List of Aquaculture Sites in Frenchman Bay – This includes 20 Limited-Purpose Aquaculture sites (LPAs), 12 standard aquaculture leases, and 1 experimental lease on the map, with four additional leases pending. Last updated December 21, 2020.
The listings below are broken up between Limited-Purpose Aquaculture sites (LPAs) and standard aquaculture leases. LPAs allow for an area of up to 400 square feet for one year, while standard leases allow for an area up to 100 acres for 20 years. Experimental leases allow for up to 4 acres for a maximum of 3 years and cannot be renewed unless they are for scientific purposes.
For all of these listings, the final decisions can be found by clicking on the site on the map at: https://www.maine.gov/dmr/aquaculture/leases/aquaculturemap.html. On the website you can click on any of these leases and licenses to get more information. This is what the map looks like magnified for upper Frenchman Bay.
The first ten listings are for Oyster Aquaculture, from four local businesses, with two additional pending leases.
TAUN HB4 & TAUN SB2. Taunton Bay Oyster – Michael Briggs. Taunton Bay Oyster has two standard leases for oysters in Taunton Bay for floating cages and bottom culture. One is in Hog Bay around Buckskin Island, with 3 tracts that appear to cover approximately 20 acres. Areas that include some in this current lease goes back to at least 2003. The second standard lease is in the west side of the Taunton Bay channel above the bridge, and totals 19 acres.
EAST TB. Bar Harbor Oyster Company. Oysters in cages. Joanna Fogg and Jesse Fogg. Two tracts totaling 22 acres.
JWAL115. LPA. Joanna Fogg. Oysters in cages. Northwest of Thomas Island.
JFOG516. LPA. Jesse Fogg. Oysters in cages. Northwest of Thomas Island.
JWAL519. LPA. Joanna Fogg. Oysters cages. Near mouth of the Skillings River.
There is a pending standard lease application from Graham Platner, Jock Crothers, and Rob Cushman under the Frenchman Bay Oyster company that would incorporate the LPAs below and include a total of 5.85 acres of suspended and bottom oyster culture. The location is just west of Ingalls Island. Application.
Cro312. LPA. Jock Crothers. American Oyster. 10×40’.
GPLA118. LPA. Graham Platner. American Oyster. 10×40’.
GPLA218. LPA. Graham Platner. American Oyster. 10×40’.
There is a pending standard lease combined oyster and sea urchin aquaculture, that has cages on the bottom (not suspended). It is from Ocean Resources, David Quinby, and would involve oysters and urchins in bottom cages year round. Application. It is at the site of the current LPA:
JQUI119. LPA. David Quinby. Jordan River. Oysters and Sea Urchins. Bottom Cages.
There are also seven leases where the focus is on mussel aquaculture, either with bottom or suspended culture:
There are five bottom mussel aquaculture leases from two companies:
FREN B1. Acadia Aqua Farms. Theo and Fiona de Koning. Blue mussels. North of Bean Island 32 acres. Bottom culture of blue mussels.
FLAN WN. Acadia Aqua Farms. Theo and Fiona de Koning. Blue mussels. Waukeag neck in Flanders Bay. 14 acres. Bottom culture of blue mussels.
EAST OP2. Acadia Aqua Farms. Theo and Fiona de Koning. Mt. Desert Narrows. 32 acres. Bottom culture of mussels.
EAST HP. Acadia Aqua Farms. Theo and Fiona de Koning. 40 acres. Bottom culture of mussels.
EAST OP. Moosabec Mussels, Ralph Smith. Mt. Desert Narrows. 90 acres. Bottom culture of mussels.
Rope culture of mussels:
There are two companies that are focusing on rope mussel culture, although the second also has kelp in their lease description.
EAST TIx. Mussel Bound Inc. Erick Swanson. 3.4 acres. Experimental lease. Suspended culture of mussels. Also spat collection on site. On a ‘raft’, which is an old perimeter of a fish pen.
EAST GL. Pemaquid Mussel Farms & Tim Levesque. Standard lease 8 acres. Suspended mussels and kelp. East of Googins Ledge in Eastern Bay. Pemaquid has turned in an application that is not yet on the website that would expand this lease to 32 acres.
Marine Algae:
There are two leases that are used largely for marine algae, including kelp and other species, and they are either leased or managed by Springtide Seaweed.
FREN STA2. Springtide Seaweed, Sarah Redmond. Marine algae. Off of Stave Island. 20 acres. There is a proposal to add sea urchins and oysters to this lease.
FREN PI4. W. James West Preble Island. Renewal pending. 2009 lease was for cod, halibut, scallops, mussels, and seaweed. Lease was for 35.66 acres. (this was originally a salmon pen lease). Currently Sarah Redmond of springtide seaweed is managing kelp production on this site.
Mixed shellfish. Many of these 11 listings focus on multiple species of shellfish, some with kelp added as well. These leases and LPAs are all for suspended culture (ropes, nets, and cages).
There is one standard lease under review that would include several bivalve species:
Acadia Aqua Farms. 2020.02.13. Standard lease. For seed collection of mussels, but lease also includes scallops, Mya and Mercenaria. Eastern Bay. 48 acres. Application.
Smaller shellfish LPA’s. There are 11 LPAs, some associated with commercial operations and some that are recreational (for personal use), that list a variety of shellfish, including oysters, mussels, quahogs (Mercenaria), soft-shelled clams (Mya), and some also have kelp. Many of these overlap with some of the larger businesses.
PSAV120. LPA. Paul Savoy. Oyster Flanders Bay one line 3 x 132’.
PSAV220. LPA. Paul Savoy. Scallops lantern nets, spat collector, ear hangers.
MSAV120. LPA. Michael Savoy. American Oyster. Flanders Bay One line. 3×132’.
THOP119. LPA. Hope Thomas. Oysters and mussels. Recreational (not commercial). Rafts and spat collectors. 8×16’.
NPAS120. LPA. Nicholas Pastore. Oyster, Mussel, Quahog, Mya. 5×80’. Racks and trays. (Kit Rivers and Sarah Redmond as assistants). In the lobster pound I believe.
6 LPAs by the de Konings in one area in deep water off Sunken Ledge. Currently these are all used for scallops, although the leases include other species.
ADEK219. Alex de Koning. Blue mussels, Mercenaria, Mya, kelp. Trays, nets, spat bags and long lines.
ADEK319. Alex de Koning. Blue mussels, Mercenaria, Mya, scallops, kelp. Trays, nets, spat bags and long lines.
ADEK419. Alex de Koning. Blue mussels, Mercenaria, Mya, scallops, kelp. Trays, nets, spat bags and long lines.
TDEK319. Theo de Koning. Oyster, mussels, Mercenaria, scallops. Trays, nets, spat bags and long lines.
TDEK119 & TDEK219. Theo de Koning. Mussels, Mercenaria, Mya, scallops. Trays, nets, spat bags and long lines.
There is a standard lease application that has been turned in but is not yet on the website to create a standard lease that would include these LPAs.
Finally, College of the Atlantic has two LPAs through Toby Stephenson that are for educational use and do not allow for commercial sale. One is just for kelp and one allows for a variety of shellfish. (TSTE320 & TSTE118).