Maine Aquaculture, Atlantic Salmon, and Inertia: What is the Future for Maine's Net Pen Salmon Industry?

Abstract

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has for years failed to create regulations that would govern discharges from aquaculture facilities under the Clean Water Act (CWA). As recent cases from Maine have shown, this failure caused salmon producing aquaculture companies to do very little to reduce the effluent they released directly into the Atlantic. Under the Clean Water Act, however, such polluting is prohibited. Furthermore, under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), additional regulations probably would be imposed on these companies to protect the endangered wild Atlantic salmon that inhabit the rivers and ocean near these facilities. Recent regulations proposed by EPA, however, are probably not stringent enough to meet the statutory requirements of either the CWA or the ESA. While the cleanliness of our waters and the diversity of species should be maintained at the least, these goals can hopefully be reconciled with the growth of an important part of the local and national economy.