June 8, 2024 โ For the first time farmed aquatic production has exceeded the catch from traditional captured fisheries, the U.N. food and agriculture agency said on Friday, underscoring hopes that aquaculture can meet growing global demand for seafood.
In its latest biennial report on the state of world fisheries, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said global fisheries and aquaculture production in 2022 hit a record 223.2 million tonnes.
November 16, 2023 โ If it still seems strange to think of fish growing on farms, it shouldnโt.
Aquaculture has been the fastest growing food sector in the world for decades, and people now eat more farmed fish than wild fish.
The industry has had to grow. Demand for seafood is soaring and will continue to rise. But the oceans are giving up all they can: Production of wild fish has been flat since about 1990.
Fish farming and shellfish production usually spew far less greenhouse gas emissions than production of beef and other animal protein, but aquaculture can still cause serious environmental problems.
And as it has grown, the problems with large-scale farming have grown with it. Many are like problems that face massive chicken, pig and cattle operations. The farms and the waste from them can degrade and pollute nearby ecosystems, diseases can quickly sweep through the tightly packed fish, and gathering the feed for the animals can cause distant environmental problems.
Faced with stinging criticism and tighter regulations โ and eager to meet demand โ fish farmers are trying new ways to boost production and minimize harm.
June 27, 2023 โ Janet Mills, the governor of the U.S. state of Maine, has signed a bill limiting salmonid aquaculture introduced in the wake of American Aquafarmsโ failed bid to establish a facility in Gouldsboro, Maine.
The bill, L.D. 1951, An Act Regarding Marine Finfish Aquaculture, places limits on the stocking density of salmonid aquaculture operations. The bill was sponsored by Maine Senator Nicole Grohoski and co-sponsored by Maine House Minority Leader Representative Billy Bob Faulkingham, and passed through committee in late May before quickly passing both the House and Senate before being signed into law by Mills.
Cooke Aquaculture Vice President of Public Relations told SeafoodSource that the shift made all the difference.
โWe appreciate that Maine legislators and the governor took a consultative and science-based approach to finalize the bill at a stocking density in the lease area of up to 30 kilograms per cubic meter,โ Richardson said. โPrevious bills (up to 22 kilograms per cubic meter) presented to the Maine Marine Resources Committee would have negatively impacted rural coastal jobs and restricted a producerโs ability to introduce new technologies and innovative equipment which otherwise enables aquaculture farms to operate even more sustainably.โ
January 20, 2022 โ American Aquafarms is inviting the public to tune in to the first of its eight-part โCommunity Conversationsโ series starting Thursday, Jan. 20. In the introductory video, the Norwegian-backed companyโs new American CEO, Keith Decker, paints his vision of Maine as a major food producer and the proposed $250 million Frenchman Bay salmon farm as being at the forefront of sustainable fish farming practices worldwide. As the pandemic persists, company officials see the online series as a way to disseminate information directly about the project and respond to questions from the public.
Archipelago Law, a Portland-based firm specializing in maritime and โBlueโ commerce, which earlier this winter took over from Bernstein Shur as American Aquafarmsโ Maine legal counsel, developed โCommunity Conversations.โ One of the small firmโs founding partners, Benjamin E. Ford, serves as host in โShow 1โ of the series created on the video hosting platform Vimeo. Decker and American Aquafarmsโ Project Development Manager Tom Brennan are the only other two participants in the 15-minute segment available at https://vimeo.com/661319868/c983238d00.
Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander
January 13, 2022 โ American Aquafarmsโ Project Development Director Tom Brennan has a key to the closed Maine Fair Trade plant. Brennan says the power, heat and Wi-Fi are all on in the Prospect Harbor facility that has not yet changed hands. He says the Norwegian-backed company is planning to launch its series of online โCommunity Conversationsโ in coming weeks.
In addition, Brennan said American Aquafarms took down its website weeks ago. A new site has been designed and will be launched in the near future.
Reached late last week while driving from Prospect Harbor to southern Maine, Brennan said itโs his understanding that American Aquafarms is close to resolving the issue of sourcing juvenile Atlantic salmon or smolt for the startup phase of its proposed $250 million project. The company plans to eventually construct a fish hatchery at the shuttered Maine Fair Trade facility. If the project is approved, the salmon will be grown to market size in pens in Frenchman Bay.
Read the full story at The Ellsworth American
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