Penobscot Bay Blog: 2018

Dec 30, 2018

Two NGOs petition for BEP review of Nordic Aquafarms, interested party status, public hearing.

Below read petitions by two organizations sent Maine Department of Environmental Protection in late November. The Maine Lobstering Union and Upsteam Watch asked to be recognized as interested parties regarding the Nordic Aquafarms application to build a salmon tankfarm in Belfast and discharge effluent into Belfast Bay. They also requested that Maine Board of Environmental Protection take over review of the project and that a public hearing be held.

MLU Petition to Intervene 11/26/18

MLU Request for public hearing on Nordic application 11/26/128

Upstream Watch petition for Maine Board of Environmental Protection to assume Jurisdiction over NAF application 11/26/18

Upstream Watch Request for Public Hearing 11/26/18

Upstream Watch Petition for Interested Party Status 11/26/18

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Maine DEP acting chief recommends against citizen board review of Nordic Aquafarms plan.

Salmon tankfarm opponents are rightfully livid over Maine DEP's acting chief Melanie Loyzim's actions  on the controversial salmon tank farm plans by Nordic Aquaculture proposed to discharge into Belfast Bay 

      Loyzim denied out of hand  petitions from  Maine Lobstering Union and Upstream Watch  requesting (1) a public hearing and  (2) intervenor status.  She also declared there was little public interest or controversy,  recommending against   MLU's request that BEP assume jurisdiction of the review of the project its proposed outfall's proposed contents and its baywater intake.

  Read MLU's and Upstream Watch petitions here

     Loyzim used indefensible assertio.ns  that there was no possible significance to the effluvia of up to 20 million fish per year in the proposed CAFO tanks - largest ever in the United States -  discharging out a single pipeline into the bay 24/7. What could go wrong?

      Raising and slaughtering up to 20 million fish per year  at Nordic and Whole Oceans - one at each end of Penobscot Bay's estuary -  is nothing special, Loyzim asserted in her letter to conservation  attorney Kim Tucker.  Just like any little existing fishfarm, Loyzim smirked, enjoying her brief  moment of ecological vandalism at the helm of the disfunctional-under-Lepage agency. 

     One remembers the good old days of Late McKernan Early Angus King , early baldacci,  when the Board of Environmental Protection performed its duty and routinely heard  citizen appeals - I actually won a special condition added to MBNA's Ducktrap Mtn guest cottage rush job tht was sprawling into an important deer wintering area   No more cottages, BEP announced. How MBNA's VP Shane Flynn howled!

Dec 24, 2018

Media releases writ by Ron Huber, July 27 2000 to Feb 7 2005

Between July 27, 2000 and February 7, 2005 the below 72 media releases penned by Ron Huber were published by the Maine Environmental Policy Institute, under the rubric of "Task Force Atlantis" for marine protected areas and "Penobscot Bay Watch" for everything else within that bay & the Gulf of Maine. The same issues as today: aquaculture expansion, commercial, residential and marina sprawl, marine protected areas and offshore carbon prospecting (Note: with the passing of time, some of the links within the articles don't work, including audio hosted on now defunct Maine Indymedia, in the RealMedia format.

* President should designate Gulf of Maine border wilderness 7/27/00 (Task Force Atlantis)

** State delays decision on controversial Owl's Head airport expansion until early April, 2001 (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/2/01)

* Northern Gulf of Maine's top marine bird research station: threatened by aquaculture (Task Force Atlantis, 2/15/01)

** Lobstermen battle Samoset Resort over harbor fishing grounds (Penobscot Bay Watch, 3/1/01)

** Picketers protest resort's controversial plan to build a yacht marina in Rockland Harbor's best lobstering area (Penobscot Bay Watch, 3/5/01)

**** MBNA is dumping contaminated dredge spoils into Rockland's municipal landfill (Penobscot Bay Watch, 3/16/01)

**Rockland City Council rejects Samoset marina plan (Penobscot Bay Watch, 3/26/01)

** Federal agency rejects Samoset marina plan; orders eelgrass study of Rockland Harbor (Penobscot Bay Watch, 4/4/01)

** Fish farms rejected at Roosevelt-Campobello International Park and Bowdoin Scientific Station (Task Force Atlantis, 4/13/01)

* Beach grasses shielding the sand dunes at Pemaquid Beach Park may finally gain additional protection (Penobscot Bay Watch, 6/6/01)

** Canada begins Georges Bank oil/gas exploration; US Senators urge Bush not to follow suit (Task Force Atlantis, 6/10/01)

* Canada begins accepting drilling bids for part of their side of Georges Bank (Task Force Atlantis, 6/25/01)

* US Fish and Wildlife Service bans the harvest of seaweeds at three National Wildlife Refuges on the Maine coast (Penobscot Bay Watch, 7/26/01)

