Salmon 'die-off' one in a long string of problems with Maine's only licensed in-water fish farmer
BLACK ISLAND - Sept. 4, 2021 - The aquaculture company which reported a salmon “die-off” last week here south of Mount Desert Island is a notorious and frequent violator of regulations in two states and Canada, resulting in more than $3.5 million in fines and sanctions since 2013.
Cooke Seafood, which is the only industrial fin fish farm permitted to operate in Maine waters, has yet to disclose the extent of the fish “mortality event” last week. It didn’t report it to the DEP until Aug. 27, according to the DEP spokesperson. But it notified the DMR on Aug. 23.
Why didn’t the DMR alert the DEP as soon as it heard the news? Why did Cooke notify one agency and not the other on Aug. 23?
“The responsibility to report to DEP is on the lease holder,” said Jeff Nichols of the DMR who confirmed his agency was notified on Aug. 23. The lease holder would be Cooke.
QSJ put the same question to Joel Richardson, spokesman for Cooke, but he did not reply.
The Department of Marine Resources is not much of an enforcement agency. Its primary job is to conserve and develop marine and estuarine resources and to “promote and develop the Maine coastal fishing industries.” It’s more of a partner to industry than an overseer.
DEP (environmental protection) has more of an enforcement role. So was DMR’s failure to notify its sister agency a bit of internecine agency rivalry between one whose job is to facilitate marine industry and the other to protect Maine’s precious coastline?
Did the four days in the dark rob the DEP of the ability to better inspect the fish pens and the cleanup to determine whether the company violated its permit?
As it turned out the DEP inspectors did not arrive on Black Island until this Tuesday, 10 days after the dead fish was first discovered. By then, the trawler-seiner Providian out of Portland had already cleaned out the pens and presumably disposed of the fish. QSJ visited the Cooke pens on Saturday but the Providian was gone.
DEP spokesperson Beth Chase stated in an email Wednesday, “DEP staff conducted an on-site inspection at the Cooke Aquaculture facility on Tuesday. Staff will review the data collected yesterday and data provided by Cooke Aquaculture to determine whether or not there was a compliance issue related to the recent mortalities. The inspection report timeline is 30 days, so the Cooke Aquaculture report will be completed and issued by October 1.”
Someone claiming to have been in the area last week posted the following photo and text on the Friends of Frenchman Bay Facebook page:
“That’s the Providian out of Portland hired to pump the dead fish out … We have been alerted today that there seems to be a massive Salmon die off in the Cooke Aquaculture pens near Swans Island ... The smell went for miles and miles. That would be good enough reason to not have the farm here ... Happened to be going by there yesterday. No news whatsoever about it ... I asked a friend that worked on this boat before what it was doing and he told me. Then I dug a little deeper from a few people and found out. Was going between the islands and the smell so bad almost made us sick...”
Richardson told SeafoodSource.com, “Remediation work to clean up the mortalities was completed on 27 August, and that they were a ‘low percentage of our overall salmon harvest at the site.” The mortalities were caused by “uncommonly low oxygen levels" in the cages.
The credibility-challenged company has a long history of lawsuits, fines and repudiations from Puget Sound to New Brunswick. In 2017 Cooke disputed the severity of a pen collapse in Puget Sound and the number of farmed fish which escaped. That event resulted in the termination of some of Cooke’s leases, a $332,000 fine to Cooke from state regulators and a ban on farming nonnative fish like Atlantic salmon.
Then in 2019, Cooke reached a settlement to pay $2.75 million in legal fees and to fund Puget Sound restoration projects, putting an end to a Clean Water Act lawsuit that followed the 2017 pen collapse, according to the Seattle Times.
The nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy, an advocacy group that opposes fish farming in open water, sued Cooke in August 2017, about a week after the Cooke net pen near Cypress Island collapsed. State regulators would later say the company’s negligence led to the collapse and determined that as many as 263,000 Atlantic salmon escaped the floating cage structure and into Puget Sound.
In 2013, A Cooke subsidiary pleaded guilty in a Canadian courtroom to using illegal pesticides that killed hundreds of lobsters a little more than a mile from Maine’s border, according to Bill Trotter, the eminent reporter for Bangor Daily News.
“Cooke Aquaculture, based in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, agreed Friday to pay $100,000 in fines and an additional $400,000 in penalties that will fund environmental research and study at University of New Brunswick and restoration and enhancement of fish habitat in the Bay of Fundy region, according to Canadian court documents,” Trotter reported.
