This is in response to whining about Gov. Mills supporting the Nordic Aquafarms salmon raising project in Belfast. I have no financial connection to Nordic Aquafarms or salmon farming. It is long past time that Nordic Aquafarms be granted the power of eminent domain to construct the Belfast project. I, for one, am tired of the incessant need of coastal residents to be genuflected to.
An Atlantic salmon leaps out of the water at a Cooke Aquaculture farm pen near Eastport in 2008. A long-running dispute over the proposed Nordic Aquafarms salmon farm in Belfast is moving back before the state agency that previously has issued permits for the project. Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press, File
I live on the farm where I was born 61 years ago in New Gloucester. In the 1840s, the Maine Legislature granted the power of eminent domain to what is now the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad to construct a railroad anywhere they wanted between Portland and the New Hampshire border. Well, they decided to run it right through the farm. It has been a pain in the butt ever since. But it was an economic boon for Portland and all the communities along its route between Portland and Montreal.
Fast forward to the late 1960s. Central Maine Power, through the power of eminent domain granted to it by the Maine Public Utilities Commission, constructed a high-voltage power line through the farm to energize western Maine, including Raymond, Naples, Bridgton and Bethel. That transmission line, which bisects the farm, kept the economy of western Maine, including Sunday River, going and growing. At nearly the same time, a natural gas line to supply Lewiston-Auburn was granted the power of eminent domain. It just missed our farm and went through our neighbors’. That line keeps Lewiston and Auburn warm today.
At least twice a month our family buys Gulf of Maine farm-raised salmon at the very reasonable price of $8 per pound. Except for its skin, it is entirely edible and a great source of high-quality protein. Atlantic salmon have the best or one of the best feed conversion ratios, converting 1.2 pounds of feed to 1 pound of fish growth. The feed conversion ratio of beef is 6:1, pork 3:1 and chicken 1.7:1.
Farm-raised salmon consume a diet that is 70% grain and 25% to 30% fish meal and fish oil, largely sourced from menhaden that is not consumed by humans. Iowa’s average corn yield per acre is 11,200 pounds. U.S. Department of Agriculture production data show that 139 billion pounds (2.48 billion bushels) of grain corn was harvested in Iowa alone in 2022. Compared to lobster, the dominant Maine fishery, farm-raised salmon is incredibly sustainable and affordable.
What is the feed conversion ratio for lobster? I couldn’t find that anyone has ever studied it. Instead, the supposedly sustainable lobster fishery, which historically has used Atlantic herring as bait, has resulted in Atlantic herring being overfished. Now with the depleted herring stocks, the lobster industry wants to use menhaden for bait. Herring eat zooplankton, which eat plankton. Herring are two levels up the food chain, with lobster being three up. Farm-raised salmon diet is 70% vegetarian, and the menhaden that make up the fish meal salmon consume largely eat plankton. So salmon are about 1.3 levels up the food chain.
Live lobster costs about $10 a pound and has a 20% yield, with the resulting lobster meat costing about $50 a pound. Compare that to farm-raised salmon fillets at $8 a pound. Salmon is an economical food protein with a much lower impact on the environment than lobster. Plus, I have never seen a washed-up salmon rearing pen, but the island shores are covered with lost lobster traps and balls of rope.
Additionally, unlike lobster gear, I have never heard of a right whale dying from being entangled in salmon farm gear. Move Maine forward – grant Nordic Aquafarms the power of eminent domain to raise sustainable and economical farm-raised salmon.
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