67 



of a 135 day review period does not constitute a woricable permitting process for the 

 salmon net pen industry. 



I hope that our goals have been made clear to you by this petition. We would be 

 pleased to work with you and your staff to develop any additional information that 

 may be pertinent to the process that we are suggesting. 



tliank you for your attention to and your consideration of our request. 

 With best regards, 

 Sincerely, 



Jeff Kaelin, 

 Governmental Affairs Coordinator. 



[Bangor Daily News, May 17, 1993] 



Salmon Industry Poised for No. i 



NEW MARKETS, TECHNOLOGY PROPELLING YOUNG ENTERPRISE 



LUBEC (AP) — Maine's expanding fish-farming industry, which tripled since the 

 1990 harvest, is poised to surpass lobster as Maine's most valuable ocean resource 

 this year or next, fisheries experts say. 



Fish farmers harvested about 13.5 million pounds of fish last season — 12.9 million 

 pounds of salmon and 600,000 pounds of trout. The harvest was valued at close to 

 $50 million. 



The enterprise is now maturing, with new markets, new technology and new ways 

 to add value to the product. 



Jim Anderson, a professor at the University of Rhode Island who for years has 

 studied Maine's fish farming, said the industry is entering a "mature phase." 



"Maine," he said, "can continue to expand." 



James Wilson, a professor at the University of Maine who also has studied the 

 mariceting of salmon, agrees with Anderson, but with a big "if." "It all depends on 

 the market," he cautioned. 



Inside a former sardine cannery, workers pack whole, 10-pound Atlantic salmon 

 into boxes that wiU be shipped to different points across the country. 



Across the room, another group of workers skin and bone salmon fillets with spe- 

 cial machines, then cut the fish into precise portions destined for dinner trays on 

 American Airlines flights. 



"This is the future," said Colin McLemon, president of Eastport-based Maine 

 Pride Salmon Inc„ as he watched workers measure out portions of salmon for the 

 airline. This will give us the steady, stable industry we need." 



Robert J. Peacock II, general manager of R.J. Peacock Canning Co. in Lubec, said 

 salmon — along with sea urchins — has transformed Lubec from a deadend town to 

 a flourishing conununity. 



Peacock in 1992 processed 3 million pounds of salmon for seven companies; this 

 year the amount will rise to 5 million pounds. 



"Salmon has changed the mind-set — not just the economy, but the way people 

 think here," he said. 



In the late 1980s, state officials predicted that by 1992 farm-raised salmon would 

 be worth nearly $100 million, far exceeding the value of lobster and approaching 

 the value of all other wild fisheries combined. 



Overexpansion caused the state's leading fish farm to be sold to a Canadian com- 

 pany a couple of years ago. Other farms were involved in a legal dispute about the 

 trade practices of the Norwegian salmon industry. 



A glut of salmon worldwide caused a price plunge in 1989 that nearly devastated 

 the Maine salmon industry. This past winter, more than 200,000 salmon froze to 

 death when the water temperature dropped below freezing. 



That has changed. 



According to the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center, salmon farming now pro- 

 vides 250 niU-time jobs, 200 part-time jobs and 100 full-time equivalent positions. 



A new bank, a new grocery store and a new motel have opened in Eastport, a 

 town of 1,989 that had several boarded-up buildings downtown a few years ago. 



Owen Lawler, who is active in the Chamber of Commerce and built the Motel 

 East three years ago, said salmon farming has had a profound effect on the area. 



"I don't think the average person realizes how big tnis industry is getting," he 

 said. 



Traditionally, fish farmers have sold whole salmon to their buyers, who then cut 

 them into steaks and fillets for retail sale for menu items. But now, the farms are 

 testing their own new products, such as frozen salmon. 