In 2019, Maine finally cracked down on Cooke. But with a big asterisk. It fined Cooke $156,213 - sort of. Cooke was cited by the Maine DEP for having too many fish in pens, failing to conduct environmental sampling, and failing to follow a number of procedural measures laid out in the company’s operating permit, including on-time filing of pollution sampling reports and fish spill prevention plans.
In its consent agreement, Maine gave Cooke the option to perform community service by stocking the Machias River with wild salmon in waters leased by the state. The deal was modeled after a successful venture in Canada’s Bay of Fundy.
But the Maine project has been stalled by Covid-19 concerns and the flood of aquaculture applications into the DMR cutting into the bandwidth of the staff.
The idea of the state being a business partner of a company it regulates also has raised eyebrows.
"Why would the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) go into business with a company that the agency is charged with regulating - Cooke Aquaculture,” said Crystal Canney, executive director of Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation. “The Sea Run Fisheries project involves DMR leasing the water, stocking it with salmon smolts and having Cooke Aquaculture manage the fish.
“Last week we saw a significant salmon die off at the Cooke Black Island site. Cooke has faced millions of dollars of fines in Washington state and Canada. Why is Maine so anxious to do business with Cooke? Cooke owns more than 600 acres of the ocean and we want to continue this? The lack of oversight is absurd," said Canney who represents Maine lobstermen.
News of Cooke’s DEP violations broke on the heels of undercover footage in October 2019 showing alleged abuse of salmon grown at Cooke’s Bingham hatchery.
The video, produced by animal advocacy group Compassion Over Killing, was titled, “Aquaculture: A Sea of Suffering.” It resulted in an investigation and reforms.
The multiple infractions by one of the largest fin fish farming companies in the world calls into question how Maine will manage this growing industry with an out-gunned staff.
For instance, Cooke’s current permit is two years beyond its renewal date.
“The renewal for this GP (general permit) can happen at any time, however, I cannot give you a timeline for when I will be able to get to the Net Pen GP renewal as we are backlogged with permits and understaffed at the moment,” wrote Cindy L. Dionne, environmental specialist in the Bureau of Water Quality at the state DEP, in response to a QSJ question.
Now comes American Aquafarms with an application to lease 120 acres in Frenchman Bay with unproven technology and an inexperienced CEO who served time in a Norwegian prison for fraud. The idea that Maine would lease its precious coastline to more of Cooke’s ilk is frightening beyond words.
MDI Hospital records highest # of covid cases in August; September early data equally worrying
MDI Hospital had 23 positives cases of Covid-19 in August, the highest number for any given month since the pandemic was declared a national emergency in March 2020, hospital officials stated Friday.
The number is seven more than what QSJ reported last week with only four days left in the month. That compared with three cases in July.
“We have had more in the first two days in September,” wrote CEO Chrissi Maguire in an email. She said the cases were mostly family members infecting each other.
Most of the cases are the Delta Variant and 85 to 90 percent of the positive tests are of persons who were not vaccinated, Maguire said.
4 firms express interest in operating Hampden recycling plant
Since the exclusivity provision with Delta Thermo Energy was lifted, the Municipal Resource Committee has received requests from four firms to tour the facility in Hampden, MRC’s executive director said this week.
“As you know, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Delta Thermo Energy (DTE) is no longer in effect, which means the exclusivity provision also is dissolved,” Michael Carrol stated in an email updating the 115 members of the municipal waste consortium including all four towns on MDI.
“Because of this, four different entities have contacted the MRC requesting tours of the Hampden plant with a potential eye toward purchase. Two of the tours took place this week, others are scheduled for next week."
“Meanwhile, the Bondholder Trustee still is in talks with DTE and DTE continues its effort to secure financing. DTE has said it is making headway on that front.
“It is our hope that a deal to purchase the plant will conclude soon.”
In May DTE was selected by MRC as the operator to re-open the plant which shut down in May 2020 when the previous operator ran out of cash. But DTE could not perform its obligation to raise financing to close the deal on June 30. All the garbage generated by members are now being incinerated or taken to landfills.
Battle over Hall Quarry stone-cutting operations to resume in October
HALL QUARRY - The company which owns the granite quarrying site in this residential subdivision is seeking speedy approval from the Planning Board to restart stone-cutting, but an opposing lawyer stated that the applicant has yet to meet road-widening requirements.
Matthew Manahan, attorney for a couple across Somes Sound who can hear the noise from the quarry, also stated that the Planning Board does not have the authority to waive the requirement which the company, Harold MacQuinn Inc., had previously sought. Only the Zoning Board of Appeals may waive that, Manahan stated.
