BREAKING NEWS: Gouldsboro select board to extend moratorium on aquafarming April 28
New aquaculture ordinance would prohibit salmon farming off its shores
GOULDSBORO - This town with a population slightly more than Tremont’s may turn out to be the ultimate decider on whether American Aquafarms will be able to build 120 acres of net pens to farm salmon in Frenchman Bay.
The select board is expected April 28 to extend the six-month moratorium passed last Nov. 17 freezing development of such farms.
That will buy more time to conduct hearings and adopt changes to local ordinances further restricting aquafarming off its shores.
Last Friday, Tim Pease of the firm of Rudman Winchell of Bangor, delivered the first draft of a proposed Aquaculture Licensing Ordinance, based on public input to the Planning Board, as well as research of statutes and regulations pertaining to aquaculture activities.
The draft may undergo revisions, as it now pertains to all aquaculture activities, whether land-based or in the ocean, and whether aquatic animal or aquatic plant. The conditions and threshold are designed to stop large-scale aquaculture while allowing smaller activities that cause less impact, a source said. It is likely to be tweaked before passage, to accommodate local interests.
The draft will be reviewed by the Planning Board Tuesday at 6 p.m. which may be accessed on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8018727702?pwd=WjJmUFhyWVNKZmphOUdoTTdwbDRLUT09
Meeting ID: 801 872 7702
Password: 4uFgxX
Pease of Rudman has told town officials previously that Maine’s “home rule” laws give municipalities to right for self determination.
In 2005, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld a municipal ordinance adopted by the town of Pittston that prohibited the spreading of septage within Pittston. The majority held that Pittston's ordinance did not violate the Maine Hazardous Waste, Septage and Solid Waste Management Act (Solid Waste Management Act), which “govern[s] the disposal of garbage, sludge, septage and other waste.”
Gouldsboro is uniquely qualified to issue such home-rule protection, as it borders Frenchman Bay on the west and Gouldsboro Bay on the east, and is the home of a former sardines cannery which American Aquafarms intended to use to process its salmon.
AA has claimed for more than 18 months that it was acquiring the former sardine cannery in Prospect Harbor here.
But town officials said there is no word of a closing yet.
Last November, Thomas Brennan, American Aquafarm’s director of project development, told the Bangor Daily News the purchase was “imminent.”
“My understanding is that [the sale] is coming to a conclusion.”
East Coast Seafood shut down the 100,000 square-foot facility in 2021 after having used it for processing lobster from 2013 through 2020.
AA is still seeking state permits for its salmon farm, but without a local permit, it will not be able to conduct commerce in Gouldsboro.