Saving Seafood

  • Home
  • News
    • Alerts
    • Conservation & Environment
    • Council Actions
    • Economic Impact
    • Enforcement
    • International & Trade
    • Law
    • Management & Regulation
    • Regulations
    • Nutrition
    • Opinion
    • Other News
    • Safety
    • Science
    • State and Local
  • News by Region
    • New England
    • Mid-Atlantic
    • South Atlantic
    • Gulf of Mexico
    • Pacific
    • North Pacific
    • Western Pacific
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Fishing Terms Glossary

Troubled waters: A massive salmon farm off the coast of Maine is stalled

April 26, 2022 — The summit of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in the northeastern U.S. state of Maine offers sweeping, unobstructed views of Frenchman Bay. Surrounded by islands and rocky shorelines, the bay is known throughout Maine for recreation and resources. But new projects may lie over the horizon. American Aquafarms, backed by Norwegian investors, planned to build the largest salmon farm in North America here, just on the edge of Acadia National Park. And lobstermen, like Jerry Potter, say they feared that if the project went through, the pristine waters of Frenchman Bay would never be the same.

“It’s going to ruin the ecosystem of the bay and ruin all the resources … mussels, shrimp, lobsters, crabs, everything,” said Potter, 76, from the nearby town of Gouldsboro.

American Aquafarms first proposed the salmon farm in 2020, in hopes that they would produce 30 million metric tons of salmon each year. The farm would also curb the U.S. reliance on imported seafood, according to Tom Brennan, the director of project management at American Aquafarms. The US currently imports 70-85% of its seafood, about half of which is produced through aquaculture.

But the massive project is now indefinitely delayed. On April 19, 2022, state officials terminated American Aquafarm’s application, citing that American Aquafarms failed to provide documentation that the egg source proposed to stock the pens would meet state requirements. In Maine, genetically modified fish cannot be used to stock salmon pens, however American Aquafarms proposed to work with the company that created the first genetically modified Atlantic salmon.

Brennan is shocked by the decision, stating that the company also included eggs from the USDA as a backup plan in the proposal. That facility was established to provide eggs to salmon growers in Maine, he adds.

Read the full story at Mongabay

MAINE: American Aquafarms launches video series

January 20, 2022 — American Aquafarms is inviting the public to tune in to the first of its eight-part “Community Conversations” series starting Thursday, Jan. 20. In the introductory video, the Norwegian-backed company’s new American CEO, Keith Decker, paints his vision of Maine as a major food producer and the proposed $250 million Frenchman Bay salmon farm as being at the forefront of sustainable fish farming practices worldwide. As the pandemic persists, company officials see the online series as a way to disseminate information directly about the project and respond to questions from the public.

Archipelago Law, a Portland-based firm specializing in maritime and “Blue” commerce, which earlier this winter took over from Bernstein Shur as American Aquafarms’ Maine legal counsel, developed “Community Conversations.” One of the small firm’s founding partners, Benjamin E. Ford, serves as host in “Show 1” of the series created on the video hosting platform Vimeo. Decker and American Aquafarms’ Project Development Manager Tom Brennan are the only other two participants in the 15-minute segment available at https://vimeo.com/661319868/c983238d00.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

 

MAINE: American Aquafarms application still stalled

January 13, 2022 — American Aquafarms’ Project Development Director Tom Brennan has a key to the closed Maine Fair Trade plant. Brennan says the power, heat and Wi-Fi are all on in the Prospect Harbor facility that has not yet changed hands. He says the Norwegian-backed company is planning to launch its series of online “Community Conversations” in coming weeks.

In addition, Brennan said American Aquafarms took down its website weeks ago. A new site has been designed and will be launched in the near future.

Reached late last week while driving from Prospect Harbor to southern Maine, Brennan said it’s his understanding that American Aquafarms is close to resolving the issue of sourcing juvenile Atlantic salmon or smolt for the startup phase of its proposed $250 million project. The company plans to eventually construct a fish hatchery at the shuttered Maine Fair Trade facility. If the project is approved, the salmon will be grown to market size in pens in Frenchman Bay.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

 

Recent Headlines

  • Orsted, Eversource Propose New York Offshore Wind Project
  • Climate modelers add ocean biogeochemistry and fisheries to forecasts of future upwelling
  • Crabbing industry loses fight to prevent fishing in critical Alaskan ecosystem
  • Some hope the EPA will veto Pebble Mine, a project that has long divided SW Alaska
  • Final Supplemental Materials Now Available for ASMFC 2023 Winter Meeting
  • Oregon, California coastal Chinook Salmon move closer to Endangered Species Protection
  • Council Presents 2022 Award for Excellence to Maggie Raymond
  • U.S. refuses calls for immediate protection of North Atlantic right whales

Most Popular Topics

Alaska Aquaculture ASMFC Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission BOEM California Climate change Coronavirus COVID-19 Donald Trump groundfish Gulf of Maine Gulf of Mexico Illegal fishing IUU fishing Lobster Maine Massachusetts Mid-Atlantic National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NEFMC New Bedford New England New England Fishery Management Council New Jersey New York NMFS NOAA NOAA Fisheries North Atlantic right whales North Carolina North Pacific offshore energy Offshore wind Pacific right whales Salmon Scallops South Atlantic Tuna Western Pacific Whales wind energy Wind Farms

Daily Updates & Alerts

Enter your email address to receive daily updates and alerts:
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Tweets by @savingseafood

Copyright © 2023 Saving Seafood · WordPress Web Design by Jessee Productions