aquaculture

Business and Economy

Belfast conservation group moves to buy land once slated for fish farm project

Ari Snider

Nordic Aquafarms earlier this year dropped its bid to build an onshore salmon farm in the midcoast city.

Sebastian Belle, the executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, speaks at a press conference at the Bangs Island Mussels warehouse in Portland on March 13, 2025. The Maine Aquaculture Association is a member of the newly launched Maine Farmed Seafood Coalition.

Business and Economy

New coalition launches campaign to better market Maine's farmed seafood

Nicole Ogrysko

The coalition includes the Maine Aquaculture Association, World Wildlife Fund, and economic development group FocusMaine, among others.

In this 2007 file photo, George Protopopescu of the Downeast Institute for Advanced Marine Research and Education measures each of the scallops brought up as Christopher Bartlett of the Maine Sea Grant program records the data.

Environment and Outdoors

Nicole Ogrysko

There is no indication that any of the other 33 Sea Grant programs around the country are facing funding cuts — at least for now — similar to Maine's.

Courts and Crime

Conservation Law Foundation sues aquaculture company for pollution

Kaitlyn Budion

The Conservation Law Foundation has filed a lawsuit against Cooke Aquaculture, arguing the company's Down East salmon pens are polluting the surrounding waters.

Tyler Niven pilots a boat through a vast array of floating crates at a Mere Point Oyster Co. farm on Maquoit Bay, Sunday, June 12, 2022, in Brunswick, Maine. Maine is producing more oysters than ever due to a growing number of shellfish farms that have launched off its coast in recent years. The state's 2021 oyster harvest was the largest and most valuable in its history, according to recent data from the Department of Marine Resources in Maine.

Business and Economy

New federal data indicate a rising tide of aquaculture farms in Maine

Ari Snider

Local groups say the USDA's Aquaculture Census is undercounting the number of operators in the state.

Thousands of Atlantic salmon swim in Cooke Aquaculture's 24 sea sites, penned areas where the company farms salmon, off the coast of Maine.

Environment and Outdoors

Conservation group to sue aquaculture company for allegedly polluting Maine waters

Ari Snider

The Conservation Law Foundation accused Cooke Aquaculture of violating the Clean Water Act.

Education

University of Maine moving forward with new aquaculture research facility

Ari Snider

The center will house research and workforce training programs.

In this Oct. 11, 2008 file photo, an Atlantic salmon leaps out of the water at a Cooke Aquaculture farm pen near Eastport, Maine.

Environment and Outdoors

University of Maine to build new aquaculture center

Kaitlyn Budion

The University of Maine will open a new aquaculture center on the Orono campus that will offer training to students and the public.

An artistic rendering, provided by American Aquafarms, shows what a salmon processing site in the Gouldsboro village of Prospect Harbor might look like if it is redeveloped from its current use as a plant for cooking and packaging lobster.

Environment and Outdoors

New bill proposes limits on certain large-scale aquaculture farms

Nicole Ogrysko

The bill, first introduced by Sen. Nicole Grohoski, was motivated by the proposal from American Aquafarms, which wanted to build a massive salmon farm in Frenchman Bay.

Wire lobster traps sit stacked on a pier in Beals, Maine, as vehicles cross the Beals Island Bridge between Beals and Jonesport on Nov. 30, 2018. Linked by the bridge, which is being replaced with a new $10.5 million span, the lobster industry and a shared high school, residents of the two towns hope their rural fishing community will benefit from a proposed $110 million land-based aquaculture fish farm in Jonesport.

Environment and Outdoors

Jonesport residents reject aquaculture moratorium

Nicole Ogrysko

The vote may clear the way for Kingfish Maine to set up a land-based yellowtail fish farm in the town.