** Fishermen, islanders, conservationists fight fishpen sprawl: Penobscot Bay lobsters, wild salmon said at risk (Penobscot Bay Watch, 8/21/01)

** Undersea Wildlands, coastal no-marina zones, fishpen moratoriums to be focus of two New England Ocean Wilderness forums September 11 and 12th (Task Force Atlantis, 9/10/01)

* Undersea Wildlands, fishpen moratorium discussed at New England Marine Protected Area Forum (Task Force Atlantis, 9/25/01)

* Maine DMR Commissioner restricts state research videotapes, bans videotaping of future state trawl survey catches (Penobscot Bay Watch, 10/1/01)

* Conservation Law group sues General Alum & Chemical Corp for polluting Penobscot Bay (Penobscot Bay Watch, 10/4/01)

* Marine Protected Area meeting held in Portland draws sparks, compromises (Task Force Atlantis, 10/12/01)

* Fisheries panelists call for revamped fishing & aquaculture laws (Penobscot Bay Watch, 10/21/01)

* Congress proposes killing NOAA marine parks program (Task Force Atlantis, 11/1/01)

* 25 lobster boats out of Corea confront the Department of Marine Resources' survey trawler (Penobscot Bay Watch, 11/8/01)

** Report charts course for creating Marine Protected Areas in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank (Task Force Atlantis, 11/20/01)

** Mainers criticize Snowe support of federal plan to bail out foreign fishpen companies (Penobscot Bay Watch, 11/22/01)

* Aquaculture meeting raises Maine "open meeting law" concerns (Penobscot Bay Watch, 1/31/02)

* Marine ecology chief and former Maine aquaculture official face parallel investigations of trawl survey, aquaculture improprieties (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/4/02)

** Atlantic Salmon Federation calls for fishpen-free Penobscot Bay (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/8/02)

** Hearing on aquaculture reform brings together different points of view (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/11/02)

** Legislators press fishpen industry for details on pesticide use (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/13/02)

* Northern Gulf of Maine's top marine bird research station: threatened by aquaculture (Task Force Atlantis, 2/15/01)

** Commercial fishing industry, conservationists, tourism industry representatives call for fishpen moratorium (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/18/02)

** Maine legislature to consider aquaculture moratorium (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/19/02)

** DMR ordered to release files on aquaculture violations to Legislature (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/22/02)

** Maine aquaculture reform bill attacked by DMR, aquaculture industry (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/25/02)

** Voices in the maine aquaculture reform debate (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/26/02)

**Legislature's Marine Resources Committee gives coastal towns power to regulate aquaculture (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/27/02)

* DMR threatens to shut down lobstering if April trawl survey is resisted (Penobscot Bay Watch, 3/2/02)

** Fishermen sign petition to the Maine legislature calling for local control of aquaculture (Penobscot Bay Watch, 3/5/02)

** Marine trades, building industries in Knox, Waldo and Hancock county say fishpens harm business (Penobscot Bay Watch, 3/8/02)

* Fishy Business: Aquaculture Reform Flames out in Maine (Penobscot Bay Watch, 3/30/02)

* Fishpen proposal for waters off Perry (Passamaquoddy Bay Watch, 4/24/02)

* Northport, Maine Speaks Out on Maine Aquaculture Bills (Penobscot Bay Watch, 4/7/03)

** Maine legislators hear pros and cons of aquaculture reform (Penobscot Bay Watch, 4/10/03)

* Baldacci's Blue Ribbon Aquaculture Task Force gets thumbs up (Penobscot Bay Watch, 4/25/03)

* DMR Commissioner heads to Washington for federal Marine Protected Areas meeting (Task Force Atlantis, 6/17/03)

* Rockland may accept construction waste from out of state for disposal in its quarry dump (Penobscot Bay Watch, 7/14/03)

** Maine Aquaculture Task Force Gets Underway (Penobscot Bay Watch, 7/24/03)

* Federal Agencies issue call for public help on Marine Protected Areas (Task Force Atlantis , 7/25/03)

* Continued Marine Bioinvasions prompt tough new federal rules (Penobscot Bay Watch, 8/7/03)

** Criticism has arisen concerning Governor John Baldacci's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Marine Aquaculture (Penobscot Bay Watch, 8/15/03)

* Maine Aquaculture Task Force hires Canadian consultants for fish farm economics study (Penobscot Bay Watch, 8/19/03)

* Canadians propose second Atlantic Canada coral forest reserve (Task Force Atlantis, 8/25/03)

** Maine Aquaculture Task Force holds second meeting at the University of Maine's Darling Center (Penobscot Bay Watch, 9/11/03)

** Aquaculture Task Force to hear from public & NGOs on fishfarms' impacts on property and scenic values (Penobscot Bay Watch, 9/25/03)

