Nordic Aquafarms planned to build a $500 million land-based salmon farm.
Upstream Watch
The conservation group Upstream Watch is set to purchase a 54-acre parcel along the Little River in Belfast, Maine, owned by the Norwegian company Nordic Aquafarms.
In 2020, the U.S. branch of Nordic Aquafarms received all necessary local, state, and federal permits to build a $500 million land-based salmon farm in that same area.
However, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ordered in August 2023 that the permit be returned to the city for review. A few months before, the company had already lost a court case over land rights to an intertidal marsh where it planned to install the aquaculture farm's inlet and outlet pipes.
Finally, Nordic Aquafarms decided to abandon its aquaculture project on the U.S. East Coast at the beginning of the year, while emphasizing that the initiative had been aligned with environmental and community objectives.
"Going forward, we will be advocating for the entire Penobscot Bay Watershed as Penobscot Bay Waterkeeper, but making sure the Little River ecosystem is protected means we will have completed our commitment to our supporters, the Bay and the Little River," indicated the former president of Upstream Watch, Amy Grant.
Upstream Watch assures that the Little River in Belfast and its access to Penobscot Bay are highly valued by the community, and due to its location and ecology, they are enclaves that are difficult to find along the central coast.
For this purpose, the Maine-based group has partnered with the non-profit organization Friends of Harriet Hartley. It now hopes that more local and regional conservation organizations will join this cause.
