Maine
Maine is at an impasse with towns that pass aquaculture restrictions
Towns up and down Maine’s coast have grappled for more than a decade with the changes that come with a growing aquaculture industry.
In the last several years, some have gone further, considering local ordinances meant to restrict state-issued leases for large aquaculture projects in their waters.
It has brought to the forefront tensions between traditional uses of Maine’s coast and the growth of aquaculture, an industry that has grown by about 2 percent annually for the last two decades and brings in more than $85 million in sales each year. It has also highlighted disagreements about which entity — the state or the municipality — has the authority over those uses, creating an ongoing impasse.
In Maine, the state Department of Marine Resources issues leases and licenses for various types of aquaculture projects, including oyster, scallop, mussel and fin fish farms. As part of that process, it accepts public comment and holds public hearings on the applications when residents request them, but makes the final decision on whether to grant a permit.
The department says it’s clear that state law gives it exclusive authority to lease coastal waters outside the intertidal zone, although towns can regulate shellfish harvesting inside that zone.
The agency’s website currently lists 149 active standard and experimental leases and 671 small, short-term limited purpose ones. Department data shows it has issued around 200 new limited purpose approvals yearly between 2017 and 2021, up from less than 50 a decade earlier.
But a statewide organization formed in 2020 believes that communities can control aquaculture projects off their shores and has been visiting towns for several years asking select boards to consider ordinances that restrict what it calls large-scale, industrial aquaculture projects.
Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation argues that the state’s home rule laws give towns the right to control their coastal waters. It was among the groups that helped push back against the failed proposal by a Norwegian-backed company to start a large salmon farm in Frenchman Bay.
It now promises to cover any legal costs towns face if they enact an aquaculture ordinance provided by the foundation. Towns can also adjust that ordinance’s language to make different restrictions around whether leases are allowed, how big they can be and whether they require a local permit.
No towns have yet faced court challenges over their ordinances, and the state this week said it isn’t planning legal action against municipalities.
The towns of Cutler and Penobscot have approved permanent ordinances, while Waldoboro and Winter Harbor passed moratoriums that could be followed by ordinances.
Others have considered them or put in temporary moratoriums, including Damariscotta, Jonesport, Lubec and South Bristol, but stopped short of a vote. Some were concerned about opening themselves up to legal challenges.
Deer Isle voters were set to decide on such an ordinance at their annual town meeting this year, but local officials reversed course last week.
“This was a kind of roll out-roll back situation,” Town Manager Jim Fisher said.
The town’s legal counsel and the Maine Municipal Association warned Deer Isle about pursuing the rules due to conflicts with state policy, according to Fisher. The local marine resources committee later reversed its support. At a public hearing, some residents pushed back, while aquaculture lease holders said the current process is already lengthy. The Select Board unanimously withdrew the proposal.
Local officials might revisit the idea next year, Fisher said. But neighboring Stonington, which decided not to pursue the same ordinance two years ago, is less likely to, he said. The two towns try to keep the same marine resource policies.
It’s a different story in the nearby town of Penobscot, where aquaculture operations on the Bagaduce River, and the state leasing process for them, have long been controversial.
In 2024, voters approved an ordinance restricting leases, but the debate dates back more than 25 years, when residents formed the Bagaduce Watershed Association in 1999 because of their concerns about state aquaculture leases.
In 2023, the midcoast town of Waldoboro pushed for an even stricter version of the foundation’s ordinance, not allowing leases of any size on the Medomak River. Local officials were motivated by concerns that aquaculture would change conditions on the river and reduce soft shell clam populations or otherwise displace the roughly 150 clammers who make their living on the mudflats.
Advocates of aquaculture say it provides economic opportunity for working waterfronts and local communities. The heritage foundation agrees, Executive Director Crystal Canney said, but it only supports projects on a small, local scale.
“Maine is known for its independent working waterfront,” she said. “Large-scale aquaculture replaces that independent fishing model.”
Her foundation is focusing on individual towns because efforts to change state policy have been unsuccessful, she said. The foundation lists further concerns including department oversight of lease sites, potential environmental consequences of farming operations, sites owned by large, corporate operators outside of the country and what it sees as a lack of a long-term plan for Maine’s aquaculture future.
The Department of Marine Resources said it doesn’t plan legal action against any towns that adopt moratoriums or ordinances.
“State law is clear,” spokesperson Jeff Nichols said this week. “Under state law, the Commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources holds exclusive jurisdiction to lease lands in, on and under the coastal waters.”
The department has sent letters to towns saying as much, and said it’s working to expand its communication with towns about the leasing process. Nichols also said the public can give input on potential aquaculture sites. State decisions may require the lease holder to allow fishing onsite, and law says a lease can’t interfere with fishing or other local uses.
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This story will be updated.
The Maine Department of Transportation is moving to slash up to $400 million in projects from its agenda, a shocking and abrupt cutback that is rattling the state’s construction industry at the start of building season.
Roughly $50 million across six pavement projects have already been delayed, according to a memo exclusively obtained by the Bangor Daily News. The agency plans to cut or delay another $150 million in bridge, highway, intersection and multimodal projects later this month. A further $200 million or more in cuts are planned in the next three-year work plan.
Those figures were outlined by Transportation Commissioner Dale Doughty in the May 18 memo to Gov. Janet Mills that has since circulated widely in the transportation sector, which has been getting drip-by-drip details on the wide scope of the cuts over the past three weeks.
