JONESPORT, Maine — Cooke's salmon farming sites stretch from Frenchboro Island all the way up to Eastport, with 150 cages each holding thousands of salmon.
"Cooke is not complying with their permit requirements and they're not complying with the Clean Water Act," according to Vice President for Clean Air and Water at Conservation Law Foundation Heather Govern.
Govern says that the CLF has been investigating and monitoring each of Cooke's sites and have found concerning levels of pollution coming from the waste produced at them. According to Govern, this waste can range from fish feces, dead fish, and uneaten food that end up floating to the ocean floor and creating an accumulation of "toxic sulfides."
"At just 13 sites, they produce the same amount of waste that the City of Portland creates in one year," Govern says the pollution not only impacts local wildlife, but lobsterman and other fisherman that rely on clean and healthy waters. "There are lobstermen who have pulled up their traps near these Cooke net pens where there's black smelly sludge on the lobster traps."
In a statement, representatives from Cooke Aquaculture said these claims are baseless and emphasized the economic impact they have on communities where their salmon pen sites are located.
"Aquaculture farming is an economic engine for Maine's working waterfronts with Atlantic salmon aquaculture being a major source of employment for residents of Downeast Maine. Cooke employs 230 people throughout the state."
While Dwayne Shaw with the Downeast Salmon Federation says he understands the need for fish farming, he sides with CLF and thinks Cooke's salmon net pens aren't properly monitored. According to Shaw, a lack of inspection can lead to things like domesticated salmon escaping, which happened at two of Cooke's sites in Machias Bay in 2023.
"These escaped salmon can carry parasites and diseases from the cages and transfer them over to endangered wild salmon," Shaw explained how even one salmon getting sick can make a big impact to the population. "Any disease or any impairment at all can push them directly toward extinction."
Officials with Cooke Aquaculture say they dispute the lack of monitoring at their sites and claim there hold regular inspections:
"Cooke's salmon farms are routinely inspected by state regulators and subject to regular monitoring reports These laws are designed to protect Maine waters as well as Maine's heritage fisheries."
And while Govern says the CLF will continue with their plans, she feels like there can be a world where Cooke's salmon pen sites exist without the alleged environmental impacts they pose.
"If there is proper maintenance of the sites and equipment and there are some ideas of better ways to treat the waste, those are some of the potential ways to protect the environment while also maintaining operations," Govern said.