In a continued struggle with state and federal involvement in fishing waters across Maine, Waldoboro will draft an emergency moratorium ordinance on industrial aquaculture projects.
Waldoboro Shellfish Conservation Committee Vice Chair Glen Melvin asked the town select board to support a moratorium at its Tuesday, Feb. 14 meeting. The board voted unanimously to do so, and Town Manager Julie Keizer said a draft moratorium will be prepared with the town attorney by the next select board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
After the moratorium expires, the Waldoboro Shellfish Conservation Committee has voted to request a permanent ordinance that restricts project size to zero acres using home rule laws — the first town in the state to do so, according to members.
“If we don’t save our clam flats now, we may never be able to,” Melvin said. “The state is handing this stuff out like candy.”
Permits for aquaculture projects are issued by the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Industrial aquaculture refers to both farmed fish and wind energy projects in the Medomak River and on the coast. The moratorium does not include land-based fish farming projects far inland.
Aquaculture projects are often oyster farms, which Melvin said harms soft-shell clam habitat by filtering the water. He said some of the effects are still unknown and referenced Damariscotta waters, which hold aquaculture projects and now have few soft-shell clams.
Waldoboro had the second most clam landings in the state in 2021.
Melvin said that leases can run 10 to 40 years, and “you’re not gonna get them back. You’re not gonna get a second chance.”
Select board member Abden Simmons, who also chairs the shellfish committee, said oyster farms in the Medomak would wipe out a committee project using a float to seed clams.
Melvin and members of the select board said they also saw a conflict of interest in the Department of Marine Resources, referencing an employee of the department who has an application filed for an oyster farm in the Medomak River.
Wind power projects, meanwhile, stop scalloping and lobstering all the way to shore due to the cables that tether them and prevent fishermen from dragging, according to Melvin.
“We’ve worked so hard to get here,” he said of the health of the Medomak River. “We’re not willing to risk it.”
The shellfish conservation committee voted to support the moratorium and later ordinance at its Feb. 2 meeting, joining seven other towns in the state receiving legal support from the Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation.
The foundation, represented by the law firm Drummond Woodsum, of Portland, uses the state’s home rule laws to advocate for town autonomy over coastal waters.
Maine adopted municipal home rule in 1969, giving towns the authority to enact most ordinances that do not interfere with state law.
According to Drummond Woodsum, no state law directly stops towns from regulating aquaculture projects. State law does give leasing authority to the Department of Marine Resources, but the firm said it appears the laws have room for towns to enact ordinances regulating those projects.
Melvin said that other towns are using home rule to set maximum project sizes of one or two acres, and the Waldoboro shellfish committee wants to be the first to set the number at zero. He said even a half-acre project includes buffer zones and larger disruptions.
The Department of Marine Resources said in an August letter to coastal town administrators that “municipalities have limited jurisdiction in the intertidal zone if they have an approved municipal shellfish ordinance … and may be authorized to issue municipal aquaculture permits … but this does not limit in any way the commissioner’s authority to issue leases and licenses in the coastal waters of the state.”
The department said that aquaculture projects must hold pre-application meetings with the town and state, hold a “scoping session” presenting details to the public, and a questionnaire is sent to the town about how the proposal could affect marine resources.
Melvin said that, should the Department of Marine Resources take the town to court, the foundation would pay Waldoboro’s legal fees.
“I feel Waldoboro shellfish is forced to protect itself. Aquaculture could destroy us as it did Damariscotta,” Melvin said to the select board. “Our only shot is a moratorium to ban private aquaculture. Please support us as we try to survive.”
He said aquaculture can have a place inland, although he sees it as a limited role. Melvin gave the example of the American Unagi eel farm, five miles inland with no impact on coastal waters, which he said the shellfish committee initially voted against and now monitors with extreme care.
“I would shut it down myself” if it was hurting the river, Melvin said.
According to Keizer, 154 families in Waldoboro make their living on the Medomak. She said that people who support the jobs aquaculture projects promise to bring do not consider the jobs displaced.
“I’m not willing to risk it,” Melvin said. “We have so much given to us by Mother Nature. Having a man-made situation come in so very small a group could make a lot of money would be insanity on the part of this town.”
Select board member Jan Griesenbrock said the town should be protective of home rule.
Keizer said the Waldoboro Economic Development Commission also supports the moratorium.
The board voted unanimously to prepare a 180-day moratorium ordinance in consult with the town attorney. At the request of Selectman Bob Butler, the shellfish committee will hold a special meeting before that time to offer their input on the draft.
Butler said the moratorium will give the board time to develop a permanent ordinance.
A draft language of the moratorium is provided by the foundation.
“We’re caretakers,” Simmons said. “We’re not advancing the health of the river for a specific company.”
Melvin said that residents can weigh in on the cause by calling the town office and visiting the foundation’s website at protectmaine.com.
In other business, the select board approved a town warrant article for a $16,000 budget request from the Waldoboro Food Pantry, the first time one has been requested. Board members authorized Planning & Development Director Max Johnstone to submit grant materials for the development of mountain biking trails on Quarry Hill and the purchase of a drone to monitor shellfish.
The Waldoboro Select Board will next meet at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28 in the town office. The meeting will include a presentation by the shellfish committee.
