Robin Hadlock Seeley has walked the rocky beaches of Maine’s Cobscook Bay for more than 40 years. As a biologist, she’s passionate about preserving the natural beauty and rich biodiversity of her home. That’s why she grew worried when she saw firsthand how industrial ocean fish farms were littering Maine’s beaches with plastic pipes and feed bags.
“Any kind of marine pollution concerns me,” she explains. The plastic pollution she was discovering could needlessly hurt and kill marine life. And that was just the beginning of the harm that the farms cause.
Canadian seafood company Cooke Aquaculture is one of the largest aquaculture operators in the world. Cooke crams millions of salmon into almost 150 cramped pens across its 24 industrial fish farms in the open ocean off the Maine coast. And they are wreaking havoc on the environment – polluting beaches, killing off wild fish and lobsters, and more.
Cooke’s operations in Maine shed light on the global threats of industrial fish farming. When companies operate recklessly, especially in the open ocean, they risk the natural ecosystem as well as the livelihoods of fishermen who depend on healthy, diverse fish stocks. That’s why CLF is suing the company, which has already become a major source of pollution in New England.
“CLF is holding Cooke Aquaculture accountable and protecting New Englanders’ right to clean waters and a healthy marine ecosystem,” says Heather Govern, vice president of CLF’s Clean Air and Water program.
What is an industrial fish farm, anyway?
Industrial fish farms are composed of massive pens, each shaped by nets sunk into the ocean that fence in hundreds of thousands of fish. It’s as overcrowded as it sounds. Cramming this many fish into small spaces has some ugly consequences for the fish and the sea where they swim.
Fish often become sick and die in these floating feedlots, sometimes in stunning numbers. Sea lice, tiny parasites that do little harm in the wild, can overwhelm captive salmon, leaving them with open sores and terrible health. Pesticides can kill off the sea lice – but pesticides can devastate nearby wild lobster and other crustacean populations as well.
If managers overfeed the fish, then waste and other pollution can build up, depleting oxygen in the water. In turn, that can lead to thousands of fish perishing in mass die-offs.
“In 2021, more than 100,000 salmon were killed by a single die-off in a Cooke fish cage,” says Govern. “Their irresponsible, illegal management practices are causing fish massacres.”
Industrial fish farms are like sewers in the ocean
“Aquaculture” might sound clean and scientific, but the reality is significantly messier. As any kid with pet fish could tell you, a lot of fish means a lot of fish poop. The average farm can produce around 1 million tons of waste annually, roughly the equivalent of the sewage produced by the city of Portland, Maine.
Unlike Portland’s sewage, all this fish farm waste floats free of the net and into the ocean, completely untreated or managed. Cooke far exceeds the amount of waste it’s allowed to release by law. This waste can have major consequences for the surrounding waters and marine life. Scientists know that nitrogen in the poop can fuel toxic algae outbreaks that kill off other marine life and can poison people and pets.
In addition, the waste itself forms a thick, noxious sludge of dead fish, fish food, fish poop, pesticides, and more on the seafloor, smothering all life. The bottom of the ocean turns into a dead zone, with negative consequences up and down the food chain. Some CLF members who work as lobstermen have had to move out of these dead zones after pulling up traps covered in toxic sludge.
Mass salmon escapes are common – and dangerous
Because they sit in the open ocean, the nets that hold farmed fish are vulnerable to damage. By Cooke’s own admission, predators like seals can rip holes in the nets. Seaweed and mussels can build up on them and, if left unaddressed, block the flow of water. This blockage causes pressure that can lead the whole net structure to collapse. Natural wear and tear also cause damage.
When the nets develop holes, salmon can escape. It’s so common that reading about “accidental releases” at salmon farms worldwide was one of the first things to spark Seeley’s concerns about the farms in her backyard. Unfortunately, these escapes are not happy, “Free Willy”-style bids for freedom. Sickened farmed fish can spread the rampant diseases in the pens to wild fish.
Escaped fish can also disrupt natural selection. As a biologist, Seeley, along with many other scientists, is concerned that escaped fish could contaminate the gene pool of wild salmon near Cobscook Bay. Fish raised in unhealthy but sheltered pens lack the genetics to thrive in the wild. When those fish manage to escape farm pens to interbreed with endangered native fish, they make the gene pool less prepared for survival.
How industrial fish farms could clean up their act
Cooke Aquaculture can take steps to reduce the damage it is causing. Completing required reviews and maintenance of the nets would help stop escapes and minimize the debris that Seeley has stumbled across while walking her beloved Cobscook Bay beaches.
Checking the water oxygen levels before and during feedings could prevent major die-offs. In addition, fewer fish per net would also lower the risk of mass fish death, as well as reduce waste. Regularly sampling sediment around the fish pens would alert workers when pollution is occurring.
“We also need to take a step back and evaluate how to strengthen the regulations for these farms, given their impact on the ocean,” says Govern.
When Seeley heard that CLF was suing Cooke Aquaculture, she worried that it might cost her community jobs and economic opportunity.
“Then it was explained to me that if the salmon farm needs to be more careful, it probably means an increase in jobs,” says Seeley. “I’m just hoping that the company is a lot more careful about their impact on the marine environment.”
Sustainable alternatives to fish farms are available
New England has a long history of salmon fishing. Indigenous people traveled to rivers where salmon were known to spawn so they could catch fish to smoke and dry for long winters. The earliest colonists also harvested salmon.
Pollution, overfishing, and dammed rivers eventually caused the population to plummet, but new regulations and dam removal projects have contributed to the slow return of wild salmon populations. However, wild Atlantic salmon remain endangered in New England and can’t be fished sustainably.
So, what’s a responsible fisherman or consumer to do? Some companies are exploring land-based aquaculture that uses “recirculating” systems. In this approach, wastewater is treated and recycled instead of being dumped into the ocean. The system still has downsides and potential issues to address, but it’s a promising improvement to open-ocean salmon farming.
Consumers can also still enjoy delicious filets of salmon without contributing to the harms of industrial fish factories – but it’s not always easy. Salmon labeled “wild-caught,” which comes from nonendangered populations, already sits side-by-side with farmed salmon on most grocery shelves. Unfortunately, wild-caught salmon can cost far more than its farmed counterparts, placing it out of reach for many environmentally minded Americans. The only way to actually solve this problem is to reform the incredibly flawed fish farm system.
Protecting New England’s waters and fishing communities
The towering pines, rocky shores, and crisp waters of Cobscook Bay have been Seeley’s home and passion for decades. In addition to being beautiful, “that ecological integrity supports traditional fisheries, which are the lifeblood of this area,” she says.
CLF is equally committed to their protection.
“We’re suing to ensure that the world’s largest operator of industrial fish farms stops fouling our ocean and endangering wild salmon populations,” says Govern. CLF will hold Cooke accountable and require them to take the steps necessary to protect Seeley’s cherished Cobscook Bay and all the waters its fish farms inhabit.
“We won’t stop until New England’s beloved waters and marine life are protected from these aquatic factory farms.”