Saving Seafood

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