complete in June 2019.

Read the full story at Seafood Source