American Aquafarms withdraws lawsuit against state in favor of open dialogue
COURTESY / AMERICAN AQUAFARMS
American Aquafarms this week withdrew its complaint against the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ termination of applications to install salmon pens in Frenchman Bay.
The Norwegian company proposing a large salmon farm in Frenchman Bay has withdrawn its lawsuit against the Maine Department of Marine Resources, which had rejected applications for the project.
Thomas Brennan, a Portland-based spokesman for the company, American Aquafarms, told Mainebiz, “We recognize that we need to have a dialogue with the DMR to understand what the objections really are and how we can go about solving for them. It’s really important, if you want to have a dialogue, not to be in the middle of a lawsuit.”
American Aquafarms proposes to lease two 60-acre sites between Bar Harbor and Schoodic Peninsula to install 15 “closed pens” plus an operations barge at each site. The goal is to eventually produce 30,000 metric tons, or 66 million pounds, of salmon annually, and to build a hatchery and processing facility in Gouldsboro.
But earlier this year, the state regulatory agency terminated the company’s applications for the project. The DMR said the company’s proposed source of fish to be cultivated didn’t meet the agency’s criteria for a “qualified source/hatchery” as defined in agency regulations.
Following the state's action, American Aquafarms filed a complaint against the Department of Marine Resources in Cumberland County Superior Court, calling the DMR’s decision “arbitrary and capricious” and “unsupported by the evidence.”
On Monday, American Aquafarms, the DMR, and an intervener, Frenchman Bay United, filed a “stipulation of dismissal” with the court.
Brennan said the company’s next step is to open a dialogue with the DMR.
“We believe in the project,” he said. “It’s important technology for the state and the world. The population globally is going to double by 2050 and will need more protein. Aquaculture at scale is how we’re going to get there. So let’s figure out how we can do it and make it acceptable within the DMR’s criteria and process.”
New dialogue between the company and the agency has not been scheduled. The company’s goal is to resubmit new applications as soon as possible, he said.
“We’re not going anywhere,” said Brennan. “We just want to move forward.”
Frenchman Bay United, a coalition leading a fight against the proposed farm, hailed American Aquafarms’ decision to withdraw its lawsuit.
“We have always believed that DMR made the right decision in refusing to accept the company’s lease applications and that this lawsuit had little merit,” the coalition’s board president, Henry Sharpe, said in a news release.
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