Tag Archives: Nordic Aquafarms
Fishermen, Con Groups Appeal Nordic Aquafarms’ Environmental Report Certification
Two weeks after the Humboldt County Planning Commission certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for Nordic Aquafarms’ planned land-based fish factory on the Samoa Peninsula, the decision is being appealed to the Board of Supervisors. On Thursday, leaders of three local nonprofits, the Redwood Region Audubon Society Chapter, the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association and 350 Humboldt, submitted a letter to the supervisors and to John Ford, the county’s director of planning and building, initiating the appeal. The letter alleges that the environmental report, which was prepared for the county by local engineering firm GHD, violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by understating several of the project’s impacts, including its greenhouse gas emissions, its energy use and the threats it poses to commercial fisheries and coastal and bay ecosystems. >click to read< 11:44
Nordic Aquafarms Final Environmental Impact Report Available for Public Review
The County of Humboldt has prepared a Final Environmental Impact Report for the Nordic Aquafarms California, LLC – Coastal Development Permit and Special Permit application (Case Number PLN-2020-16698), and the report is now available on the county’s website. The Planning Commission will be considering the Coastal Development Permit and Special Permit at a Public Hearing on July 28 beginning at 6 pm in the Board of Supervisors Chambers. >click to read< 12:00
4 years later, the 4 large fish farms planned for Maine haven’t started construction
This year will be remembered in Maine, at least in part, as when interest in developing four large-scale fish farms on the state’s eastern coastline continued to intensify. It also will be remembered by some as yet another year during which, nearly four years since plans for the first proposal were announced, none of the four separate projects began construction. The projects are at various stages of the permitting process, with some being fully approved and others not yet having any permits. All have shied away from announcing specific timetables for when they hope to start to build. Nordic Aquafarms, Kingfish Maine, American Aquafarms, and Whole Oceans, >click to read< 10:39
From Pulp Mill to Salmon Farm? Examining Nordic AquaFarms’ Proposed Fish Factory
Is a massive land-based fish factory the best next chapter for a former pulp mill nestled between Humboldt Bay and the Pacific Ocean? Tune in to hear local environmental leaders discuss Humboldt County’s assessment of the impacts Nordic AquaFarms proposed fish factory might have on the bay, ocean, wildlife and climate – and ways to avoid or mitigate them. Surfrider Foundation’s California Policy Manager Jennifer Savage and Colin Fiske of Coalition for Transportation Priorities join co-hosts Tom Wheeler of EPIC, Larry Glass of NEC, and Jen Kalt of Humboldt Baykeeper for a discussion of what is proposed and top issues of concern as we gear up to submit comments on May 24. >click to read< 11:01 Search Results for “Nordic AquaFarms” – fisherynation.com, <click here<
Nordic Aquafarms pushes forward with onshore fish farm in Humboldt County
Humboldt County has given Norway-based seafood company Nordic Aquafarms the green light to move forward,,, “We also expect the discharge draft permit to be sent out for public comments by the (Water Quality Control Board) soon,” said Marianne Naess,,, “Fishermen and the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association as a whole really have environmental concerns about the Nordic project,” Fisherman Jake McMaster told the Times-Standard. “Concerns from sucking 10 million gallons of water out of the bay every day as well as fish escapes. >click to read< 12:54
Factory farmed salmon: inland farms offer alternative to diminishing wild stocks, with bigger carbon emissions
One of these land-based salmon farms is planned for Bucksport, Another is intended for Belfast,,, Meanwhile, Nordic Aquafarms, a Scandinavian company with two farms in Denmark, one in Norway and plans for another in northern California, has chosen Belfast for its site. A more ambitious project than that planned for Bucksport, the company hopes to create the second largest such farm in the world. Welcomed by officials for its potential contribution to the town’s economy, there has been opposition from some local people,,, Land based farming using an RAS, recirculating aquaculture system, raises the fish with no exposure to the ocean other than fast flowing, temperature controlled water which is pumped in and out of the fish tanks round the clock. >click to read< 14:15
Large Scale Fin-Fish and Aquatic Farms Could Hamper Maine Aquaculture Industry
As proposed, the Nordic Aquafarms project would raise more than 72 million pounds of salmon annually on its 56–acre campus in Belfast, Maine. The site would utilize about 5,200 gallons of water per minute, a combination of both saltwater taken from the nearby Gulf of Maine and freshwater obtained from groundwater wells, city-owned aquifers and reservoirs. The permit application indicates the facility would discharge more than 7 million gallons of filtered wastewater into the Belfast Bay each day. It’s that last figure that concerns many local residents. Marsden Brewer is a commercial fisherman and scallop farmer who also serves as president of the Maine Aquaculture Co-op. Brewer was one of more than a dozen fishermen and fish farmers who spoke out against the Nordic project at a statewide hearing this spring. “After years of misuse, we’re finally starting to see a lot of good things happening in this bay,” Brewer says. >click to read< 09:56
Nordic Hosting Public Zoom Meeting Wednesday taking questions, Study Results for Land-Based Fish Farm
Nordic is currently preparing its permit applications for a land-based aquaculture facility on the Samoa Peninsula in Humboldt County and has recently submitted the discharge permit applications to the Water Quality Control Board and the Coastal Commission. As part of these applications, a Dilution Study and a Marine Resources Impact study were conducted. Environmental protection is at the core of Nordic Aquafarms’ vision and Nordic is pleased to share the results from these studies. On Wednesday, September 9 at 6 p.m., Nordic will present study results, a general project overview and take questions from the audience,,, for details, and log in information, >click here< 13:57
