*** Maine Coast News *** Maine Coast News *** Maine Coast News ***
For immediate release September 25, 2003
Aquaculture Task Force to hear from public & NGOs on fishfarms' impacts on property and scenic values.
Blue Hill. The Maine Aquaculture Task Force holds its third meeting today and tomorrow near the shore of Blue Hill Bay in the town of Blue Hill The Task Force was commissioned by the Maine legislature to develop recommendations to reform aquaculture management in Maine. The legislature will consider the Task Force's recommendations at the upcoming legislative session.
Read the official meeting agenda HERE
The two day meeting , held at the Blue Hill Town Hall, will focus task force members' attention on the effect that setting up and operating salmon farms and shellfish farms has on the monetary value and conservation values of nearby coastal properties and protected areas. The public is urged attend the meeting and offer advice and other information on this topic and other topics to the task force members.
On Friday there will be a panel presentation by representatives of Acadia National Park and Maine Department of Environmental Protection on measuring and mitigating visual and auditory pollution from aquaculture.
Existing federal and state laws, and a new law proposed by Maine DEP will be discussed.
The meeting will be faciiltated and mediated by Bruce J. Stedman of Resolve. Officials from the Maine State Planning Office & Maine Department of Marine Resources will supply technical assistance to the Task Force.
Task Force members will take a tour of protected coastal lands and aquaculture operations aboard the Maine Marine Patrol vessel Guardian III, to examine first hand the impacts to coastal land owners of nearby finfish farm operations.
Following what is expected to be a lengthy public comment session, the Task Force will summarize what it has leanred and set the agenda for its next meeting, scheduled for October 18th in Rockland
Earlier meetings of the Task Force on Marine Aquaculture in Maine reviewed the principles of baywide management, shellfish aquaculture operations, and the challenges facing Maine from increased salmon farms in downeast Maine waters.
For more information about the task force and efforts to reform aquaculture in Maine, visit the following links.
* Aquaculture Task Force Links Page (assembled by Penobcot Bay Watch)
Audio recordings of selections from the September 4 - 5 Aquaculture Task Force meeting Click Here
Responses to a controversial pro-aquaculture guidance document written for the Aquaculture Task Force by former Maine DMR commissioner Spencer Appollonio.
Letters and emails from Maine, Canada and Scotland (finally) made available to the Task Force following the September 4th meeting. Read a selection of them:
Description of Aquaculture Task Force members.
Click Here
Penobscot Bay Watch: People that care about Penobscot Bay.
Contact Penobscot Bay Watch 207 594-5717 ***
The recordings include a discussion by the Task Force of the principles and concept of "baywide management", led by CLF attorney Roger Fleming; a statement on prioritizing issues spoken to the Task Force by Sierra Club's NW Atlantic marine conservation leader Vivian Newman; and a discussion between the task force and three government officials that staff it on why they hadn't forwarded to task force members the emails sent to them by the public and conservation groups.
* Response by oceanographer Don Holmes
* Responses by Atlantic Salmon Federation, East Penobscot Bay Environmental Alliance, Penobscot Bay Watch and Conservation Law Foundation.
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