Fish Forward: Best Practices in Sustainable Land-based Aquaculture

In April of 2022 Friends of the Harriet L. Hartley conservation area was awarded a grant to investigate best practices in sustainable aquaculture facilities. We are currently collaborating with the Environmental Law Institute, based in Washington, DC to produce a white paper. Following the white paper we will be creating materials to educate the public on our findings as well as to guide the writing of new legislation in the state of Maine.

Aquaculture, the commercial production of finfish, shellfish, and seaweed, is a nearly $250 billion industry and holds great promise to meet the global demand for sustainable protein while avoiding damage to vital marine ecosystems. Land-based aquaculture, by physically separating operations from the marine environment, is commonly credited for its comparatively reduced impact on wild stocks, water quality, and natural habitat, but these benefits may not extend to any large-scale project whose emissions are released into the environment.

Few successful models of land-based aquaculture operating at scale exist, given the technical and biological challenges; associated water, land, and energy use; and—critically—an unclear regulatory environment trying to keep up with this still-novel approach to seafood production.

The Nordic Aquafarms facility proposed to be located in Belfast, Maine is a notable example. This $550 million project would have a total annual production capacity of 33,000 metric tons and is anticipated to create more than 60 jobs. However, the project would also result in substantial adverse effects on health, welfare, and the local ecosystem. Projected impacts include 7.7 million gallons of daily effluent released into Belfast Bay, 1.7 million gallons of freshwater extracted daily from Belfast’s aquifer, air pollution produced by eight 2 MW diesel generators, significant energy consumption, and the generation of greenhouse gases. It would also be built on the currently pristine and heavily forested mouth of a small river emptying into Belfast Bay abutting an historic recreational community.

This situation illustrates the consequences to Maine and its political subdivisions lacking a clear set of regulations that adequately addresses these concerns. Yet examples like the Finger Lakes Fish coho salmon farm in Auburn, New York, an illustration of a Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS), demonstrate that environmentally and economically sustainable land-based aquaculture is achievable, given a clear set of state- and local-level environmental policies—a set of policies currently lacking in Maine and in Belfast.