Nordic Aquafarms Expands Facility Plans, Releases Images Showing What the Fish Farm Would Look Like
Nordic Aquafarms and the Harbor District have agreed to expand the lease area with approx. 3 acres including the Machine building and the Shops & Store building. The Harbor District Board approved a Letter of Intent (LOI) to finalize an amendment to the lease agreement at an extra board meeting today. This allows Nordic to increase the production capacity to the same size as its Maine facility resulting in more local jobs in Humboldt. Nordic Aquafarms also releases the first pictures of the proposed facility. photo’s, >click to read< 16:05
Comment Period Extended for Nordic Aquafarms
DMR is accepting comments solely about the potential impacts of the proposed dredging operation on fishing in the area to be dredged and on impacts to the fishing industry of the proposed route to transport dredge spoils to Mack Point in Searsport where material will be offloaded and transported to an approved upland disposal site. This facility will require the construction of intake and discharge pipes which will be buried across intertidal and shallow sub-tidal lands to a maximum depth of 10 feet with a minimum of 5 feet of cover. >click to read< 09:52
Large land-based salmon farms face opposition in Maine
“There’s a lot of things wrong with this project,” said neighbour Ellie Daniels. “But one of the major [problems] is water use, the discharge. And then the carbon footprint is gigantic on these things.” Daniels said Nordic Aquafarms proposes to use 7.7 million gallons of water a day, 30 per cent fresh, and 70 per cent seawater. On top of that, a series of onsite diesel generators will be required to create the energy to pump and circulate water in roofed and enclosed oval pens rising several storeys from ground level. >click to read< 08:14
Letter: Open-net pen aquaculture is a failed technology
From the letter, The key question is whether the future of salmon aquaculture in the North American market will be closed-containment land-based (CCLB) or open-net pen (ONP). The government of Newfoundland and Labrador is betting $30 million that projects like the environmentally disastrous Grieg ONP project planned for Placentia Bay will carry the day and Couturier agrees. ACOA is in for another $10 million grant, not loan, according to its website. Meanwhile, as The Telegram article demonstrates, companies like Nordic Aquafarms in Belfast, Maine, are forging ahead with CCLB projects in Maine and many other U.S. locations. These projects use Recirculatory Aquaculture Systems (RAS), by Leo White >click to read< 09:08
Nordic Aquafarms Set to Ask County for ‘Financial Incentives’ Before Committing to Indoor Fish Farm Project
In the five-plus months since Norwegian aquaculture firm Nordic Aquafarms announced plans to build a large-scale, land-based fish farming facility on the Samoa peninsula, we’ve heard a lot about the potential benefits to the local community, including dozens of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues and local investments. But wouldn’t you know it? There’s a catch! >click to read< 12:02
Attorneys continue municipal law debate in case against Nordic Aquafarms
As the lawsuit against Nordic Aquafarms, Inc., the City of Belfast, and other parties-in-interest continues the slow procession through the legal system, the amount of evidence submitted for the case has grown to require two two-inch binders, holding stipulation exhibits 1-36, which include emails, public notices, and City of Belfast Answers to Interrogatories, etc. The binders are in addition to a legal file also nearly an inch thick filled with court dates, motions, objections, and other legal documents. The suit, brought by Eleanor Daniels and Donna Broderick, has been one of many issues Nordic has encountered on its quest to build one of the world’s largest land-based salmon farms in the small coastal city. >click to read<12:27
Belfast Conflict Waves A ‘Red Flag’ For Dutch Firm Looking To Add A Third Fish Farm In Maine
The Dutch entrepreneur who would like to build a land-based yellowtail fish farm somewhere in Maine said that the relentless opposition that some have shown to Nordic Aquafarms’ proposed Belfast salmon farm has made him proceed here with caution. Ohad Maiman of Kingfish Zeeland said in a phone interview last week that company officials believe they have found two viable sites on the Maine coast after reviewing 22. But he does not want to identify those communities yet in hopes of avoiding the same kind of response that Nordic, a Norwegian-based company that is working to build a $500 million facility, has grappled with since announcing its plans in January 2018. >click to read<11:13
Maine Voices: Nordic Aquafarms isn’t acting like a good neighbor to Belfast residents
Its continual changes of plan and apparent misrepresentation of its land rights should raise questions among regulators.,,, For instance, As time went on, the company dropped and changed one after another of the plans that had made it sound like a clean and responsible business for our community. The company’s effluent pipe, it turned out, would be dumping 7.7 million gallons a day of warm (59 to 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit) wastewater in the bay – more than neighboring Bayside is authorized to dump in a year. This water, containing 1,484 pounds of nitrogen per day, as well as another 400 pounds of suspended solids and other chemicals, would be discharged through a pipe that has been shortened by over a third and will be many miles away from any “deep ocean currents.” >click to read<15:47
So This Pipe Is Just Spewing Blood And Fish Guts Into The Open Water – >Video, click to read<
Land Based In Name Only? Belfast lobstermen fear Nordic Aquafarms’ discharge pipes will harm fishery
Some Belfast lobster fishermen told the local Harbor Advisory Committee that they were concerned that dredging for installation of Nordic Aquafarms’ discharge and intake pipes along submerged lands could release mercury in the ocean sediment and pose a hazard to navigation. “The fishermen have concerns,” advisory committee member Dan Miller told the council. The committee doesn’t have any purview over Nordic Aquafarms’ proposal, he noted. “Our place is to ask you to make sure those concerns are in some way addressed by the appropriate agency.” >click to read<15:10
Maine is running out of lobster bait. Is salmon the answer?
