This story is part of “Cultivating the Coast,” a special report that explores Harpswell’s rapidly growing aquaculture industry.
Vienna resident Ben Weeks has been a lobsterman for 17 years and is hoping to start a sugar kelp farm in the New Meadows River in Harpswell to diversify his income.
“It’s a good complement to the lobster industry, because it’s in the offseason when you do the majority of your aquaculture stuff,” he said in an interview.
However, Weeks has been waiting almost three years for his lease applications to be approved by the Maine Department of Marine Resources. He applied for two adjacent 4-acre “experimental” leases in September 2022, a necessary precursor to obtaining a long-term “standard” lease.
The state has ultimate authority to approve or deny lease applications, but towns and the public can submit questions or objections to be considered during deliberations, which can extend the wait time for applicants.
“My big complaint with the lease process is that it really needs to start with the town,” Weeks said. “We’re basically a little over a year into the public hearing phase, because the town of Harpswell actually had some questions about the lease area I chose. They (the state) denied an oyster farm for that same spot because of gear conflicts with the pogy fishery.”
Weeks added that he would not be using the site during pogy season.
Fixing the bottleneck
That’s exactly the type of criticism Harpswell officials have sought to address over the past year. The town has implemented a more robust pre-application process that requires new standard lease applicants to discuss their proposed farm sites with the town’s recently formed Fisheries Committee before submitting their applications to the state.
For the past year, applicants have been meeting with the town’s Aquaculture Working Group, which was formed in May 2024 to study ways to reduce conflicts among sea farmers, fishermen, wild shellfish harvesters and coastal landowners. The working group, since folded into a permanent Fisheries Committee, also created a digital map of existing fishing areas to use as a guide.
But there also have been delays at the state level. Amanda Ellis, Aquaculture Division director at the Maine Department of Marine Resources, acknowledged in an interview that the lease application process can take up to three years.
“In 2017, when I first started with the department, we received 24 lease applications, and then in 2022, that number reached 110 applications,” Ellis said. “With that growing increase, I think the challenge for the state has been the timely processing of those proposals with existing resources in a way that’s conducive to the applicant.”
Some fishermen and landowners have argued that it’s too easy and inexpensive to obtain a small aquaculture lease. The application fee was doubled from $50 to $100 in 2022, in part to help reduce the volume of speculative or frivolous applications.
The state is also working to add a new requirement for experimental lease applicants to meet with local officials during the pre-application phase, Ellis said. Right now, only standard lease applicants must meet with towns. Harpswell officials requested the change, which Ellis said doesn’t yet have a timeline for implementation.
Even after a lease is approved, there is an additional ramp-up period in which the sea farmer must wait for their initial crop to reach market size, which can take up to three years, depending on the species and growing method.
Ellis said Maine officials recognize that challenge and are working to help address it by speeding up the approval process. The state recently reallocated funding to support four new positions within the Aquaculture Division, she said.
It also received a $550,000 grant from the Builders Initiative — a Chicago-based philanthropic foundation launched by Samantha and Lukas Walton, members of the family that owns Walmart — to help develop an electronic application system for aquaculture leases.
“All of our application processing is done on paper and by hand, so it’s a manual process,” Ellis said.
The department also has secured a $50,000 grant from the Walpole-based Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center for equipment upgrades that will help the Aquaculture Division conduct site assessments, she said.
Applications stack up
Statewide, pending lease applications include 48 for new standard leases, 23 for standard lease renewals or transfers, and 42 for experimental leases. Three of the pending standard lease applications are in Harpswell, as well as four experimental ones — two of which are for Weeks’ proposed farm.
Other pending applications for experimental leases in Harpswell were submitted by Terry Dutton, of Lisbon Falls, and Freeport-based Tumble Tide LLC, with both seeking a three-year lease of about 4 acres. Dutton applied in spring 2023, and Tumble Tide in early 2024.
Pending applications for standard leases in Harpswell include one filed by Raymond resident Keith Butterfield, who is seeking a 20-year lease of 25 acres to farm oysters, sea scallops, kelp and clams. Butterfield’s lease has been pending since October 2021.
State documents don’t explain the reason for the delay, and Butterfield could not be reached for comment. If approved, his would be the largest lease in Harpswell.
Brunswick-based Ferda Farms LLC submitted a still-pending application in November 2024 for a 10-year lease of 5 acres to farm oysters and clams. The third pending application for a standard lease was filed in January 2023 by the Harpswell-based Quahog Bay Conservancy, which seeks an additional 1.4 acres in Quahog Bay to farm its Snow Island Oysters.
Quahog Bay already holds a 10-year standard lease for 8.7 acres northwest of Orr’s Island, which expires in March 2026. Its director of operations, Dave Hunter, met with Aquaculture Division personnel on June 25 for a public hearing on the organization’s pending application.
During the hearing, Hunter provided details about the proposed farm, including the location, planned farming techniques, noise mitigation methods, market demand, and how the project would tie into Quahog Bay Conservancy’s existing operations.
“We’re out of any kind of navigational channels,” Hunter said at the hearing. “Quahog Bay is a pretty popular spot for anchorage … we quite often have people come over, introduce themselves and want to purchase oysters and are excited about seeing the oysters being raised.”
Joshua Rozov, a hearing officer with the Aquaculture Division, asked a few technical questions but raised no objections. No members of the public spoke for or against the project, and the hearing was concluded in just a quarter of an hour.
“I’ve seen these things go for days, so 15 minutes isn’t bad,” Rozov said.
How to participate
Hearings are formal legal proceedings and are more akin to attending a court proceeding than going to a typical public meeting, according to the Department of Marine Resources. Those who wish to speak or ask questions at a hearing must register in advance and pre-file any evidence they plan to present.
“All proposals are evaluated in consideration of applicable decision criteria,” the department’s website says. “The Department cannot consider other factors not expressly listed in rule or law.”
Standard lease applications always receive a public hearing. Hearings for experimental leases are at the state’s discretion, based on public input. There are no hearings for limited-purpose licenses, which only grant the use of a 20-by-20-foot square.
Legal criteria used for granting a lease include whether the proposed site would unreasonably interfere with navigation, fishing or other uses of the area; cause harm to marine organisms or their habitat; lower water quality; or conflict with the ability of others to access existing aquaculture operations, according to the state.
Those who want to stay informed about upcoming hearings or new lease applications can sign up for email notifications through the Department of Marine Resources’ website. Subscribers can choose specific topics of interest, including aquaculture, and receive timely updates about scoping sessions, public hearings and opportunities to submit written comments.
The department also posts all relevant documents online, including site maps, application materials and notices of decision, making it easier for residents to follow the process and prepare if they wish to participate.
More information about public participation, pending lease applications and upcoming hearings can be found on the Aquaculture Division’s website at maine.gov/dmr/aquaculture. The site includes a page with information about public participation, as well as a list of pending applications and scheduled hearings.
This story is part of “Cultivating the Coast,” a special report that explores Harpswell’s rapidly growing aquaculture industry.