** Aquaculture Task Force to explore coastal towns' role in decisionmaking (Penobscot Bay Watch, 10/14/03)

** Maine Aquaculture Task Force opts for baywide management study (Penobscot Bay Watch, 10/17/03)

* Maine Aquaculture Task Force Online Audio from the October 16 meeting in Rockland, Maine (Penobscot Bay Watch, 10/28/03)

* Criticism concerning aquaculture report submitted by a former DMR commissioner (Penobscot Bay Watch, 11/18/03)

** Maine Aquaculture Task Force report to call for smaller municipal role, bigger fishfarms, more studies (Penobscot Bay Watch, 12/19/03)

* Study on carcinogens in farmed atlantic salmon available online (Penobscot Bay Watch, 1/9/04)

* Final Draft Report: Governor's Task Force on the Planning and Development of Marine Aquaculture (Penobscot Bay Watch, 1/28/04)

** Maine legislators to get presentation from Governor's Task Force on Aquaculture (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/9/04)

** Maine legislators to hear from public on major aquaculture bill (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/18/04) TEN

** L egislators urged: drop acreage boost from aquaculture bill (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/23/04)

* Opponents of Northport mussel farm expansion call it threat to navigation (Penobscot Bay Watch, 3/1/04)

** LNG tankers could force 15% drop in Penobscot Bay lobsterfishing (Penobscot Bay Watch, 3/12/04)

* Searsport residents warned by Harpswell lobstermen: Don't trust LNG corporations (Penobscot Bay Watch, 4/20/04)

* Federal Wilderness Proposed for 13 Islands off the Maine Coast (Penobscot Bay Watch, 5/5/04)

* Controversial decision by organizers of a statewide forum on LNG to block a Harpswell fishermen's organization (Penobscot Bay Watch, 7/28/04)

* Fishermen speak out against wasteful pair trawl herring fishery off Maine (Penobscot Bay Watch, 8/24/04)

* Released documents show politics behind Baldacci Sears Island LNG policies (Penobscot Bay Watch, 8/31/04)

* Beginning of Maine's coastwide Bay Management Project (Penobscot Bay Watch, 2/7/05)

Dec 13, 2018

Penobscot bay studies of currents and water circulation of the late 1990s and early 2000s

Penobscot Bay water circulation related research

The Currents of Penobscot Bay Maine Observations and a Numerical Model, by Halsey R. Burgund April 21, 1995

Circulation Patterns and Processes in Penobscot Bay:Preliminary Interpretation of DataA Final Report for Year 3 of the Penobscot Bay ExperimentNeal R. Pettigrew

Circulation Patterns and Processes in Penobscot Bay:Preliminary Interpretation of DataA Final Report for Year 4 of the Penobscot Bay ExperimentNeal R. Pettigrew

Characterization of phytoplankton communities, primary production anddetrital componentsPrincipal Investigators: Maureen D. Keller Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

Modelling the circulation in Penobscot Bay. Huijie Xue UNiversity of Maine

Post-Larval Lobster (Homarus americanus) Distributions in Penobscot Bay in Relation to Hydrography, Circulation and Remote Sensing Information Annual Report for 2000, NOAA/NESDIS Grant (Year 4):

Applications of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems forMarine Resources Management in Penobscot Bay, Maine:Intertidal Habitat Definition and Mapping in Penobscot Bay

Dec 12, 2018

Save Our Smolts! Acidification and aluminum - a lethal combination

Scientific reports on the salmon smolting success for salmon making their way out into the Bay , when acidified aluminum-rich waters. lurk at the river mouthWhile overfishing and predation of adult salmon reduce salmon numbers, much concern is focused on challenges to successful transition from a freshwater existence to a saltwater existence. Failures at that stage, from even brief exposures to acidified water rich with dissolved aluminum, can be lethal, as noted below.

Chemical Impacts:The link between freshwater xenobiotics and reduced juvenile salmonid marine survival A Literature Review

""The hypothesis is that sublethally stressed smolts will have reduced smolt-to-adult survival in the marine environment as a result of inhibited enzyme activities (important for maintaining physiological homeostasis in seawater), reduced growth, effects on migratory behaviour and impacts on predator avoidance (Finstad & Jonsson, 2001).

Swimming Depth, Behavior, and Survival of Atlantic Salmon Postsmolts in Penobscot Bay, Maine

September 2012

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 141(5)

Excerpt: " We implanted 26 salmon smolts with ultrasonic depth tags, .....During daylight in the bay, greater than 95% of the detections occurred in water depths of 5 m or less, but depths to 37 m were recorded. At night, 99% of the detections were in the top 5 m of the water column and maximum depth was 9 m."

released earlier in the smolt ru

Effects of Acid Water and Aluminum on Parr–Smolt Transformation and Seawater Tolerance in Atlantic Salmon, Salmo salar. Abstract only Magne Staurnes, , Per Blix, and , Ola B. Reite 11 April 2011.
Abstr abt excerpt "Sensitivity to low pH or low pH/Al exposure greatly increased when fish had developed to seawater tolerant smolts."