“In short, MacQuinn must demonstrate that it meets the Section 5.14 street design and construction standards, or seek a variance from the ZBA. MacQuinn has not done either, so scheduling a further Planning Board meeting to discuss the application is premature,” Manahan stated.
MacQuinn’s lawyer Ed Bearor wrote Code Enforcement Officer Kim Keene Aug. 16 that he has received the necessary easements from neighbors for the road widening. “I am attaching easements and a plan reflecting the easements in connection with MacQuinn’s Quarry Licensing Application for the existing quarry in Hall Quarry . Please arrange a planning board meeting to wrap up its review of this application.”
Upon receipt of the request, Keene began to schedule an agenda item for the board in October.
Manahan argued that the easement was insufficient because the owner of the access, Michael Musetti still had “complete and unfettered discretion” to prohibit construction, repair, or maintenance of the road.
Manahan stated that Bearor’s added language that the construction and maintenance in the easement area “is not to be unreasonably withheld” by Musetti does not solve the problem.
“Mr. Bearor has argued on numerous occasions that the record in this proceeding is closed, and the Board has on that basis ignored additional evidence we have offered for the Board’s consideration,” Manahan stated.
“It is the height of hypocrisy for Mr. Bearor now to offer additional evidence, after having previously objected to such evidence. At a minimum, if MacQuinn’s additional deeds are allowed, the Board must review and consider the additional evidence we have offered to show that MacQuinn does not qualify for a QLO (quarrying license ordinance) permit.”
The longest zoning dispute on MDI is entering its eighth year. Many houses in Hall Quarry were built after the Quarry ceased operations in the 1970s. It attempted to restart in 2013 but was shut down by the code enforcement officer.
Letter: Slalom parking in SWH’s ‘Prickly Plaza’
By Bowen Swersey, contributor
SOUTHWEST HARBOR - At the corner of Seal Cove Road and Main Street sits an otherwise unnamed shopping plaza containing many of the Backside’s business offerings. I have lived on the hill above Prickly Plaza for almost thirty years and, until now, it has never really needed a name. Southwest has always been a friendly town, a place where fishermen, locals, tourists and summer folk have lived in harmony. The corner plaza, which I hope to rename soon, houses businesses that all of these groups rely upon. Recently, however, the plaza has become a cordoned-off battle zone between feuding businesses trying to protect and preserve parking places for their customers.
Now, when I pull in to one of the middle-lot angled spaces, I have only one option: to nose up to a sagging rope and read the sign that says, “Parking for (this-or-that business) only.” I can no longer pull through the spot when it’s time for me to leave. I must now back out, creating more friction between all the potential users of this lot. Other business owners have caught this virus, and now the lot bristles with signage and the cords, instructing would-be customers and limiting their access.
When I asked Tom Johnson, the owner of the very popular Liquor Locker, why he had new signage across his parking area, he pointed to the Milagro Coffeeshop next door. Apparently, Milagro is so busy in the Summer that their customers park in Prickly Plaza, where there is ample parking on every day of the year, except during the butterfly release and the Quietside Parade. To be fair, Milagro is not part of Prickly Plaza. They own the small adjacent lot on Main Street. Their customers do fill the near section of the parking lot on busy mornings. But, there is a lot of parking in the corner plaza. Not even the newly-relocated Quietside Cafe can fill the lot on a busy day.
The only thing worse than having cars in your business parking lot is not having cars there. There is a saying in journalism that ‘any press is good press.’ This also applies to shopping plazas. Any traffic, whether or not it is specifically for your shop, is good traffic. One successful business can greatly increase overall traffic for all businesses nearby. As a resident, I frequent many of these businesses; the florist, liquor store, bank kiosk, and Goodwins’ office to name a few. I have never, in thirty years, had a difficult time parking. Until now. Sure, there are still spots available, but now I feel obligated to read the signage. If I’m picking up a bottle of wine, must I now exclusively use the spots reserved for the LL? What if they are full? Should I circle the lot, waiting for one of their spaces to open, or do I dare risk Francis’ wrath and park in a spot reserved for the Quietside Cafe?
My point is, the customers of Prickly Plaza don’t care about the feuds between the business owners. We only want to shop or eat in our local, erstwhile-friendly local businesses. This is a nice, quiet, friendly town. The businesses would better benefit by maintaining this image than by trying to control whose customers park where. The poorly-wrought signs and limp cords look sloppy and uninviting. Increasing the friction between the customers and their destinations cannot help any of the businesses in Prickly Plaza; it will do the opposite.
Bowen Swersey is a writer and musician who has lived in Southwest Harbor for thirty years.