It comes at the beginning of the state’s relatively narrow construction season. Companies have hired workers and ordered materials for projects they expected to begin this summer. The severity of the transportation budget problems was not raised to lawmakers during the 2026 legislative session.
Kelly Flagg, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Maine, called the shortfall “deeply troubling” in a statement.
“We stand ready to work with policymakers, stakeholders, and industry partners to identify both immediate and long-term solutions,” Flagg said. “Maine cannot afford to fall further behind.”
Insiders saw this first.
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The cuts stem from a structural funding gap of at least $130 million in the state’s current work plan, according to Doughty’s memo. Losses are magnified because state money from the gas tax and other revenue sources is matched by federal funds. Lawmakers have long grappled with politically difficult long-term problems with the state’s transportation budget.
A Mills spokesperson said Wednesday morning that the administration was working on a response to questions from the BDN. The department says it needs roughly $240 million more in state capital funding annually to maintain the existing system, and that anything less than $200 million will erode it over time.
Doughty’s memo the only near-term solution is a series of bonds beginning as soon as possible. Lawmakers would have to return to Augusta to authorize that if one is going to appear on the November ballot.
The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Michael Capeci is the former chairman of the Bangor GOP.
Let’s be honest about Maine’s current state.
For many families, the cost of living has become unsustainable. Housing is out of reach for many young people. Energy bills keep rising. Many small businesses are struggling under taxes and regulations that make it harder to grow. Rural hospitals are under strain and despite years of increased state spending, the results are not showing up in people’s daily lives.
Concurrently, Maine continues to lose young workers to other states. That is not a statistic, it is a warning sign.
To me, the question in this Republican primary for governor is not about slogans. It is whether we continue with a political approach that has failed to reverse these trends, or whether we nominate someone with new ideas. I think that someone is Owen McCarthy.
Owen is not a political insider. He is an entrepreneur from Patten, a small town where opportunity is not assumed, it is built. He grew up in a working-class family, became the first in his family to graduate from college graduating from the University of Maine, and founded MedRhythms, a healthcare technology company focused on neurological treatment.
He didn’t just talk about opportunity. He built it. That distinction matters, because Maine’s problem is not a lack of debate it is a lack of results. We have seen the trajectory: higher costs, slower growth, and a steady outmigration of young workers. I believe Owen McCarthy represents a break from that pattern.
His Maine 2040 plan focuses on creating 50,000 new jobs in sectors where Maine has real advantages — maritime and defense, advanced forest products, and life sciences. These are export-driven industries tied directly to Maine’s workforce, geography, and institutions. What sets Owen apart is not only what he proposes, but how he approaches governing.
He prioritizes modernizing permitting so projects do not stall. He supports using technology to reduce costs and increase efficiency. He focuses on making it easier to build, hire, and expand in Maine.
That same practical mindset extends to healthcare. Expanding telehealth, strengthening EMS systems, improving provider flexibility, and shifting toward earlier intervention are not abstract reforms. They are system upgrades designed to improve access while controlling costs.
Maine voters consistently respond to competence. They reward candidates who understand problems and present plans to solve them. I believe they are tired of rhetoric that does not translate into results, and skeptical of politics that prioritizes messaging over execution.
Owen’s approach is grounded in solving the issues that shape daily life — affordability, healthcare access, job creation, and government efficiency. That is not just policy positioning. It is a governing model that speaks directly to voters.
Some will point to his lack of political experience. But I believe Maine’s core problems are not the result of insufficient political experience; they are the result of policies that have failed to deliver measurable improvement. Experience inside a broken system, by itself, is not a solution.
If Republicans want to win, this primary must be taken seriously. From my perspective, it is not about choosing a nominee for governor who can energize the base. It is about selecting someone who can compete in a broader electorate that is frustrated and looking for change.
That requires a candidate who can speak beyond the base, not by abandoning principles, but by demonstrating competence and a credible plan to address Maine’s challenges. I believe Owen McCarthy offers that combination. He represents a shift away from managed decline and toward economic execution.
This is not just another primary. It is a decision about whether Republicans position themselves to win Maine or whether they remain trapped in a cycle of repeating the same strategies and expecting different outcomes.
If Republicans want to compete for Maine’s future, they cannot afford to nominate a candidate who only motivates part of the electorate. They need someone who expands it.
I believe Owen McCarthy is that candidate.
And if the goal is to win Maine, then the choice should be unmistakable
The only notable change in the top-seven of the Varsity Maine baseball poll is that Gorham now has eight first-place votes, two more than last week. The order of the seven teams is identical. In fact, the only change in the top-seven over the past three polls is the swap at the top after Gorham’s win over South Portland on May 19.
Furthermore, Gorham, South Portland, Oxford Hills, Cheverus, Bangor, Mt. Ararat and Fryeburg have been ranked in the top seven for four straight weeks, and six of those squads have been among the top seven in every poll this spring.
Meanwhile, Scarborough is ranked for the first time since May 5, and Ellsworth and Thornton swapped spots.
The Varsity Maine baseball poll is based on games played before June 2, 2026. The top 10 teams are voted on by the Varsity Maine staff, with first-place votes in parentheses, followed by total points.
1. Gorham (8) 89
2. South Portland 79
3. Oxford Hills (1) 75
4. Cheverus 55
5. Bangor 42
6. Mt. Ararat 41
7. Fryeburg Academy 30
8. Ellsworth 27
9. Thornton Academy 25
10. Scarborough 12
Also receiving votes: Washington Academy 8, Monmouth Academy 4, Cony 4, Leavitt 2, Falmouth 2.
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