Genevieve McDonald fishes out of Maine’s largest lobster port aboard the F/V Hello Darlings II. Last November, she became Maine’s first female commercial fisherman (“fisherman” and “lobsterman” are the strongly preferred terms for both women and men in the industry, she says) elected to the Maine House of Representatives, representing a district that includes Maine’s two biggest lobster ports. Not surprisingly, McDonald ran on a platform many in the fishing industry support. But above all else, one issue stood out. “Our biggest issue is the bait crisis,” she said in November,,, >click to read<11:51
Harbor district, energy authority looking to create a ‘clean’ industry future with aquafarm, offshore wind energy
The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District and the Redwood Coast Energy Authority outlined plans Friday at the Humboldt County Economic Development Summit for infrastructure upgrades on the Samoa peninsula to build a land-based aquafarm and offshore wind energy project with an anticipated completion date of 2025 or 2026 — renewable energy projects that could have a significant positive impact on the county’s workforce development. >click to read<10:07
Let’s Take a Closer Look at This Big Fish Farm Proposal for the Samoa Peninsula
There have been lots of ideas in recent years for how to maximize the economic potential of Humboldt Bay. “More cruise ships!” some suggested. “More oysters!” “Less-restrictive zoning!” “How about a new railroad or two?” But as far as we can tell, no one even dreamed of suggesting that the Samoa peninsula could host one of the world’s largest indoor fish farms. No one imagined that Redwood Marine Terminal II, a contaminated brownfield site still littered with the rubble of an abandoned pulp mill, could be chosen to house a 600,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art aquaculture facility capable of supplying the West Coast with nearly 60 million tons pounds of fish per year. That concept, and the Norwegian company that plans to bring it to fruition, found us. >click to read<20:20
Harbor District Approves Lease for Massive Fish Farm
The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District today approved a 30-year lease with Norwegian company Nordic Aquafarms to build a massive fish farm at the former pulp mill after hearing concerns the deal was ushered through without public review. The plan is to build a land-based aquaculture facility that would eventually produce some 25,000 tons of fish a year – likely salmon or steelhead – to serve as the West Coast hub for Nordic Aquafarms, which is currently in the process of developing an East Coast equivalent in Belfast, Maine.,,, Included in the terms is the right for the company to discharge 6 million gallons of wastewater per day using the site’s ocean outfall pipe, which extends 1.5 miles offshore.>click to read<11:51
Proposed salmon farm rattles some in Belfast. Another in Bucksport draws few objections.
Belfast and Bucksport are separated by just 24 miles, and both are closely connected to the Penobscot River and Penobscot Bay. But you would never know that from the very different way that two proposals for large, land-based salmon farms have been received by members of their respective communities over the past year. In Belfast, opposition to Nordic Aquafarms’ proposed $150 million salmon farm is fierce and outspoken,,, In Bucksport, there is virtually no vocal opposition as Whole Oceans works on building its own $250 million indoor aquaculture facility on the site of the former Verso paper mill. >click to read<12:42
The Visionaries of Evolution: The Future of Fish Farming May Be Indoors
If it catches on, indoor aquaculture could play a critical role in meeting the needs of a swelling human population, Nordic CEO Erik Heim says. He believes it could do so without the pollution and other potential threats to wild fish that can accompany traditional aquaculture—although the indoor approach does face environmental challenges of its own. “There’s always some risk, but the risk of the land-based system is a small percentage of the risk of an outdoor system,” says Michael Timmons, an environmental engineer at Cornell University who has studied aquaculture for more than 20 years and is not involved in the Nordic project. >click to read<16:54
Norwegian company to build large, land-based salmon farm in Belfast
A Norway company intends to build a land-based salmon farm in Belfast, initially investing $150 million and creating 60 jobs within two years. Nordic Aquafarms, an international developer of land-based aquaculture, has signed agreements to purchase 40 acres on the outskirts of Belfast, where it will build one of the world’s largest land-based salmon farms, according to a release from the city.,,, It chose Maine because of the state’s pristine environment, cold water conditions,,, >click here to read< 13:06
