MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 26, 2023
An article on a new land-based industrial fish farm proposed for Millinocket said the plant would use “100% renewable hydropower” (“Salmon farm could be headed for landlocked Millinocket,” Feb. 16). But the plant will almost certainly have large, non-renewable and carbon-intensive diesel generators for backup power so fish won’t die in the event of a power outage. The article also says the Millinocket plant’s filtration system “removes and sanitizes waste.” That is misleading. In Belfast, by one estimate, Nordic Aquafarms’ filtration system would discharge 1,600 pounds of nitrogen alone per day, which could cause algae blooms, depriving wild marine life of oxygen and attracting sea lice, which attach to passing wild fish. The article also states that fish cannot escape from land-based industrial fish farms. Wrong. There have been documented fish escapes from land-based industrial fish farms in Canada and Norway. ~ Lawrence Reichard, Belfast