J Fish Biol. 2012 July A critical life stage of the Atlantic salmon Salmo salar: behaviour and survival during the smolt and initial post-smolt migration. Abstract only

Excerpt "The an Salmo salar involves long migrations to novel environments and challenging physiological transformations when moving between salt-free and salt-rich water...Development of management actions to increase survival and fitness at the smolt and post-smolt stages is crucial to re-establish or conserve wild populations."

Aquat Toxicol. 2010 May 5 "Effects of acidic water and aluminum exposure on gill Na(+), K(+)-ATPase alpha-subunit isoforms, enzyme activity, physiology and return rates in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Abstract only

Excerpt: Adult return rates to the Imsa river were significantly reduced both in short-term (78% of controls) and long-term (55% of controls) acid/Al exposures, emphasising the physiological and ecological consequences of acid/Al exposure during smoltification.

Aquat Toxicol. 2008 Jan 31; Impacts of short-term acid and aluminum exposure onAtlantic salmon (Salmo salar) physiology: a direct comparison of parr and smolts. Abstract only

Excerpt: "Our results indicate that smolts are more sensitive than parr to short-term acid/Al. Increased sensitivity of smolts appears to be independent of a reduction in gill NKA activity and greater gill Al accumulation. Instead, increased sensitivity of smolts is likely a result of both the acquisition of seawater tolerance while still in freshwater and heightened stress responsiveness in preparation for seawater entry and residence."

Aquat Toxicol. 2010 Aug 1. "Physiological, molecular, and cellular mechanisms of impaired seawater tolerance following exposure of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, smolts to acid and aluminum." Abstract only

Excerpt "We propose that when smolts are exposed to acid and moderate to high Al concentrations, impaired seawater tolerance results from extensive gill Al accumulation, damage to the epithelium, reduced MRC and transport protein abundance, and a synergistic stimulation of apoptosis in the gill upon seawater exposure."

OTHER

J Fish Biol. 2012  "A critical life stage of the Atlantic salmon Salmo salar: behaviour 

and survival during the smolt and initial post-smolt migration.  Abstract only

Excerpt: Factors affecting mortality during the smolt and post-smolt stages contribute to determine the abundance of spawner returns. With many S. salar populations in decline, increased mortality at these stages may considerably contribute to limit S. salar production, and the consequences of human-induced mortality at this stage may be severe. Development of management actions to increase survival and fitness at the smolt and post-smolt stages is crucial to re-establish or conserve wild populations

 The Effects of Some Metals in Acidified Waters on Aquatic Organisms  Oceanography & Fisheries September 25, 2017 Full

Excerpt how acidification of oceans, seas and rivers exacerbates the mobilization of metals into water bodies and how the acidic waters (low pH) have contributed to changing the metallic states into more lethal forms of metals - the metallic ions.

GABAergic anxiolytic drug in water increases migration behaviour in salmon. Full
Excerpt: Although migration dynamics are extensively studied, the potential effects of environmental contaminants on migratory physiology are poorly understood. In this study we show that an anxiolytic drug in water can promote downward migratory behaviour of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in both laboratory setting and in a natural river tributary.

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We're interested in this research - could you provide the full-text for it?

We have a problem site near the mouth of a river where a now demolished alum and superphosphate fertilizer production facility and the abandoned sulfuric acid plant that supplied from the 1940s to the early 1970s has leached acidified dissolved aluminum waste into the brackish water for decades We'd like to explore whether the frequent plumes of the waste , visible from the air, has been a player in reduced salmon smolt success. We want to learn more about the problem - your Article will be very helpful we believe. Ron Huber, , Friends of Penobscot Bay, a Waterkeeper affiliate

Dec 9, 2018

Rockland Harbor Management Plan Committee 12/6/18 AUDIO

Listen below to the December 6, 2018 meeting of the Rockland Ad Hoc Harbor Management Plan Committee meeting with planning consultant Noel Musson in its quest to develop a new harbor plan for the city

Part 1 30 minute introductions

Part 2 30 min

Part 3 33min

Part 4 29 min

Part 5 29 min

MORE TO COME. CHECK BACK LATER

Dec 5, 2018

Nordic Aqua Farms proposed pipeline routes into Belfast Bay

Links below take you to map by Nordic Aqua Farms (NAF) consultant Woodard and Curran showing the proposed location of NAF's two outfallpipes and one intake pipe in Belfast Bay.

Nordic proposed pipelines, Full route.

Nordic proposed pipelines. Inshore half

Nordic proposed pipelines. Offshore half.