Maine's highest court has affirmed state permits issued to Kingfish Maine for a yellowtail fish farm in Jonesport.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court struck down an appeal from opponents, who argued that the Board of Environmental Protection should have been required to assess the site's impacts under the Natural Resources Protection Act.
Now that the appeals are resolved, it can proceed with its construction plan. But an exact timeline is unclear, because Kingfish said it's still assessing "current economic and financial conditions."
"While the economy might be uncertain, there's a lot of technological advancements that have happened over the years, so we can obviously refine our aquacultural systems and make sure we deliver a successful project to Maine," Tom Sorby, operations manager for Kingfish Maine, said Friday in an interview.
The Roque Island Gardner Homestead Corp. and the Eastern Maine Conservation Initiative appealed the state's Kingfish permits first to the Maine Superior Court and then to the state Supreme Judicial Court.
The groups are disappointed with the court's ruling, said Anastasia Fischer, board chair for the Eastern Maine Conservation Initiative.
"We find it another sad of example of the dilution of accountability," she said. "Fundamentally, the decision is directly at odds with the stated purposes of the Natural Resources Protection Act and the Maine DEP, which are to protect and restore the state's resources."
The group believes future aquaculture projects should be held to higher standards, and Fischer said the conservation group will focus its efforts on upgrading the state's permitting requirements.
The project has been in legal limbo for the last four years and has survived multiple appeals at the local and state levels. Jonesport residents also voted down an aquaculture moratorium back in 2022, as several other Down East communities had implemented bans on bringing land-based fish farms to their communities.
