Maine Coast News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2/28/02
Contact Penobscot Bay Watch 594-5717
Maine aquaculture reform bill finalized - gives towns say in aquaculture leasing.
The Maine Legislature's Marine Resources Committee's historic vote gives coastal towns power to regulate aquaculture.
AUGUSTA. Coastal towns that prepare an aquaculture ordinance will be able to approve or deny proposed aquaculture operations within 2500 feet of their shores, if the bill mustered out of the Maine Legislature's Marine Resources Committee yesterday is voted into law. The Committe passed the bill yesterday at yesterday's public work session.
The decision to empower muncipalities came after the committee heard complaints from numerous members of the commercial fishing industry, municipal officials and members of the coastal tourism industry that the present aquaculture laws fail to consider the effect of industry fishpen or shellfish farms on existing local economies.
"This is a tremendous victory for Maine's coastal citizens." said Ron Huber of coastal gadfly group Penobscot Bay Watch. "The aquaculture industry has been getting consolidated into the hands of a small number of very big absentee companies. Coastal towns have had to stand helplessly by, their hands tied, while Norwegian and Canadian companies bring what are essentialy mammoth marine feedlot operations into their waters. That's over now, for any town that adopts an aquaculture ordinance" Huber said that concerns by the aquaculture industry that they will be forced out of Maine waters if the bill passes are groundless.
"Maine's coastal towns have always given a fair look at industrial development proposals brought before them." Huber said. "That's why companies like Wal-Mart, telemarketing companies like MBNA, resorts and subdivision developments are booming along our coast. They often have had to modify their plans to respect the wishes and needs of the town they propose to set up in, but in a democracy, that is exactly the way it should be."
The Marine Resources committee members got the clear message that towns want aquaculture companies planning to bring their operations into a towns's waters should be treated just the same as other business."
The DMR will work with municipal organizations to put together a model aquaculture ordinance for towns to use as a template when designing their own aquaculture ordinances.
The committee compromised with the industry and the Maine DMR on the distance from shore that towns would have jurisdiction over aquaculture applications. The committee had proposed giving towns authority to regulate aquaculture out to one mile from their shores, but modified that to 2500 feet from shore or to the border with the next town if that were less thatn 2500 feet. The industry had complained that towns would have little ability to oversee aquaculture operations farther than 2500 feet from shore.
The new bill also creates a two tiered penalty system for vioaltions of aquaculture law, sets up a aquaculture advisory board composed of equal numbers of finfish and shellfish industry members and one state official, and and gives the commissioner of Marine Resources the power to delegate the signing of aquaculture leases to "qualified" lower ranking DMR officials.
"The Legislature's Marine Resources Committee did a fantastic job of winnowing through the mounds of reports and dozens of hours of testimony to arrive at a balanced bill that treats every coastal interest fairly." Huber said.
"If the aquaculture industry thinks that coastal towns will automatically vote against bringing their businesses into their waters, then that means there's something wrong with the way those companies do business." Huber said.
"We can trust our town governments to make sure that the concerns of their fishermen and tourism operators give a fair shake," he said. "The disaster in Cobscook Bay shows that the Department of Marine Resources can't do it on its own."
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