American Aquafarms’ discharge estimates spark questions
Late last week, Hancock County residents got an abstract picture of how American Aquafarms would draw and discharge sea water and dispose of waste from its proposed operation in Frenchman Bay.
Articles by: Letitia Baldwin
Letitia Baldwin
Arts Editor at The Ellsworth American
In addition to editing the Arts & Leisure section, Letitia edits special sections including Out & About, Overview, Health Quarterly, Your Maine Home, House & Garden and Get Ready for Winter. She comes from Chicago, Ill, but has deep family ties to the Cranberry Isles. [email protected]
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Norwegian technology tests Maine waters
In Norway, one of the world’s top two producers of farmed salmon, raising fish at sea in closed cages has been tested for nearly a decade. Multiple contained floating systems are in commercial use there now after yielding positive test results. Whether such farms’ scale, though, fit Frenchman Bay, where a ferry, tour boats, fishing vessels and pleasure craft already coexist, is among many questions sparked by American Aquafarms’ plan to grow fish there on a large scale.
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Frenchman Bay salmon farm application filed
American Aquafarms reported last week that it had filed two draft lease applications for a closed-pen, Atlantic salmon farm in Frenchman Bay. The proposed two ocean sites, north of Bald Rock and The Hop islands, are in conjunction with the Portland-based company’s plan to buy East Coast Seafood Group’s seafood-processing facilities in Gouldsboro’s Prospect Harbor village. A fish hatchery would be built there as part of the project.
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Proposed salmon farm sparks opposition
Opposition is mounting to a large-scale salmon farm in Frenchman Bay before the project’s backers have formally submitted an application to locate roughly 30 net-pens at two sites north of Bald Rock and The Hop islands.
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Three die in Saturday night crash
Police say alcohol and excessive speed likely factored in a triple fatal accident Saturday just after 7 p.m. on the West Bay Road.
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Sea urchins not making a comeback
Some Maine fishermen are asking themselves whether it is still worth it to endure bitter-cold winds and heavy seas to harvest sea urchins for their prized roe at this point in the 2020-21 season that began Sept. 1.
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Trap recycling program to expand
GOULDSBORO — OceansWide is looking to expand its lobster trap recycling program after processing 6,000 pounds of wire traps since last summer at its site at the town’s transfer station. The Newcastle-based nonprofit, which teaches scuba diving and provides other hands-on marine experiences in the Gulf of Maine to Maine youth, is looking to set …
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Urchins and oysters eyed for local farming
GOULDSBORO — An organic seaweed farmer is seeking to raise oysters and sea urchins in deep water at an existing ocean site, where the marine species’ growth will be tracked to test their potential as sustainably harvested seafood in years to come. Last year, Springtide Seaweed LLC founder Sarah Redmond secured a 10-year aquaculture lease …
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Shellfish lab finds a home in Bunkers Harbor
GOULDSBORO — A former clam-buying station is poised to get a facelift and start operating as a shellfish laboratory next spring in Bunkers Harbor. The facility, which will raise and scatter baby soft-shell clams to replenish local flats, will serve as a trial balloon for other coastal communities. On Bunkers Harbor’s eastern shore, longtime lobster …
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Maine’s scallop fishery poised to open
BAR HARBOR — Hancock County residents can look forward to feasting on freshly harvested sea scallops when the 2020-21 scallop fishing season kicks off in coming weeks. Maine’s scallop fishery landed 415,818 pounds of scallop meats worth $4.359 million in 2019, making it the state’s 10th most lucrative seafood. On Nov. 5, the Maine Department of …